Public Relations
In 2022, iconic Hawai‘i fast-casual eatery L&L Hawai‘i began plans to celebrate its second-annual National SPAM® Musubi Day. Each year on August 8, L&L’s hundreds of restaurants nationwide honor the longtime popular Hawai‘i comfort-food snack with free SPAM® musubi for customers all day. (The date is a homage to Hawai‘i’s area code.)
A few of you might be asking, “What is a SPAM® musubi and why is it celebrated?” Picture this mouthwatering tastiness. Take a single slice of savory SPAM® grilled to semi-crisp perfection in a teriyaki or soy-sauce glaze and place it on a palm-sized block of warm, fluffy white rice. Wrap the block of rice and SPAM® together with a crisp, umami-kicked ribbon of dried seaweed — aka nori — and you have a SPAM® musubi, one of Hawai‘i’s most popular and beloved any-time-of-day comfort-foods.
The Challenge
Anthology was contracted by L&L to execute a public relations strategy that would raise awareness of its second-annual celebration of SPAM® musubi and elevate L&L Hawai‘i’s profile as well.
The Solution
For 2022 National SPAM® Musubi Day festivities, Anthology’s goal was to build on L&L’s previous-year efforts and continue generating local and national excitement for the big day on August 8 and the dish itself, while encouraging customers to head to L&L restaurants across Hawai‘i and the continental U.S. to get a SPAM® musubi for free.
We put together a strategic national and local media list that included general news assignment outlets as well as travel, lifestyle, food, business and regional outlets. Our push focused especially on outlets and media in cities with an L&L eatery. We also utilized the strategic media list as a starting point for targeted pitching efforts, including former Hawai‘i-based media representatives who had relocated to the continental U.S. Our thinking behind this? Perhaps they’d welcome the opportunity to talk about a favorite hometown dish in their new roles.
We drafted news releases announcing National SPAM® Musubi Day to kick-off excitement and educate national audiences, including people who might not have any idea what SPAM® musubi was. We also drafted an August 7 release reminding media that National SPAM® Musubi Day festivities commenced the next day.
To add some fun to our pitching efforts, we sent out PR packages from L&L that included a platter of SPAM® musubi and L&L-branded swag items, including an exclusive T-shirt for National SPAM® Musubi Day 2022 festivities designed by Hawai‘i-based artist Jasper Wong. For this effort, we targeted outlets that utilized visuals to engage their audiences, such as broadcast TV stations and social media influencers.
We sent locally based media and former Hawai‘i media living in the continental U.S. SPAM® musubi platters and L&L swag item PR packages to ante up incentives for them to cover National SPAM® Musubi Day. We also strategically targeted Hawai‘i social media influencers with a large audience of national followers with whom they regularly shared Hawai‘i anecdotes.
Anthology’s strategy for L&L resulted in solid national and local coverage for National SPAM® Musubi Day 2022 in print, online and television media outlets and social media platforms. Major highlights included coverage in Forbes, SFGate and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and on all Hawai‘i television news stations and Sacramento’s KCRA-TV. It also resulted in increased year-over-year customer participation at L&L restaurants across the country for free SPAM® musubi on the big day.
L&L Hawai‘i was very pleased with the results of Anthology’s efforts. We helped them celebrate and promote National SPAM® Musubi Day in 2023 as well and hope to continue doing so in the years to come.