Commercial cross promotions are generally as awesome and helpful as that time your dad, in a ham-fisted attempt to score you a prom date, stood on a corner and yelled about how nice, old-fashioned and pretty you are. (Don’t ask me how I know this.)
Leave it to the Cracker Barrel to team up with country singer Rodney “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)” Atkins to promote each other’s all-American, artery-clogging cheese. In return for Rodney’s promotion of the interstate-highway huggin’, rockin’ chair sportin’ sad family dining chain, the Barrel will unleash a compendium of his hits (including one previously unreleased song) on an unsuspecting, innocent world.
According to Cracker Barrel’s press release, Rodney likes nothing more than rollin’ his tour bus up to the ol’ Barrel.
“Menu favorites for Rodney include the open roast beef sandwich, biscuits n’ gravy, hash brown casserole (WTF is that? It sounds like deep fried carb bliss on crack with a side of bacon and I think I may need to hit that shit up), chicken n’ dumplins [sic] and of course a ‘big ol’ glass of sweet tea with lemon.
“Like millions of Americans, Rodney enjoys stopping at Cracker Barrel when he’s on the road, sitting for awhile on the front porch, and having a great meal,” the release squawks. “‘I love seeing a ‘Cracker Barrel Up Ahead’ sign on the road ’cause we all know that whenever you stop by, you are guaranteed to get a great meal–just like home,’ said Rodney.”
The crack team of marketing folks at the Barrel clearly know their audience–and that audience loves them some country. They’ve previously teamed up with Dailey & Vincent Sing the Statler Brothers, Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson and Montgomery Gentry.
Can a Paris Hilton/Carl’s Jr. cross promo be far off? Oh, wait…
TOPICS: Eat to the Beat, Kathleen Willcox