Description

Context



February the 14th is the day brands exploit the same romantic clichés — flowers, hearts, and “two-for-one” deals. In this media noise, every brand looks the same, and audience attention scatters. We decided to break the mold and create a special project that stands out and offers a fresh format.


Problem

The Quick Service Restaurants category is quite predictable:
* Brand colors are always red and yellow.
* Ads feature oversized product shots.
* The only emotion is “good deal.”
In digital, this becomes even more obvious: brand feeds blend into one endless stream, giving audience no reason to subscribe or engage.

Solution

We reimagined Valentine’s Day, ditching the idealized imagery. After all, February 14 is not always about happy love. Sometimes it brings other memories.

That’s how we launched a special project, based on 3 pillars:
* Honesty — we addressed a topic most brands avoid.
* Self-irony.
* A new communication channel — we chose Tinder, which competitors hadn’t used.
 

As an extra hook, we added a product promo — ice cream, the universal cure for heartbreak.


Results


* 1.6M digital reach in just three days;
* Brand creative recognized 17% more often than standard product/image ads;
* Post engagement rate — 12.7% (9.5× higher than average);
* On Tinder, we got almost 100 matches, and 41% of them messaged us first;
* Guest count traffic rose up to 70%, sales went up by 108%;
* Despite being “off-season” for ice cream, the entire promo stock sold out.

Result: the special project helped the brand move away from Valentine’s Day clichés and build a real connection with the audience. A bold idea and a new channel sparked an open dialogue and made the brand stand out loudly in digital.

Media channel:
DOOH: LED screens, media boards, unconventional formats (large-scale placements);
Digital: targeted advertising on Meta and TikTok;
SMM: crowd marketing on Meta (situational commenting on influencer posts), organic promotion on Tinder and Meta;
PR: organic promotion in local media.

Release date:
February 14, 2025

Credits

I’M Restaurants:
Asset Mashanov – Chief Executive Officer
Evgenia Emelianova – Marketing Director
Yelena Kozubskaya – Brand Manager

Agency Team:
Gani Zharkynbayev – Strategic Partner
Karina Ptitsyna — Account manager
Alexander Tyulyaev – Creative Director
Nurym Akimgozhaev – Designer
Nikita Gorshkov – Strategy Manager
Vadim Tarkovsky – Digital Group Head

Partners:
Optimum Media Group – Outdoor Advertising Buying