Leslie Talansky, Vice President of Cox Media. Courtesy photo

SAN DIEGO–To help San Diego restaurants reach customers as they’ve shifted to delivery and takeout services during the coronavirus pandemic, Cox Media, the advertising sales division of Cox Communications, offers free television advertising to bring public awareness to those restaurants that remain open and ready to serve.

Local San Diego restaurants can take advantage of the free TV advertising to:

• Let their community know they’re open for business;

• Highlight that they’re following protocols for safe food handling;

• Create an offer to drive traffic.

“As our community is impacted by this pandemic, it’s important for us to support our local businesses, and one way we can do that is to provide free television advertising to local restaurants to let their customers and the public know they’re open for business,” said Leslie Talansky, Vice President of Cox Media in San Diego. “We have the ability to accommodate hundreds of restaurants since the ads run geographically throughout San Diego County, and we will accommodate as many restaurants as possible. We’ve already received requests from more than 80 restaurants.”

The free advertising will include graphical information about the restaurant, so no video footage is required, and the advertising will run for a minimum of two weeks for each restaurant. The commercials will air across a wide variety of networks – nearly 50 channels including all types of genres. Channels include A&E, AMC, Bravo, Comedy Central, CNN, Discovery and more. Airtime is limited, so interested restaurants should call 1-855-755-2691 or email MarketingInsights@CoxMedia.com to reserve a spot.

“These commercials have already started running, and we continue to add more commercials as new restaurants sign up,” said Talansky.

Cox Media has received feedback from some of the restaurants, including Epic Wings and Civico 1845.

“Like many restaurants during these unprecedented times, we have had to adjust and adapt the way we normally operate at our 24 Epic Wings locations by closing our dining rooms and only offering to-go, pick-up and delivery. Our long-standing partnership with Cox has been extremely valuable in our efforts to communicate these changes with our customers,” said Sam Sacco, one of the founders and an owner/operator of the popular Epic Wings.

“We are happy to have the help to promote our takeout offerings,” said Dario Gallo, owner of the highly-acclaimed Civico 1845 and Il Dandy restaurants. “We are relying on neighborhood support to get us through these hard times, so getting the word out that we are open and offering pickup and delivery is important for us.”