Thursday, November 16, 2006

Steak n Shake Screws Up, So You Get a Free Milkshake!

I was reading IndyStar this morning and read an awesome article. I'm going to post it in its entirety, because I've found that links to IndyStar articles eventually don't work. Anyways, read on.

Colts fans may have a beef with Steak n Shake ad
By John Russell

Thousands of Indianapolis residents doubtlessly will do a double-take this week when they open the mail to find out their hometown Steak n Shake restaurant is "a proud sponsor of the Dallas Cowboys."

That's quite a public-relations pickle for the Indianapolis-based restaurant chain, especially as the Colts and Cowboys gear up to play this Sunday in Dallas.

The company, known for its steakburgers and milkshakes, inadvertently sent a mailer promoting its "Cowboys side-by-side milkshake" to more than 600,000 Indianapolis residents.

It was intended for the Dallas market. Some were mailed in Chicago and St. Louis.

Steak n Shake, which sponsors the Colts and the Cowboys, apologized Wednesday.

"We feel just terrible," said Steven Schiller, chief marketing officer. "We sponsor only two teams. They just happened to be playing each other this weekend. We obviously messed up, and we hope Colts fans will be understanding."

Steak n Shake said the mistake was a result of human error by its mailing vendor, ADVO.

Steak n Shake said it had received about 10 calls from Indianapolis residents. "Some were angry. But when we explained it was an accident, they understood," Schiller said.

So Steak n Shake will offer dine-in customers wearing Colts gear a free milkshake -- including the Colts Blue and White Side-by-Side Shake -- from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

-Article from IndyStar.com. Star reporter John Russell. Permalink


It seems this would be a difficult mistake to make, but then again... O.J. reminds us that you can always do something even more moronic.

1 comment:

Joshua said...

Brilliant! I bet Steak and Shake business will be booming on Sunday with all those people who'll be going to get their free milkshake. Many probably would not have gone had it not been for the free Shake, but since they're there, they'll probably get food as well. I bet Steak and Shake comes out of this one just as good if not better than they would have without the screw up. Brilliant!