I am in Chicago, I was watching U-Verse and on Discovery, they had an ad for Carl Jr.
I have never heard of them before. I assume it must’ve been an error on the part of the cable network.
But do any of you watch local TV that has stores, or other chains that regularly advertise outside their areas?
Yes- Sonic was advertising here long before one showed up. Some crab shack chain also advertises around here that I’ve actually seen.
I think you are talking about restaurant chains, but we get an ad in our newspaper every Sunday for a hardware/home store whose name I can’t think of right now. Not only have I never been in one, I have no idea where there even is one. Having worked at a newspaper for many years, I know that preprints are targeted by ZIP code, so they must be getting some shoppers from our area, so they’re not wasting their money, but there are no locations in the ad. Must be a well-kept secret.
I live in VT, and we get ads for Sonic, Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s, and Joe’s Crab Shack all the damn time, even though none are around.
The nearest Sonic is 50 miles away, but we still see ads, probably because our media market serves that area.
Stein Mart, apparently some sort of discount department store, advertises locally but the nearest store location (after checking their website) is over 100 miles away. I’ve always wondered why they spend that kind of money on tv ads.
Sonic used to torture me when I lived where there wasn’t one for a few hundred miles though. Dairy Queen likes to torture me with some calorie bomb ice cream once in awhile now that they left the area too.
There are ads for Sonic on TV in Buffalo, and the nearest Sonic is 165 miles away in the Cleveland area. Needless to say the Buffalo media market is not picked up in Cleveland. I think Sonic is just carpet-bombing ads.
I’m advertised to constantly and Google tells me that my nearest Sonic Drive-in is 585km away! Unless I want to drive over 6 hours, no Sonic for this Montrealer. (Though admittedly I see the commercials on American and not Canadian stations, so it’s not quite international carpet-bombing. 
)
Is it Tractor Supply?
Our local paper that serves 3 communities always has an insert for the Acme grocery store which is only located in two other communities adjacent to our 3. It never runs ads for Giant Eagle which is smack dab in the middle of the 3 communities.
I see a lot more Sonic commercials than I see Sonic restaurants. Although now that there’s a new Sonic not too far from here, I’m already excited to try it based on all the millions of commercials I’ve seen. Maybe that’s their strategy?
When Sonic finally opened in my town after years of ads, the anticipation was huge. There were lines in the street to get in, so much so that the police had to be there to direct traffic. In that regard, it was a huge success.
It’s too bad the food turned out to be mediocre at best.
Note that, in the vast majority of these cases, the chains in question are making a “national” ad buy (i.e., it runs everywhere). Even though the chains are regional, they’re usually in enough of the U.S. that a national ad buy is cheaper than a “spot” buy only in the markets in which they currently operate. When you see an ad for a truly local store or restaurant on your cable system, it’s been “dropped” in their by your local cable company.
In the case of Sonic, they’re gradually expanding into new markets, and have indeed seen that their ads did a good job of building up interest in the brand when they finally enter a market.
Joe’s Crab Shack! That’s the one.
No, it’s Menards. I just went to their web site and it seems that the the only one in the northern half of the state is in Massillon. I don’t get it.
Giant Eagle pulled their preprints from newspaper and went to direct mail at least 10 years ago. They are very specific with their demographics, and if you live near one, I don’t know why you wouldn’t get a mailer. Some newspapers give favorable rates to businesses with local HQs (in other words, charging a premium to out-of-state advertisers), so Acme may find it more economical to use the newspaper.
The thread title made me think about Sonic. Google maps tells me there’s one in Hayward, CA, now, but there wasn’t when I lived there, or anywhere else in the Bay Area. Commercials, though.
I don’t get the Menard’s ads, either. No matter how much the sale is, I can’t justify driving to Massillon. But…we have a Sonic? Where? Must research!
Oh…closest one is 12 miles away. Only if I happen to be out in Parma…not gonna make that drive just for a burger.
Dude, you’re ordering the wrong thing, then. Never go to Dairy Queen for anything but the desserts, and if you expect anything better than ballpark fare at Sonic, you’re overshooting the mark.
Here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we get television commercials for K-mart, but the nearest K-mart that I knew of (in Wichita Falls, Texas - about 130 miles to the north) closed many years ago. There is now no K-mart open for business within 150 miles - as far as our searches will go on Yahoo.
There’s a funny story about that last K-mart, too.
When they built that shiny new K-mart (which is now a fabric store and a Hastings books/music/video store co-located) in Wichita Falls, K-mart had them lay a road around back for the trucks to deliver to, and it was, appropriately enough, named “K-mart Drive”.
Then, some enterprising developer had the road extended and built houses back behind K-mart, some of which lead to the unfortunate circumstance of hapless residents living on K-mart Drive. Oh, the shame!
What’s worse, though, is that the store closed and vacated, and those poor folks still lived on K-mart Drive… where even K-mart didn’t want to be seen.
Eventually, after enough years had passed, the street was renamed, but I can only imagine the teasing any kid known to live on K-mart Drive must’ve endured…
Used to see national spots for Sonic on cable, years before we had any. Now we have them and I rarely see the spots anymore.
Occasionally see national spots for Jack in the Box. Hasn’t been one of those anywhere near here as long as I can remember, though my mom says there used to be some.
Still get plenty of Long John Silver’s ads, though they’re all gone, save one that’s not very convenient (and it’s also a KFC).
See occasional ads for Checkers (Rally’s) though most of them are gone and there’s one that seems to reopen then reclose every few years.