When Jack in the Box starts remodeling all of its restaurants this year, the job will include two new TVs from Ripple Networks Inc., an in-store television company based in El Segundo.
Ripple plans to install two flat screens in about 1,000 Jack in the Box restaurants during the next year, according to co-founder Ali Diab. At first, the deal only covers outlets owned by San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc., but eventually it will extend to franchised stores. Diab expects that within a few years, nearly all of the fast-food chain’s 2,000 restaurants will have Ripple screens.
The content on those screens will vary depending on the clientele of the specific restaurant. Ripple will combine entertainment and informational programming from providers such as ESPN, CBS, MSNBC and Yahoo. On the advertising side, Ripple prides itself on connecting local retailers with customers on a location-by-location basis, as it has proven on screens already in place at Jiffy Lube and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores.
The vast majority of Jack’s customers live within a two-mile radius of the restaurant, giving Ripple a rough idea of the demographic target. In addition, “Jack in the Box has done a lot of demographic and psychographic research on their audience, and we’ve developed a program based on that customer,” said Diab.
Advertising on the screens will come from local retailers. Diab said that based on his understanding, Jack in the Box doesn’t intend to monopolize the ad slots to promote itself in the dining room. “They will allow local businesses in their community to advertise. They’re big on that community business outreach.”
The price for a typical Ripple ad that reaches 20,000 walk-in customers a month is about $100. That calculates to $5 per thousand impressions, a bargain compared to local newspapers, TV or radio. Earlier this year, Ripple unveiled a program that allows advertisers to build their own ad from a template and place it online, an attempt to make both the logistics and the price accessible to mom-and-pop retailers.
The Ripple TVs figure as one piece within a larger move by the Jack in the Box to upgrade its image. The campaign started with ciabatta sandwiches and all-sirloin hamburgers. Next the chain plans to redesign its dining rooms.
“Along with new flooring, furnishings, lighting and Jack-inspired decorative elements, adding amenities like music, flat-screen TVs and an in-store network is key to creating an inviting dining destination,” said Greg Joumas, the Jack in the Box division vice president of advertising and marketing communications. “We have a vision for this network to be truly entertaining and consistent with our brand.”
In conjunction with the Jack deal, Ripple announced it has secured $10 million in second-round financing. Lead investor for the funding is venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Last year Ripple secured first-round funding from Trinity Ventures worth about $5 million, enough to bankroll the company’s current distribution network of 500 screens in five states.
Diab confirmed that Jack in the Box would not pay for the screens in its restaurants. In fact, the restaurateur will receive a percentage of the ad revenues Ripple derives from the screens.
