Bleu cheese shoes? Sonic sponsors 'hustle dance'

Nation's Restaurant News, May 5, 1997

OKLAHOMA CITY - As part of an ongoing campaign to position speed of service alongside its name, the drive-in chain of Sonic America sponsored the world's largest hustle dance.

Sonic recently teamed up with Dr. Pepper and enlisted the help of 1970s retro band Boogie Nights to sponsor the dance, which drew 503 participants at the Spring Fair on the Oklahoma City State Fair Grounds.

As part of the promotion, Sonic contributed $1 on behalf of each participant and an additional contribution of $1,000 to the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation, an organization formed to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those whose lives were changed forever as a result of the tragic bombing on April 19, 1995.

'With the Oklahoma City bombing trial set to begin in Denver, we wanted to find a way to give back to the Oklahoma City community and one of the organizations that helped residents make it through that tragedy,' said Cliff Hudson, chief executive and president, Sonic Corp.

Sonic launched The Hustle campaign earlier this year and so far has featured a series of commercials and a price promotion centered around the premise that Sonic 'hustles' for its customers.