Regional restaurant chain Dallas BBQ has placed an SMS call-to-action in out-of-home advertisements featured throughout New York City?s subways.

Consumers can text the keywords UPGRADE or BBQ to short code 82746 to receive an upgrade on their drinks or chicken wings. The offers are only good for that day, but consumers will be entered into a Dallas BBQ database and receive three text messages containing offers per month from the restaurant.

?Dallas BBQ and Tony?s DiNapoli have traditionally dominated the subways in regards to advertising through ads in approximately 1,000 subway cars throughout the five boroughs,? said Eric Levine, director of operations at Dallas BBQ and Tony?s DiNapoli, New York. ?When we opened our first unit in Brooklyn on Livingston Street, our message was brought to all through this medium.?

Dallas BBQ is a New York restaurant known for its barbeque and chicken wing offerings.

Mobile gets Texas-sized
The advertisements on the subway feature a mock conversation between two people who are texting on mobile devices. The text bubbles resemble those of the iPhone.

When a consumer sends an SMS to 82746, they receive this message back with a unique code: ?Show code [code] @ BBQ 4 instant upgrade. Txt again b4 next visit 4 more upgrades. Valid only [date of texting] dallasbbq.com/upgrade 4info. UR joined 4 updates from Dallas BBQ Up to 3 msg/mo. Tx?

A Dallas BBQ customer must show the text message to the manager to receive an upgrade of their fountain or alcoholic drinks or upgrade their chicken wings from regular to Texas-sized.

Consumers can receive one upgrade per day.

Mr. Levine said that the ad campaign idea came from Greg Wetson, the president of the restaurant chains, and Herb Wetson, the chairman and chief operating officer.

The campaign numbers have not been released, but Mr. Levine said that the overall response has been positive.

Dallas BBQ?s SMS subway campaign was launched to tie into the opening of a new restaurant location at 207 Street and Fordham Road in the Bronx.

?We felt that the text usage would energize our customer base, as well as make us more contemporary,? Mr. Levine said.

Mr. Levine also said that the restaurant has placed SMS calls-to-action inside the restaurants to extend the upgrading capability to consumers already dining in the facility.

According to Dallas BBQ, the SMS upgrade will change to keep the experience fresh and the restaurant is coming up with other ideas to energize the program.

The SMS calls-to-action are not the only mobile trick up Dallas BBQ?s sleeve.

?Since all our units are in high-traffic New York markets, we are exploring other cutting-edge mobile campaigns to relate to our broadening customer base, such as curbside text-ahead ordering, reservations and frequent-customer-rewards programs,? Mr. Levine said.