TV Dinners: Interactive entertainment with a side of fries

A few years ago, Premier Retail Networks took over operations of a nationwide digital network in Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wendys restaurants.  Hospitality was a new animal, considering that PRN wrote the book on shopper marketing at retail.

​Engagement in fast-casual restaurants was untested ground.

With theBite, we had the opportunity to re-think and test a new approach to television with mobile engagement at the core, with the promise that existing shopper marketing advertisers would want to invest.

10 people were assigned roles with this new startup-within-a-company venture.

I signed on as Executive Producer, and out of necessity and opportunity, I assumed responsibilities of Creative Director and Product Owner.

theBite Channel Program had concurrent work streams:

1. MVP: Product Launch and Optimization
2. CX Strategy
3. Media Production
4. Listening to the data: Interactive Engagement

The Platform: A network of locations, from sea to shining sea 

MVP / Live Beta

With zero downtime, we went live with our MVP the moment the former owners ceased operations. Many were surprised how seamless it went, which was a testament to the high level of expertise PRN had in managing the enterprise, in this case, of 6000 screens and 4000 servers across 2000 locations. In the initial sprints of deployment, DevOps focused on reconciling technical debt: back-end bug bashing and trimming help-desk requests.

While systems and infrastructure were being optimized, the content team focused on creating meaningful experiences for the millions of diners watching our screens everyday.

Entertainment media served up while we dine.

UX Strategy: Questions to answer

With a wealth of research at our fingertips, the first challenge was to define what value TV could provide to a mobile-first audience. Short-form content was never a question, but what media really mattered, when we finally have the finest on-demand entertainment systems in human history at our fingertips?

What would turn passive viewers into active participants?
​Isn't TV dead? 

Serious questions, indeed. We started with the assumption that we had a shot at being relevant and delightful if we treated their attention as gold, and in exchange we'd give away fun content which could be converted into social currency.

Because we were on-air on Day 1, we adopted an abbreviated CX process, where testing was done live, rather than in a sandbox.

Project Phases

DISCOVERY

• Define Business Requirements, Platform + Competitive Landscape

• Understand Users, Systems Limitations

DEFINITION + DEVELOPMENT

• Structure and Scope
• Personas, Flows, Scenarios 
• Consumer Experience, Interactive Engagement / Show Flow

TESTING and DELIVERY

• Structure: this went fast, as we were already on-air
• Content and Creative Products
• Community Engagement

What we did, ways we pivoted, things we learned

Details and findings from the project are explored on the following pages

• SMS Engagement rivals Words with Friends ads
• A Self-Service Toolkit: Store managers want their own way to publish content

From a universe of diners, we targeted
​college-age guys and shaped experiences for them

The Brand: Bite-sized entertainment 
that keeps you current with
​things sports-and-pop-cultural

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Creative Samples

Labor Day Interstitial
​Animator: Lauren Friedrich | Sound Design: Michael Becker

Mother's Day Interstitial
​Animator: Lauren Friedrich | Sound Design: Michael Becker

Sports Quiz: Basketball
​Animator: Jonathan Cooksey ​| Sound Design: Michael Becker

Content Block Bumper
​​Animator: Jonathan Cooksey ​| Sound Design: Michael Becker