Whataburger is always looking for ways to increase coverage and engage the media around its exciting new offerings. With its launch of new menu items in the fall of 2022, the brand aspired to break its previous record for earned media mentions, which was 203 original, reporter-generated stories across broadcast, online and print. Further, Whataburger sought to track how coverage directly related to and impacted sales.

Hahn predicted that the launch would be well-received by the media, as every featured item was brand new versus bringing back older favorites. Q4 limited-time offers were released in three phases after previous media tracking efforts revealed that QSRs garner more coverage when launch pitches are spaced out over several weeks or months rather than all at once.

In partnership with its team of data scientists, Hahn developed a coverage tracker to include an overall summary and links to stories, including tabs for the number of mentions, reach, AVE and daily and total restaurant sales impact.

Hahn’s media tracker counted 233 stories with a total reach of 757M, and an AVE of $7M. It was determined that media coverage contributed to more than $6.8M in total sales impact during the three months of tracking.

Of the 110 unique outlets that reported on the menu changes, 55 outlets shared at least two stories and 38 shared three or more stories dedicated to individual menu items or releases, including national, regional and local publications. Several outlets shared stories that referenced Whataburger’s staggered product releases and their details.