Have you ever ordered food online and requested something in the "special instructions" field? Chances are, you may have asked for no utensils or maybe extra Sriracha. Some of the users of our platform have taken their "special instructions" in an entirely different direction - requesting drawings on their bags. The hundreds of special instructions requests have ranged from giraffe-wearing sombreros to scorpion-fighting wizards - and every strange thing you can imagine in between.
We're Olo - a B2B SaaS company doing digital food ordering behind the scenes for over 15 million users on white-labeled apps and websites for brands like Five Guys Burgers & Fries, Wingstop, Baskin-Robbins, Noodles & Company, and Cold Stone Creamery.
Olo's mission since 2005 has been to provide customers with better, faster, more personal service from the restaurants they love. When our CTO noticed the phenomenon of users requesting drawings on their takeout bags, we saw an opportunity to make our customers' day just a bit better, through the unexpected.
Although they probably got a great takeout order, our team was unsure that these creative customers received the bag masterpiece they had in mind. For the Olo Bags campaign, our illustrator-in-residence Chris Chatel, bring these drawings to life on olobags.com each month with GIFs.
We wanted to create a digital and real world connection through the campaign. Much like our ordering apps connect the digital world to our clients' daily lives, the campaign brings together online and offline elements.
After getting permission from the customer, winning drawing requesters get a framed print of the drawing for their home. The result? Lots of great non-traditional B2B engagement and some really, really excited imaginative customers.
In some cases, we reach out for permission and to explain the project months after the order has hit the Olo platform. The element of the unexpected catches our clients' end users by surprise. Unlike a traditional contest - which follows a path of awareness, entry, and outcome - this catches our customers to interact with online ordering in an unexpected way, while reinforcing their relationship with their favorite restaurant chains.
We are big believers that a brand doesn't need an astronomical budget to make a big impact for the brand and make customers smile. As legendary restauranteur and Olo Board Member Danny Meyer has said, "high tech requires high touch."
WEB RESULTS - olobags.com is a top traffic referral to olo.com, causing industry prospects and customers to learn more about Olo, a brand that traditionally stays behind the scenes of our white-labeled platform. As a result, visitors from olobags.com stay longer and look at more pages on average than our typical visitor.
CUSTOMER REACTIONS - "You guys won the internet for today, and made my week!" "Excited to keep an eye on Olo and olobags.com to see the latest as it's revealed on the site. You guys rock!" "This email made my morning!" Olo's mission since 2005 has been to provide customers with better, faster, more personal service from the restaurants they love. There's nothing we love than to make our customers' day just a bit brighter.
