TGI Fridays™ Expands Digital Marketing Efforts to Enhance Interactions with Guests

Company Selects Made Movement and Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM)

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Feb 11, 2015, 06:00 ET

CARROLLTON, Texas, Feb. 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In a move designed to offer its guests a more enhanced, robust and personalized experience both inside and outside of the restaurant, TGI Fridays™ has selected two new agencies – Made Movement (Made) and Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM) – to manage all future digital marketing, e-mail and technology campaigns.

Made Movement, a Boulder, Colo.-based agency, will become the company's new digital, creative & technology agency of record and will be responsible for driving all digital content and infrastructure as well as managing all of Fridays social channels.

MXM, a leading content-powered customer engagement agency based in New York, has been chosen as the company's consumer engagement agency of record and will manage all e-mail and mobile communications for the Fridays customer loyalty program, Give Me More Stripes®.

"In a digital landscape that has redefined the way consumers interact with brands, it's incumbent on us to engage our Guests on their terms vs. ours. The tactics we're using need to reflect that approach, and ideally resonate with our Guests on a personal level," said Brian Gies, chief marketing officer, TGI Fridays. "With these new strategic partnerships, our aim is to continue to refine our targeting while developing and delivering content consumers want, when and where they want it."

The selection of the two agencies is designed to offer guests more targeted and dynamic touch-points to connect with Fridays, through campaigns that will push the envelope in the casual dining space.

"We're taking a necessary and progressive step forward in the digital/technology space and our new strategic partners will help drive required innovation in our category," Gies added.

"TGI Fridays has been a social pioneer since well before there was an Internet," said Dave Schiff, partner and chief creative officer, Made. "With the digital tools available today, combined with the brand's ability to draw people together in its restaurants, we are excited to work with them to be at the forefront of the changing definition of social interaction."

"MXM is delighted to join TGI Fridays' team, and bring our world-class capabilities in email strategy and operations to drive significant advancements in engagement and participation," explained David Brown, executive vice president, MXM.

About TGI Fridays

As the original casual dining bar and grill, TGI Fridays offers authentic American food and legendary drinks, served with genuine personal service. Bringing people together to socialize and celebrate the freeing and liberating spirit of "Friday" was the concept's founding premise, from which the brand promise "In Here, It's Always Friday®" was born. To share that social Fridays experience all over the world, TGI Fridays proudly serves guests with over 900 restaurants in more than 60 countries. Making every day feel like a Friday wouldn't be possible without creating a place where friends feel free to get together. That's why TGI Fridays takes pride in its nearly 8,000 skilled and knowledgeable bartenders, all of whom for the past twenty years have competed annually for the title of the "World's Greatest TGI Fridays Bartender."'

The Fridays guest recognition program, Give Me More Stripes®, gives Fridays' closest friends exclusive insider rewards, special event access, and menu sneak peeks, and is not only the first loyalty program of its kind in the industry, but one of the most progressive.

TGI Fridays believes in having a good time, but also in the importance of drinking responsibly. Additionally, its Responsible Business Program is focused on positively impacting the communities it serves. For more information, visit www.fridays.com or follow us on Twitter at @TGIFridays.

About Made Movement

Made Movement is an agency focused on the pursuit of strategically disruptive, creatively brilliant work. Made brings a fresh new perspective to the marketing landscape with a founding focus on helping American brands create American jobs. Located in Boulder, CO, Made is an agency in its third year and has quickly built a progressive marketing agency model that not only possesses extensive expertise in Strategy and Advertising & Design, but deep technology capabilities across native mobile apps, web application development, consumer experience and engagement design, including rapid prototyping of applying emerging technologies.

About Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM)

Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM) is a customer engagement agency that understands the intersection of brands, consumers, content and commerce. With a lengthy track record of progression in e-communications, MXM has established itself as the dominant force in content-powered e-engagement strategies and platforms for today's hyper-connected consumers for top brands. MXM's innovations in email include applying machine learning algorithms that fuel hyper-personalization, resulting in double and triple typical engagement rates. MXM, a part of Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com), a publicly-owned media and marketing company serving American women, is currently recognized as Content Marketing Agency of the Year, according to both Content Marketing Institute and iMedia.

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SOURCE TGI Fridays