2024 Franchise Marketing Leadership Award Winner: Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Tropical Smoothie Cafe Wins with "Concierge" Campaign

A national campaign promising to put customers on “Tropic Time Now” helped Tropical Smooth Cafe earn the overall award for Franchise Marketing Leadership as part of Franchise Update Media’s 6th Annual Franchise Innovation Awards.

Judges reviewed more than 150 entries in five main categories and 22 subcategories to determine Innovation Award winners. Tropical Smooth Café rose to the top thanks to its “Tropic Time Concierge” national advertising campaign. It launched a new Tropic Bowl menu category and featured a concierge character played by “Saturday Night Live” star Chloe Fineman. The concierge invites guests to treat themselves to the new line of smoothie bowls, calling them a “five-star luxury.”

The tropical getaway campaign theme was an immediate hit with customers and store operators. The average cafe has sold almost three times the volume of Tropic Bowls compared to what was sold during the product testing stages. The number of total entrees and smoothies per check increased by 4.3% in the first several months after the launch of the campaign.

Tropical Smoothie Cafe also won the Cause Marketing Award. Franchisees and guests raised more than $1.7 million to benefit No Kid Hungry. 

We spoke with Emily Ciccone, Tropical Smoothie Cafe’s vice president of brand marketing, about how the brand created the campaign and the success experienced following its launch.

Briefly describe the innovation. Tropical Smoothie Cafe sought to evolve its menu with the launch of the new Tropic Bowls menu category. This capitalized on the growing popularity of bowls with a new line of products that fit perfectly with the brand’s better-for-you offerings of smoothies, wraps, flatbreads, and more. The brand also sought to use this launch as an opportunity to refresh its “You’re on Tropic Time Now” campaign, which has been running successfully since 2020. 

The brand also knew the importance of a product launch like Tropic Bowls needed some star power, a breakthrough creative choice to make its media work as hard as possible and create some disproportionate impact. To bring this to life, Tropical Smoothie Cafe launched its first celebrity partnership with Chloe Fineman of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” Fineman serves as the brand’s “Tropic Time Concierge,” a spunky, sunny hotel concierge who helps guests treat themselves to everyday getaways in the form of better-for-you Tropic Bowls.

What were the original goals and objectives in launching the campaign? The original goal of the campaign stemmed from Tropical Smoothie Cafe seeking to create an uptick in food trials by guests nationwide. As a brand primarily known for smoothies, food item sales continue to be a key goal for the brand as it diversifies its menu with high-quality, on-the-go items. Additionally, Tropical Smoothie Cafe also identified the category of smoothie bowls as something the brand could uniquely own. It is the perfect intersection of “better for you” and the booming “treat yourself” culture.

How long did it take to plan, create, and launch? The launch of the new Tropic Bowls menu category was a whirlwind! The decision to launch until the live date was just under six months.

What were the main results, impacts, successes, and ROI? The creative was quantitatively tested against both the QSR category norms and all category norms. The results showed positive performance against our most important indicators: 

•  It over-indexed on seven out of the nine persuasion measures.
•  The audience expressed emotion for “thirsty” and “yummy,” aligned with our ambition to encourage “craveability.”
•  More than 60% of the viewers indicated positive purchase intent for the products (the all-industry norm is 47%).

These early indicators of success were proven in the market. Today, the average cafe is now selling almost three times the volume of Tropic Bowls that was sold during the product testing stages. The Acai Bowl, in particular, is leading the pack and is now among the top-selling menu items. The energy generated by this new line of bowls is broadly impacting the business. The number of total entrees and smoothies per check has increased by 4.3%, leading to a significant positive check impact.

What role did social media play in the success of the campaign? This line of bowls meets at the intersection of “better for you” and the “treat yourself” culture. We’re seeing it explode in social trend, so social media was the perfect channel to support this launch.

Why do you think this message resonated so strongly with your customers? The “treat yourself” movement has become a cultural phenomenon (#treatyourself has more than 3.6 billion views on TikTok, and many consumers echo the theme when they talk about Tropical Smoothie Cafe). This cultural insight put a fresh spin on the brand’s core emotional promise of a tropical getaway and inspired a new creative expression of the campaign. 

What was the impact for customers? Through research and social listening, Tropical Smoothie Cafe has identified that guests continue to seek out better-for-you options that can be taken on the go yet remain high quality. The addition of Tropic Bowls enables Tropical Smoothie Cafe guests to grab a quick bite from their favorite cafe while still having the chance to taste the five-minute vacation we strive to offer in each location nationwide.

What was the impact for franchisees? The impact for franchisees is clear: As a top-selling menu item, Tropic Bowls aided in increased same-store sales for Tropical Smoothie Cafe nationwide and led to a positive check impact per restaurant. Franchisees see increased profitability across the board. 

How gratifying is it for a brand when a campaign not only meets your objectives but far exceeds your expectations with its success? At Tropical Smoothie Cafe, we have an ongoing goal to meet our guests where they are. Whether that’s during their lunch break, after school, or even at an airport, we want our guests to feel like Tropical Smoothie Cafe will always have the perfect smoothie or meal to help them tackle the day. When we’re able to achieve that goal, or even exceed it in this case with Tropic Bowls outperforming the testing stages, it provides us with further insight into what our valued guests are seeking in today’s market. Of course, innovation and product development are always top of mind for us, so seeing something like Tropic Bowls perform so well gives us even more ideas on what big things might be coming next in 2025.