Articles
3 February 2012

Costa Vida’s Twitter Promotion Creates Tsunami of Excitement

by PR or News Wire

03 February 2012—

Utah's Costa Vida mexican grill restaurant sent a one-day-only offer for a free sweet pork Big Kahuna Burrito on Feb. 17 to its 80 fans on the social media site Twitter and within hours the virtual coupon was forwarded using Twitter to more than 15,000 people, with more than an estimated 42,000 Costa Vida messages delivered that day online and through mobile phones. Dubbed the Sweet Pork promotion, Costa Vida required customers to have the electronic coupon on their mobile phone, which drove more than 2,500 people to one of Costa Vida’s 21 locations for a free sweet pork burrito.

The promotion was created as a kickoff to Costa Vida’s online community program, designed to communicate with and reward existing members, as well as encourage new Costa Vida fans to sign-up. Mobile phone Twitter followers of Costa Vida jumped from 80 fans to more than 450 in one day.

“This mobile phone and social media campaign demonstrates the viral power we can tap into with Costa Vida’s fans who love our food and are extremely loyal because of the passion we put into everything we do,” said Costa Vida CEO Nathan Gardner. “Costa Vida’s online community creates another way for Costa Fans to connect with our brand. Our first major Twitter initiative also helped encourage new customers to try us - many of whom are now registered Costa Vida Fans.”

The Sweet Pork Burrito promotion was designed to test the effectiveness of leveraging social media Web sites like Twitter and Facebook in brand building and in driving restaurant traffic. Customers responded immediately by posting comments on Twitter about the promotion and forwarding the offer to friends via mobile phone who also love Costa Vida. The promotion was so successful, Costa Vida had to send multiple Twitter updates with instructions for how new Costa Vida Fans could redeem the one-day coupon for a free sweet pork Big Kahuna Burrito.

In addition to driving traffic and encouraging new customers to try Costa Vida, the promotion is also proving to be successful in generating repeat business. Brock Nyborg, whose visit to Costa Vida was his first, received the mobile Free Pork Burrito message just before dinner, which drove him to try Costa Vida’s Big Kahuna burrito at the Roseville, Calif. location.

“When I was at Costa Vida for the free burrito promotion, I remembered I had a business lunch where I am presenting to 55 people next week,” said Nyborg. “I had never scheduled a lunch with Costa Vida before. My office is looking forward to Costa Vida food next week almost as much as I am!”


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