 ate-coding systems aren’t exactly fun and games. In fact, for many restaurateurs, the mere mention of them conjures images of bacteria-laden food containers
and over-zealous health inspectors. Nevertheless, DayMark Food Safety Systems, which manufactures date-coding and food-labeling systems, created an exhibit filled with fun and games — literally.
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Category: Traffic Builder
Company: DayMark Food Safety Systems
Creative/Production Agency : Benghiat Marketing &
Communications,
Beachwood, OH,
216-831-8580,
www.benghiat.com;
Ohio Displays Inc., Cleveland, 800-605-6667,
www.ohiodisplays.com
Show: National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show 2004
Budget: $180,000
Goals:
 Create awareness
for unknown products and their benefits.
Increase number of leads, meetings, and press meetings compared to the previous year.
Results:
Doubled leads from 600 in 2003 to 1,200 in 2004.
Conducted 32 more sales-lead meetings in 2004 than in 2003.
Held 14 press meetings, compared to zero in 2003. |
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Dissolve-A-Way-Derby
Objective: Demonstrate how DayMark’s Dissolve-A-Way labels dissolve completely in water in less than 30 seconds.
Activity: Four attendees race to shoot off a Dissolve-A-Way label with a water pistol. All contestants leave with a squirt gun and a bag of labels so they can take the demonstration back to their restaurants. |
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DayMark combined typical product demos with carnival-style games, such as a Pop-A-Shot
basketball challenge and a water-pistol shootout. Each hybrid activity educated attendees about a different product and its benefits, and contributed to a carnival atmosphere that doubled DayMark’s leads from the previous year.
Founded in 1989 in Bowling Green, OH,
DayMark offers products such as marking-gun
systems and Dissolve-A-Way labels. Its niche market and continued technological advances have tripled its business in the last five years.
Nevertheless, DayMark still struggles with awareness. Unfamiliar with DayMark’s products, most restaurant owners remain loyal to archaic labeling methods, such as masking tape and pens, assuming they save them time and money compared to more-advanced systems.
For the 2004 National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show (NRA) in Chicago, DayMark hoped to increase awareness, leads, sales meetings, and press meetings compared to its 2003 results.
Teaming up with Benghiat Marketing & Communications of Beachwood, OH, and Ohio Displays Inc. of Cleveland, DayMark increased its footprint from a 10-by-20-foot space in 2003 to a 20- by-50-foot island in 2004. Next, the trio devised a series of demonstration-based activities to drive traffic and educate attendees about DayMark’s products.
The educational product demos produced 1,200 leads — twice as many as DayMark scored in 2003. DayMark also held 32 more sales-lead meetings with national account reps and distributors than in 2003.
Even the jaded press took notice. DayMark held 14 press meetings with key industry publications such as Restaurant Hospitality, Restaurant Business, and Food Safety Insights. In 2003, DayMark scored a goose egg in the press-meeting tally.
Plus, most participants went home with a sample of DayMark’s labels to test for themselves, as well as other DayMark-branded prizes such as a CD case, memo pad, or upscale pen.
According to judges, DayMark’s fun-and-games were the perfect fit for its products. “The activities demonstrate a few clear product benefits — yet DayMark kept it simple and made it fun,” judges said. “It was all about the product, pure and simple — and that’s simply good marketing.” 
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Beat the Clock
Objective: Demonstrate how the clock-shaped TT Sensor food label changes colors as the food item nears its
expiration date.
Activity: Attendees shoot as many baskets as they can before time runs out. As attendees fire their shots, four clocks light up in succession until the time runs down and the last clock lights up in pink. |
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Pop Your Profits
Objective: Increase awareness for DayMark’s portion bags and explain their benefits.
Activity: DayMark hands out free samples of popcorn in its portion bags. With each sample, DayMark staff explains how the bags allow restaurants to pre-portion food items prior to service and thus save money by preventing over-portioning. |
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Label Race
Objective: Prove that DayMark’s marking systems are 10-times faster than traditional tape and markers.
Activity: Two people — one armed with a DayMark marking gun and one armed with a marker — race to see who can label the most food containers in 30 seconds. As expected, the marking gun wins every time. |
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