TODOROFF'S^® ADVERTISING PHILOSOPHY

We advertise our great food and our great service and our clean restaurants. We're a leader. We don't need to talk about the other guy.

THE JOHN ROBINSON INTERVIEW

John Robinson was a Todoroff's customer who had patronized my restaurant and also my parent's restaurant on Ganson Street for decades. John made local–interest videos that he broadcast on the local public access cable television channel.

During the middle of February in 2006, John came into my restaurant for lunch to discuss creating a ten to fifteen minute video of the restaurant which he wanted to broadcast on the local public access cable television station. He explained that he and his partner had created several videos that spotlighted local Jackson businesses to the Jackson community. He wanted to showcase my restaurant, our food, and our family's long business history in Jackson. Enthusiastic, I agreed. John called a few days later to schedule the shooting day.

John and his partner arrived at my restaurant on Monday 2006–03–08 at 2:30 PM. He was shooting video from his VHS camcorder as he entered the parking lot, then as he walked around the building, and then as he entered the dining room. He had pre–arranged for me to be standing at the serving counter when they approached it and asked to speak with the owner. I prepared a couple of Coney Island hot dogs for them and then joined them at the booth where they were sitting.

They asked me quite a few questions about the business, the origin of the Coney Island hot dog and our food recipes, the history of our four generations of family businesses, and my franchising plans. The interview was light hearted and slightly humorous, which is how they shot all of their videos. When they completed the interview, John replayed it in the camcorder for me. I was happy with the results. John broadcast the video a couple of weeks later.

THE PAT WEATHERBEE COMMERCIAL

Pat Weatherbee was a Todoroff's customer who had patronized us since I opened my restaurant in 2001. Pat loved Coneys. He was my kind of customer.

During the middle of July in 2006, Pat came into my restaurant for lunch. I was in the kitchen while one of my three employees was on their break. As I placed Pat's tray on the serving counter and called the frontline server's name, Pat, who had been standing at the customer counter, asked to speak with me. I replied that I would visit with him in the dining room shortly.

A few minutes later, I had a brief opportunity between orders to visit Pat. He had just finished his lunch, so our unplanned timing was perfect. Pat explained to me that he intended to apply for a position with a mid–Michigan television studio. He wanted to showcase his movie production abilities to the prospective employer and he wished to use my unique and contemporary restaurant for the setting of his short production. I told Pat that I was intrigued and excited by his idea. I suggested that we meet the next day at my restaurant so that we could have an informal question and answer discussion.

Pat and I discussed his idea in greater detail the next day after the lunch rush. He had brought the production script with him. I reviewed it and liked it immediately. I made a couple of suggestions to the script, which he liked, and then he left. Pat called a few days later to schedule the shooting day.

Pat and one of his friends arrived at my restaurant on Monday 2006-07-31 at 2:30 PM. He carried several large carrying bags with him. As he began to unpack his equipment, I had expected to see a three hundred dollar camcorder and an inexpensive laptop computer. Pat unpacked a thirty–six hundred dollar professional camcorder and a top of the line Apple Computer Macintosh laptop. He also unpacked professional wireless concealed microphones and professional lighting meters.

Pat set up the wireless microphones on me and his friend. The he checked the lighting, we rehearsed the script twice, and we shot a dry run. Pat suggested that we review the first "Take", so he handed the headphones to me so that I could hear the dialog as I viewed the video on his camcorder screen. I liked it! I detected some flaws in my delivery, so I asked him to shoot another "Take". We shot a second "Take" and then reviewed it. All three of us liked it, so we called it a "Wrap".

THE FIRST K–105.3 COMMERCIAL

In September of 2006 I decided to use local broadcast radio as my advertising medium instead of the newspaper. Newspaper readership and subscriptions were declining rapidly nationwide while radio's demographic strength was growing rapidly. I contacted Stacy Murray at K–105.3 / WKHM / WIBM here in Jackson on Wednesday 2006–11–01. We scheduled an appointment to meet at my restaurant the next day. As luck would have it, K–105.3 was running a Christmas promotion that they called "The Ultimate Christmas" for a needy family in the Jackson area. I decided to purchase the advertising promotion and become a sponsor. I purchased a winter coat, hat, and mittens for a child. I also donated a twenty-five dollar Todoroff's gift certificate for the K–105.3 listener drawing winner.

I met Stacy at the K–105.3 studio on Wednesday 2006–11–15 at 3:00 PM to record the radio advertisement. She introduced me to a colleague named Rob Buttery, who would produce the advertisement. Rob did a wonderful job offering tips to me about voice speed, voice inflection, syllable emphasis, and more. The actual task of narrating the commercial was no task at all. I had a lot of fun with Rob.

K–105.3 aired the first commercial four times on Friday 2006–11–17. A lot of people told me that they heard the commercial and liked it. The commercial aired a forty times during November and December. Unfortunately, I never heard my own first commercial on the radio.

THE K–105.3 NASCAR COMMERCIAL

Stacy Murray contacted me in January of 2007 to discuss the upcoming K–105.3 NASCAR advertising promotion. This campaign would span six months and would provide considerable advertising coverage for Todoroff's Original Coney Island.

Stacy suggested that we record another commercial that would be based on the NASCAR theme. The next few months were quite hectic for me, which prevented me from recording the new commercial for the start of the NASCAR campaign. In the interim, we aired the first Todoroff's commercial that I had recorded. I finally got a chance to visit Rob Buttery and Stacy at the K–105.3 / WKHM / WIBM studio on Wednesday 2007–05–23 at 3:00 PM. I reviewed the commercial script that Stacy had prepared. We made a couple of changes to the script, and then visited Rob in his studio. We recorded a couple of takes, and Rob did his usual wonderful editting job. The entire process took about five minutes. Rob suggested that he would like to add some background music and some race car sounds to the commercial. I have provided both versions here.

K–105.3 aired the NASCAR commercial on Wednesday 2007–05–30. My customers told me that they thought that the commercial was cool. The commercial aired throughout the remainder of the NASCAR season which ended in October. Again, I never heard my own commercial on the radio.