Fast Food for Night Owls

Denny's has a new campaign to attract young adults with late-night/early-morning switch in music and menu. WSJ reports that so far, nightowl traffic is up 5% but the chain's overall sales are flat or slightly down.

McDonald's late-night hours are driving traffic into its European restaurants . . . and as the image here shows, KFC has a special late-night menu in its "The Colonel's Gone Nocturnal" program.

Courting young adults should mean lots of social media activity. I know KFC has a big MySpace presence, and it's also on Facebook and Twitter. McDonald's San Diego restaurants tweet here, and it has other Twitter accounts for Brazil, NW Ohio, and greater Cincinnati. YouTube is filled with commercials and tributes (flattering and not so flattering) for all the fast-food brands. Enough said.

Who could miss Burger King's quirky campaigns aiming for the young adult segment? They've helped BK vs. Wendy's but not, so far, helped it catch up to archrival McD's. Burger King has been doing interesting things with social media, of course. Remember its "Delete 10 Facebook Friends, Get a Free Whopper" campaign from just 6 months ago? Very popular, and got BK a lot of publicity and WOM. Maybe it was too offbeat for mainstream tastes, but pitched just right for the late-night crowd.