MoCo Eats Restaurant Week
Launched in 2021, MoCo Eats Week was created as a solution to bring awareness to Montgomery County, MD’s highly diverse restaurant scene. The annual event ran for three years, 2021 – 2023. Inclusiveness was a top priority for the campaign. Restaurant participation was free for any restaurant located in Montgomery County, Maryland. The only requirement was a commitment to offering an exclusive deal for the duration of the campaign.
Print, digital, and broadcast advertising was deployed for the week-long event. To help boost foot traffic to participating businesses, a digital savings passport was created and enabled customers to “check in” to unlock exclusive deals and receive an entry into the Ultimate Weekend Getaway Grand Prize, valued at $2,000.
MoCo Eats Week resulted in over 80 participating restaurants, over 85,161 page views to the campaign landing page, extensive media coverage, over 2.8 million advertising impressions, and 74,143 in social reach per year on average.
Project For: Visit Montgomery, Maryland
Micro Site
A dedicated microsite was designed to serve as the landing area for all advertising and promotion. The microsite featured a directory listing of each participating restaurant and their deal offerings. Sponsors, hotel packages, and relevant blog posts were integrated into the microsite experience. An Instagram feed using #MoCoEats was added to promote engagement.
Digital Savings Passport
To drive consumer behavior, a digital savings pass was developed and loaded to Visit Montgomery’s Adventure Planner app. The pass featured participating restaurants, high-quality images, operating hours, a website, an address, and a phone number. Using geolocation technology, consumers were given the opportunity to “check in” to the restaurant to unlock exclusive MoCo Eats Week deals. Each counted as an entry toward an Ultimate Weekend Getaway Grand Prize valued at $2,000. Consumers were encouraged to visit multiple locations, as more check-ins meant more grand prize entries.
Robust Advertising
An omnichannel advertising program was developed and launched to support the promotion of the campaign. Messaging targeted drive markets within a 50-mile radius. Particular attention was given to Washington, DC Metro region, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Media outlets included Washington Post, iHeart Radio, Philadelphia Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Bethesda Magazine, Google Ads, and Facebook/Instagram placements. Campaign advertising generated 2.3 million impressions.
Email Marketing
Leveraging nearly 75,500 email addresses in Visit Montgomery’s database, an email newsletter program was deployed to drive Adventure Planner app downloads. Paid placement in popular local email newsletters captured an audience that was not already engaged with Visit Montgomery’s content channels. The Montgomery County Public Information Office included MoCo Eats Week featurettes in their weekly newsletter deployments to approximately 400,000 contacts.
Social Media Strategy
A robust social media content strategy was deployed across Visit Montgomery’s owned @VisitMoCo and @VisitMoCoEats social media channels. Participating restaurants, local nonprofits, and influencers were encouraged to cross-promote on their own channels using #MoCoEats. A social media toolkit was created and distributed to all participating businesses and community partners to ensure message consistency.
Public Relations & Earned Media
An extensive public relations strategy was deployed to generate earned media coverage for both the weeklong event and the participating restaurants. Media coverage included Washingtonian, Fox 5 DC, Federal News Network, WTOP, Axios DC, DC News Now, and DC 101.