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Local marketing: How CKE and Scorpion turn Demand Gen into visits

4 min read

Local marketing is the practice of turning broad brand reach into visits, orders, calls, and bookings at a specific address. This article explains how CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, and the vendor Scorpion are pairing centralized location data with Google Demand Gen campaigns so awareness created upstream converts reliably at more than 3,800 restaurants.

Centralize the facts so national reach turns into local actions with local marketing

CKE Restaurants, that is the owner of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, operates more than 3,800 franchised and company-operated restaurants across 44 states and 43 foreign countries and U.S. territories. At that scale, a wrong address, hour, or menu entry can cost a sale. CKE has centralized addresses, hours, menus, attributes, and local pages into an automated infrastructure so national or regional campaigns land on accurate Maps, review sites, and social profiles when consumers look for a nearby restaurant.

A listings manager, defined here as a product that syncs and publishes location data across Maps, Apple, Facebook, and major review platforms, becomes infrastructure rather than a task list. CKE made a structural change in 2024 by creating a Chief Technology & Growth Officer role to align technology, digital strategy, operations, loyalty, and channels. That change sits beside a committed $500,000,000 investment in renovations and digital upgrades, which means menu boards, online ordering, and live data feeds now connect directly to marketing.

Centralized location data prevents costly local errors and lost sales.

Use demand gen early so later searches find a familiar option

Demand Gen, defined here as Google’s Demand Generation campaign type that uses Google’s AI to find people showing interest signals and show visual ads across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail, shifts some work earlier in the buying journey. Scorpion pairs Demand Gen with AI Max, Broad Match, and Smart Bidding. AI Max is an automated creative and targeting tool that optimizes assets. Broad Match expands keyword reach beyond exact queries. Smart Bidding uses machine learning to set bids for conversions. Together these tools help brands reach audiences before anyone types a local query.

Google data cited by Scorpion shows 68% of Demand Gen conversions, that is more than two-thirds, came from people who had not seen the advertiser’s Search ads in the prior 30 days. Google also reports advertisers combining Demand Gen with Search or Performance Max saw an average 14% increase in conversions, that is 14% more conversions on average. Short-form video matters: Google reports 45% of U.S. YouTube Shorts users are not on TikTok, that is almost half, and 65% are not on Instagram Reels, that is nearly two-thirds. These figures mean visual reach expands the pool of potential customers beyond the usual paid-search audience.

Visual reach brings new potential customers beyond classic paid search.

Audit, automate, attribute, practical steps that join brand demand to the storefront

Start with a location-data audit that lists address, hours, menu items, phone number, delivery options, and service attributes. Then reconcile those fields against Maps, Apple, Facebook, and major review sites. Next, automate through a listings manager that connects to enterprise feeds or a point-of-sale connector so menus and hours update automatically. A POS connector transfers menu and price changes as they happen. CKE’s work shows a small number of central systems can serve thousands of restaurants while regional teams run media where markets need variation.

Then connect Demand Gen reach to location-level outcomes with multi-touch attribution. Define KPIs for Demand Gen impressions and view-throughs at the regional level, branded-search lift nationally, and location-level actions, directions, calls, online orders, or bookings, for each restaurant. Use an attribution platform that accepts cross-channel signals. Map a simple sequence in Google Analytics or GA4. Log a Demand Gen exposure as an assist, record the branded-search click as a mid-funnel conversion, and register the location-level order as the final conversion. This sequence credits early touchpoints without inventing new math.

Multi-touch attribution credits early touchpoints accurately.

Creative, vendors, and experiments that preserve local relevance while scaling

Produce core creative centrally and adapt calls to action for local offers, seasonal needs, and market-specific value propositions. Scorpion produces the video and display assets required for Demand Gen campaigns, which solves a common operational gap for distributed brands that otherwise must scale production across locations. For home-services and other multi-location categories, video can showcase services, address seasonal problems, or demonstrate expertise before consumers begin comparing local providers.

Operational vendors should meet a simple checklist. The checklist includes an automated listings manager that publishes addresses and hours. It also includes a POS connector for live menu data. Add a creative production platform for short video and an attribution platform that stitches Demand Gen, Search, and location events. Set routine reconciliation cadences, with daily or weekly syncs of hours and menu changes, and quarterly audits of creative performance by region. Run small region-level A/B tests that measure branded-search lift, directions clicks, and orders over a 30-day attribution window to prove whether Demand Gen materially increases calls, app orders, or in-store visits.

Maintain daily or weekly syncs of hours and menu changes.

What changes next is how budgets and analytics adapt. Marketers must test how much spend moves upstream without starving search that captures explicit intent. For franchise systems, regional buys must respect local rules and franchisee investment. The next practical steps are more cross-channel attribution experiments, routine POS-to-listings synchronization, and short creative tests to prove the loop between brand familiarity and local conversion.

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