A few years ago we came up with the idea of placing brand messages/ads on the back slips within fortune cookies into targeted Chinese restaurants (don't worry, we leave the generic fortune on the front). We allow brands to play with the fortune so it leads into the ad but to make sure it stays generic- ex 1-Slip-Front- 'You will meet someone amazing tonight' Slip-Back- Ad message relating to Match.com or Eharmony etc. ex 2- Slip-Front- 'A dollar can change your life forever' Slip-Back- Ad message relating to a state lottery or casino etc. The founders spent many months cold calling and won over a few major clients- state lottery, politician etc. Unfortunately the business isn't sustainable if we don't change something- How do we scale our business? We have an online presence at www.fortunecookieadvertising.com but no current staff. We have channels into 40,000 Chinese restaurants distributing over 14M cookies daily and exclusive agreements with the largest fortune cookie factories in the country. Our issue is with sales- What is the best way of getting ad agencies, OOH consultants, alternative media agencies, brands to notice us? Do we hire business development or sales specialists? Do we focus on a specific type of online advertising? We can't continue at this pace and are looking for the best advice. Thanks in advance!
As an agency founder and Creative Director, I am barraged by a ton of cold calls and emails from publishers and ad platforms trying peddle their wears--so that can be a long road, with slow return. You have an interesting and novel business model--does it have longevity? Well, that depends on your hustle. I would recommend the following:
1. Identify businesses would be low hanging fruit and are hungers to grow themselves and campaign to them directly (caviar, Grubhub, Eat24, Seamless etc).
2. Call up the agency admins and offer to send lunch (Chinese) with some collateral.
3. Use your own fortune cookie to advertise yourself (not only in your restaurants, but sending out the cookies themselves to potential targets.
Answered 9 years ago
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