A fundraising campaign being held by Chili’s to benefit a charity for childhood cancer has brought about a success of 291,000 scans of a QR code that was printed on tents and coloring sheets placed on tables throughout the restaurants.
The annual Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer campaign was held for the eighth year by Chili’s Grill & Bar and brought in more than $5 million in donations in order to assist children who are receiving lifesaving treatments form St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
This is the first multi-level campaign this year that has successfully used QR codes to boost awareness and donations. Julie Flowers, the spokesperson for Chili’s said that QR codes are the very latest mobile technology trend, and they provided the restaurant with “a unique way to say thank you while encouraging guests to donate to the Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer campaign.”
She explained that by working QR codes into this charity fundraiser, Chili’s was able to connect with their more technology friendly clients while providing supporters of St. Jude’s with a faster and simpler way to make a donation.
There were other interactive features that were also included in the campaign. These included emails that allowed customers to opt-in for a unique link that was trackable and that could be shared with the customer’s friends. As participants shared the link with their friends, they could earn rewards for desserts and appetizers.
Throughout the promotion, the web donation site was visited 235,000 times. There were 6,580 peppers created at the Create-A-Pepper website, and that were shared online through that site.