Cow campaign reaches Hobart

HOBART │ Chick-fil-A restaurant’s award-winning marketing campaign has reached Northwest Indiana.

On Thursday the first Chick-fil-A 3-D cow billboard in the greater Chicagoland area went up at 49th Avenue and Interstate 65, enticing motorists to the popular Hobart restaurant.

Merrillville’s View Outdoor Advertising partnered with Hobart’s Chick-fil-A to bring the famous cow campaign to the region.

“In my travels I saw those cows and had to get them to Northwest Indiana, said Pete Schroeder, president of View Outdoor Advertising. “I love outdoor creative.”

Schroeder said the response to the first cow installation in Atlanta in 1995 was “unbelievable” and that within two weeks same store sales in that city went up 30 to 40 percent.

Taylor Carter, owner of the Hobart Chick-fil-A, said in addition to serving great food, the restaurant tries to have a lot of fun.

“It’s an exciting day for us to have our cow billboard go up,” he said. “I think it’s going to attract a lot of attention for Chick-fil-A and for View.”

Joining Schroeder and Carter at Izaak Walton League of America, located where the billboard was being installed, were Spero Batistatos, president and CEO of South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority; local businessman Bill Wellman; and Hobart Mayor Brian Snedecor, who thanked Chick-fil-A for its investment not only in Hobart but in Northwest Indiana.

“It brings attention to the marketing ideas and what Chick-fil-A brings to the region,” he said.

Batistatos said the billboard is the kind of fresh, cutting-edge advertising that will stand out along Interstate 65.

The billboards are designed, manufactured, built and shipped from the Chick-fil-A agency in Dallas, Texas, and normally limited to major markets due to cost and installation.