Attention People Who Eat: Messy Hamburger Leads To Brilliant Hidden Psychological Marketing Mind Warping Tricks

No matter what I do… I cannot get the name of this restaurant out of my head.

Johnny Rockets

It’s been nearly a week since the wife and I casually stopped in for a bite to eat after running some errands. The last time (and first time) I ate at Johnny Rockets Restaurant was on a Carnival cruise ship.  But this time was much different.  Very different.

It all started like a normal dinner.  My wife and I were jamming out to some 60’s music with the other patrons while the waiters and waitresses danced around the room doing some rehearsed jig.  Like I said, it was a normal dinner you’d have anywhere else.

Anyway, everything was cool until the bill came.  I opened the sticky bill holder and my eyes immediately glanced over to the right at a brightly colored piece of paper.

It was a little game they had going on… but the catch was the game didn’t start until sometime in January I believe.

Now on the back of the little game piece was a place for a manager to sign and date.  I took a closer look and read that you CANNOT open the game piece to reveal your prize until AFTER the date on the card and you had to open it in the restaurant - with the game piece being signed by the manager.

Oh my…

When the waitress came back to take my check, I held up the game piece and told her that it was brilliant marketing, like she knew what the heck I was talking about…

As my wife and I walked out the door, I said, “You know, this little game piece is going to drive me crazy.”  And it did.

All the way home I wondered what I could win.  A free hamburger?  A free shake?  Or maybe even free Johnny Rockets food for life!

Now do I honestly care about either of those things?  Not really.  However, it was the fact that I didn’t know if I was a winner or not - and the fact that I wouldn’t know for at least another month.

When we got home, I did what most others would do.  I put the Johnny Rockets game piece on our refrigerator under a magnet, hoping I wouldn’t see it.  An hour later I went to the fridge to get a drink and all I could see was that Johnny Rockets game piece.

Instantly I began to sweat.  What is in that game piece?  What could I have won?  How am I going to wait more than a month to find out?  I began to pace the floor doing all I could to hold myself back from opening the game piece.

The next day I couldn’t take it any longer.  When I woke up, I ran to the fridge, took the game piece and shoved it deep into my “junk drawer” next to the batteries and duct tape.

As I worked on my computer a few hours later, all I could think about was Johnny Rockets and that game piece.  What if I’m a big winner?  What could it say under there?

I couldn’t take it any longer…

I ran over to the drawer, found the game piece and was holding it when my wife walked into the kitchen.  ”Don’t you dare!”  She laughed.  Laughed I tell you!  Now as you can imagine, this was by far not a laughing matter.  This little Johnny Rockets game piece had somehow taken over me.

I just had to know… so I opened the game piece.  It revealed that I had (or would have) won a free appetizer.  If I had only waited… I could have won.  I could have won…

So someone at Johnny Rockets came up with this very WhackedOut Marketing idea - which I’m sure is driving many other people crazy around here.  I mean who can hold out for a month or more to find out if they are a winner?

And if that person is the type of person who has the nerves of pure platinum, they’d be the first at the door when the day arrives to bring your unopened game piece in.  Those types of people must enjoy pain, I tell you.

Anyway… now here we are, several days later and I feel an urge to go back to Johnny Rockets just to get another game piece.  I just know I can be stronger this time…

So this whole deal made me think (which you will learn over time can be very dangerous to the marketing world)…  What on earth could I (or you) do in the Internet Marketing world to create a little frenzy like this?  What if you could create this WhackedOut psychological mind-warping Jedi Masterish fuel for your Internet business like Johnny Rockets created for their restaurant?

Is there a way to do it?  If so, how would you do it?

I’ve got more to say, but I think they close at midnight and I just might make it in time to get a game piece…