Souper: The Office's Phyllis Smith Helps Panera Announce Return of French Onion

French Onion soup is back at Panera!

Didn’t know that Panera Bread had French Onion soup? No worries. Were you aware of the social outcry of its fans demanding the iconic comfort food’s return? Totally cool, if that’s news to you.

You do now (or should)…and that’s the point.

Panera did one of those smart, clever PR-driving things I always love to see. How calculated it really was would be interesting to learn about, but that’s besides the point. They saw an opportunity, took advantage and did it all through clever and focused deployment of resources. Relatively low investment, high potential ROI.

Here’s the gist, as deduced from our extensive sleuthing.

• Panera Bread used to offer French Onion soup on its menu

• At some point (apparently recently), they removed it

• Some people got angry

• Several tweets were posted lamenting the bon voyage of this French icon

Sometime thereafter, smart folks at Panera had a strategic discussion (this is how I’d like to imagine it went down). Part of that conversation revisited the number-crunching and real business chats originally associated with the decision to remove said soup. A curious and clever individual then noted that, in considering its return, there might be an opportunity for earned and social media. She/he said: “What if we used this as a moment to say we heard our fans and are bringing back the French Onion due to ‘popular demand?’” Ears piqued, brows furrowed and the crazy idea got a bit of life.

Creative folks then decided that St. Louis resident and Office actress Phyllis Smith would make a lot of sense for the brand’s audience. These people noted that reading mean tweets also tends to be funny, and Phyllis doing so might make it even more so. Corporate then gave the go-ahead but encouraged production costs to be kept low.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Here was the result:

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcUAP5K0Ryk&w=854&h=480]

Simple. Tight. Low-budget (outside of Phyllis?). Authentic. C’mon, Boo Detch is even their real, everyday social media manager!

And, now, driving headlines. In the process, it’s not only raised awareness with those Panera devotees…but conceivably captured the attention of prospects.

Soup. Is. On.