First, we identified the consumer tension: people were frustrated with wasting time combing through hundreds of conflicting opinions on restaurant review sites. So our solution was to reinforce what Zagat has always done best: publish tiny-yet-perfect editorial summaries of must-try restaurants curated from thousands of avid diners’ reviews.

To draw attention to Zagat’s tiny-yet-perfect reviews, we decided to leverage the international trend of tiny food, popular on YouTube and social media with millennials—just the audience Zagat wanted to reach.

We opened a tiny cafe in Manhattan and served real, miniature versions of dishes from NYC's hottest restaurants. At our custom-designed, functional pop-up cafe, visitors could order free, mini versions of the city’s best food, prepared with real recipes of some of the most popular dishes at NYC’s highly-rated Zagat restaurants.

From tiny branded takeaway boxes to miniature menus, we considered every detail for photograph-ability—lining one end of the cafe with a tiny food gallery, and building in seating and a table on the opposite end of the cafe with miniature place settings for customers to photograph their tiny food in relation to normal place settings. The cafe served four tiny dishes from a takeout window: burgers and pizza from Pizza Loves Emily, tacos from Los Tacos No. 1, and chocolate chip cookies from Jacques Torres. While people waited in line to order their tiny dishes, they could watch our chefs do tiny food demonstrations using real ingredients and two functioning mini stoves. Visitors were encouraged to use the campaign hashtag #tinycafe for social sharing, and we placed subtle branding and clever copy in likely photo ops to help visitors more easily share their experience.

The Tiny Cafe generated over 1 billion earned media impressions. The event made a big impression with press, garnering over 865 million impressions across online media, print media, and broadcast, most notably feature placements in The New York Times, The Verge, Buzzfeed, and ABC’s The Chew.

On social media, the campaign was also highly shareable, with over 145 million potential social impressions, and with influencers like Rashida Jones and Jacques Torres sharing the news.

Nearly 10,000 tiny food enthusiasts interacted with Zagat during the activation. Not only was there sustained social conversation and overwhelmingly positive sentiment, but Zagat’s “tiny-yet-perfect reviews” were frequently mentioned in coverage, creating authentically meaningful connections between the experience and the brand.

With the Tiny Cafe, we were able to reach and engage a new millennial audience—all while reinforcing Zagat’s commitment to highlighting and directing people to the best food experiences in the city.

To generate awareness for the brand and their updated mobile app among a new younger audience, Zagat leveraged the trend of tiny food popular among millennials, and opened a tiny food cafe serving miniature versions of some of NYC’s most popular dishes. Over 10,000 press, influencers, and visitors flocked to the cafe eager to cover this one-of-a-kind event, generating over 1 billion earned media impressions, including 145 million social impressions. Zagat’s tiny-yet-perfect reviews were seamlessly integrated into every aspect of the experience, authentically engaging a new generation of diners and proving that Zagat’s small reviews are easier to digest.

The target audience for this campaign included 18-34 year olds who are tech-friendly, engaged, curious, and open-minded.

After we found our consumer pain point (restaurant review exhaustion) and solved it with a product differentiator (expertly summarized reviews), we found a cultural trend to tie into that this target audience cared about. By positioning the Zagat brand with the tiny food trend, we were able to create an activation that delighted a whole new generation of diners.

To build momentum before the event, we reached out to foodie influencers and press, who flocked to the cafe. Instead of paying social media influencers, we pitched them like journalists and alerted them to the opportunity to cover the event. We also teamed up with (unpaid) restaurants and chefs with broad reach to create our tiny food.

When Zagat launched in 1979, they were the first to curate and publish reviews from passionate locals instead of professional critics.

But nearly 40 years later, a brand that once reinvented how people chose to dine had grown a reputation for being outdated among millennials, who were most familiar with the little maroon guidebooks their parents consulted for a night out in the big city.

In reality, Zagat has always remained at the forefront of emerging dining trends. With the launch of their mobile app and updated reviews, our challenge was to develop an event that would bring attention and renewed relevancy to Zagat’s brand among a new millennial audience through social conversation and earned media.