Shake Shack uses AI to drive sales via Reddit

Shake Shack recently launched an innovative ad campaign leveraging generative AI and Reddit. Partnering with Known, they deployed an AI chatbot dubbed “The Big Letbotski” to scan over 80,000 subreddits for relevant conversations around chicken sandwiches. The AI then crafted targeted ads based on trending phrases like "healthy lunch on Sunday." This 10-day campaign successfully drove over 13,000 ad clicks, showcasing the potential of combining social media insights with AI for impactful marketing efforts.

Shake Shack added a secret sauce to its latest advertising campaign: generative artificial intelligence.
The burger joint used full service agency Known’s Reddit-focused gen AI chatbot, The Big Letbotski, to scour over 80,000 active subreddits for contextual conversations around chicken sandwiches. The bot zoned in on phrases such as “healthy lunch on Sunday,” “where can I grab a good deal?,” “gourmet fast food” and “healthy alternatives to burger.”
Shake Shack found 30 subreddits specific to those contextual conversations and ran targeted ads across those subreddits promoting its Chicken Shack Sundays giveaway in April.
The 10-day campaign resulted in over 13,000 ad clicks, surpassing its benchmarks for the platform by 31%. And it drove people into the Shack.
“Overall, we exceeded our Sunday sales expectations,” Mike McGarry, vice president of brand marketing at Shake Shack, told ADWEEK. The company wouldn’t share details about how much this increased sales by.
Brands like Zipcar, Diageo and Progressive are using gen AI tools to boost their marketing efforts. Marketers are slowly moving past the initial hype of gen AI, aiming to use it as more than a novel tool, but as a strategic driver of tangible return on investment.
Reddit contains a wealth of data and signals from its users, with over 100,000 communities on the platform. But brands tend to be cautious about showing up and serving ads on the platform in the most relevant way.