Casual dining chain Ruby Tuesday is ramping up online traffic ahead of National Cheeseburger Day by inviting consumers to take an interactive mobile quiz to determine which regionally-inspired burger best suits their personality and receive a coupon for a free cheeseburger, redeemable in-store.

The restaurant brand is currently promoting its limited-time regionally-inspired burger menu, which includes items such as the Big Sur Turkey Burger and Lone Star Chili Cheeseburger. To complement its new products, Ruby Tuesday is encouraging mobile users to take a quiz to potentially discover a new favorite dish and receive a digital coupon for a free cheeseburger on September 18, National Cheeseburger Day.

“Our primary goal in developing a quiz that allows people to answer the question, ‘If I were a cheeseburger, what cheeseburger would I be?’ is to generate equity for the Ruby Tuesday brand by engaging consumers in a fun, interesting way,” said David Skena, chief marketing officer of Ruby Tuesday. “The quiz also provides a platform by which to introduce our six new limited-time-only burgers, which will be available in addition to existing burgers at a special price in the weeks following National Cheeseburger Day, September 18.

“We certainly hope new and existing guests are inspired to join us for what we are calling our Burger Road Show as a result of the quiz and coupon they receive when they take it, which is valid for a free cheeseburger with the purchase of an entrée on National Cheeseburger Day.”

Talking up cheeseburgers
Ruby Tuesday is ringing in National Cheeseburger Day with a mobile quiz that invites players to discover the regionally-inspired burger that best fits their personality.

The quiz can be accessed at burgers.rubytuesday.com. The site immediately prompts visitors to input their first name, last name and email address to receive the mobile coupon upon completion of the quiz.

Consumers can then take the five-question quiz to learn more about Ruby Tuesday’s new lineup of regionally-inspired burgers, which include specialties such as the Boot Scoot’n Bacon Ranch Burger, Key Biscayne Beach Burger and Lone Star Chili Cheeseburger.

The quiz kicks off with the question, “If you were a cheeseburger stranded on a desert island, who would you like to accompany you?”

Multiple-choice answers include onion rings, another cheeseburger, French fries, broccoli, a vegan and a salad bar.

Other questions include, “If you were a dog, what would you dream about?” and “You’re about to do karaoke, which song do you pick?”

Once players answer all five questions, they may hit the submit button to find out which burger best suits their preferences. The results page will display a photo of the burger alongside a description paragraph detailing its ingredients and place of inspiration.

All players who take the quiz before September 17 will receive a coupon for a complimentary cheeseburger with the purchase of one adult entrée on National Cheeseburger Day.

The coupon will be emailed to consumers, who may redeem it on their mobile device or by printing it out and bringing it into the restaurant.

This activation will likely boost in-store sales for Ruby Tuesday by giving consumers added incentive to dine out with their families and take advantage of the limited-time offer.

“In concert with our other digital media efforts, the mobile-optimized Cheeseburger Quiz should enable us to reach a broad demographic of consumers, including younger segments,” Mr. Skena said.

A slew of other quick service restaurant chains are also employing the cachet of mobile personality quizzes to ramp up sales and awareness of new menu items.

For instance, California Pizza Kitchen is inviting consumers to visit a restaurant and taste its new wine and hand-crafted sangria flights by encouraging them to take a mobile quiz to discover which wine region best suits their personality and simultaneously enter a sweepstakes for a trip to Napa Valley (see story).

Burgers on tour
Ruby Tuesday is inviting consumers to visit its restaurants each week through October 30 and try one of its regionally-inspired burgers. The chain’s Burger Road Show kicks off with the Empire Melt Burger during the week of September 19 through 25.

The New York-inspired dish includes cheddar, American and Swiss cheese.

The Kansas City-influenced KC ‘Cue Burger and West Coast-inspired Big Sur Turkey Burger will make their debuts from September 26 to October 2 and October 3 to 9, respectively.

The promotion culminates with the launches of the Nashville-inspired Boot Scoot’n Bacon Ranch Burger, the Florida-influenced Key Biscayne Beach Burger and the Texas-approved Lone Star Chili Cheeseburger, which will be available from October 10 to 16, October 17 to 23 and October 24 to 30, respectively.

The restaurant brand’s decision to leverage a mobile quiz and coupon combination to complement the Burger Road Show will likely result in higher in-store traffic.

Ruby Tuesday recently embarked upon a mission to win back young mothers and families after an earlier repositioning to take the chain upscale drove them away, with mobile playing a significant role in the new strategy (see story).

“Leveraging mobile channels is an incredibly important means by which Ruby Tuesday looks to raise awareness of its culinary offerings and latest deals,” Mr. Skena said. “With the prolific rise of mobile devices, mobile is a key piece of our brand engagement strategy to ensure we reach our current and potential future guests wherever they are, whether that’s at home or on the go.”