Cracker Barrel’s Good Marketing Moment #2

Last time, we shared with you Cracker Barrel‘s ‘Good Marketing Moment #1’. In case you missed it, give it a read.

Now, here’s the second episode of marketing brilliance by Cracker Barrel.

Like most visitors to Cracker Barrel, you browse the ‘country store’ as you wait for your table. The trinkets — from jams, cookies, and candies to t-shirts — provide a nice diversion as you wait for eating time. As our family explored the ‘country store’ that greets all visitors to Cracker Barrel, I noticed a larger than life cutout of a man holding a guitar.

After some slight adjustment and clearing the fog from my eyes, I determined that the guitar-slinging man was Craig Morgan, a country singer/songwriter, who has had some success on the big stage.

Huh? Cracker Barrel is getting into music business?

It might just make sense.

The country music fan ‘demographic/psychographic’ is probably also a big eater of Cracker Barrel’s down home cooking. People who like eating a big ‘ol breakfast of bacon, eggs, and ham may also enjoy a little Dolly Parton or Wynonna on the stereo. Country music these days spans so many genres and variants that the music now has broad appeal. You could not have said that 20 years ago. A Cracker Barrel in-store life-size cut-out of Ozzy or Eddie Vedder? Probably not.

If Starbucks can push Jakob Dylan and Natalie Merchant music on coffee swillers, why can’t Cracker Barrel dabble in a new revenue stream?

After some sleuthing, I found out that not only is Cracker Barrel selling and promoting music in-store, but they also have an online store that offers music from some country newest (Rodney Atkins) and most classic (Alan Jackson and George Jones) artists. Interestingly enough, many of these titles were created just for Cracker Barrel’s distribution. Nice.

Wouldn’t it be great if Cracker Barrel unveiled in-store performance from some of these country hit makers? This event would just raise the level of ‘experience’ that you have when you jump into the world of Cracker Barrel.

McDonald’s you’re next: Why not sell Dora or Thomas the Tank Engine CD in-store?

Until next time,
Dan