Personal Injury Mastermind – Episode 345

This Cookie Outsells Billboards: Fortune Cookie Marketing w/ Shawn Porat
August 21, 2025
Host: Chris Dreyer (Rankings.io)
Guest: Shawn Porat (Open Fortune)

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, host Chris Dreyer sits down with Shawn Porat, co-founder of Open Fortune, to explore a radically creative marketing channel: fortune cookies. The conversation dives into how branding messages inside fortune cookies are creating outsized impact for both national brands and (potentially) personal injury law firms. From measurable social virality to deep audience engagement, this episode deconstructs what makes this “inside the box” strategy uniquely powerful—and how PI firms could use it to rise above traditional billboard and media clutter.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

What is Open Fortune & How Is It Unique?

• Shawn explains the Open Fortune model:

  • Open Fortune owns the fortune cookie space in Asian restaurants across 30 countries, reaching over 300 million people globally each month.
  • Brands sponsor the back of fortune slips, leveraging both the moment’s intimacy and potential for viral sharing.
  • “We inject brands into that experience via sponsorships.” – Shawn (01:00)

• Rules & Respecting Tradition:

  • The fortune side stays traditional; branding appears only on the reverse, maintaining the mystique that makes the experience powerful.
  • “We're not going to say ‘X brand is in your future’ on the Fortune side. We will keep the fortunes traditional.” – Shawn (02:28)

Campaign Examples & Social Virality

• Dude Wipes

  • Creative wordplay (e.g., “This Too Shall Pass”) cleverly mirrors brand messaging while remaining culturally relevant and fun.
  • “Six out of every hundred fortune cookies get posted to social media. So when you put 10 million cookies out there, you’re getting 600,000 organic posts.” – Shawn (03:32)
  • The organic reach is unmatched compared to standard out-of-home or digital campaigns.

• Capital One’s Viral Moment

  • Capital One’s initial small-scale buy exploded after a CMO posted a cookie’s message on social—the result: millions of social interactions, and direct contact from top company brass.
  • “Within 24 hours ... opened the fortune cookie, saw the ad ... posted on Twitter ... millions of views went viral.” – Shawn (07:00)

• Gary Vaynerchuk Partnership

  • Gary V was so impressed he made a national partnership, then invested.
  • “He said it blew away anything he's ever touched ... wrote us a big check, and became a partner.” – Shawn (06:17)

Measurability & Attribution

• Tracking Impact Beyond Impressions

  • Open Fortune uses Nielsen-backed data: 6% of recipients post to social media.
  • Developed image recognition to scrape and document all social media posts of their fortunes for clients (hundreds to thousands of posts per campaign).
  • “We take screenshots and send it to our partners every two weeks ... we can’t even get one [organic post] from a billboard we put up.” – Shawn (08:56)

• Market Research & QR Codes

  • Quarterly in-person surveys outside restaurants: unaided brand recall, awareness, etc.
  • Fortune insert QR codes allow testing of dozens of creative angles in-market, measuring scan rates to optimize messaging.
  • “Unlike a billboard ... we could put 20, 30, 40 different messages to see what stands out the most.” – Shawn (09:59)

How Could This Work for PI Firms?

• Engagement Model

  • Subscription, month-to-month; flexible to scale up or cancel with notice.
  • Open Fortune serves as “an extension of their creative team”—developing concepts, writing fortunes, handling PR/landing pages, and executing all aspects of the campaign.
  • “It's kind of a 360 approach.” – Shawn (11:09)

• Exclusivity

  • Available regionally or by vertical—can lock in exclusive rights (e.g., a university for three years) or open up to multiple firms based on demand.
  • “We’re open to exclusivities by counties, by state, by regions in the country ... but we let the market dictate that.” – Shawn (12:30)

What Makes the Moment Unique?

• The Power of Suggestion

  • Opening a fortune cookie is ritualized, social, and carries superstition:
    • “When you get your fortune cookie, you feel like there's a one in a billion chance that came into your hands.” – Shawn (04:06)
    • 72% of Americans take their fortune seriously, making them unusually receptive in that moment.

• Family & Shareability

  • Fortune cookies spark table conversation and drives social media sharing—making the experience emotionally charged and memorable.
  • “She rips open the fortune cookie ... gets my attention and wants to read hers to me. Now I’m focused in ... then I want to read mine.” – Chris (05:22)

Message Tone, Creativity & Brand Fit

• Not a Hard Sell

  • PI firms shouldn’t be overtly transactional (“call now”)—the messaging should be supportive, memorable, and subtly promote top-of-mind awareness.
  • “I think it’s about saying, ‘We’re here for you. Keep us in mind. Save this for when you need it.’” – Shawn (13:52)

• Creative Storytelling

  • Each campaign is customized for tone and humor. Example: Duolingo’s cheeky message calling out app usage habits went viral on TikTok.
  • “One post on TikTok, millions of views, 500,000 shares ... this is all organic.” – Shawn (17:22)

• Frequency & Fatigue

  • Messages rotated quarterly, with multiple fortunes/messages per run to ensure novelty at each table.
  • “On the front, there’s usually over a hundred fortunes. So everyone at the table is getting a different fortune experience.” – Shawn (18:25)

Metrics & Pricing

• Pricing Model

  • Cost-per-cookie (“CPC”), not CPM. Each cookie delivers a unique, high-attention micro-moment—a “century-old tradition” rather than a fleeting ad impression.
  • “We price on a CPC—cost per cookie. Impressions kind of don’t even fall into this world ... it's truly experience and engagement.” – Shawn (15:37)

• Business Impact

  • For a finance client, brand campaigns with Open Fortune dropped CPA (cost per acquisition) by 27% across all channels.
  • “CPA is about $600 ... went down 27% ... because of what we’re doing on the brand front.” – Shawn (14:30)

What’s Next: The Fortune Taco

• Open Fortune plans to add “fortune tacos” to Mexican restaurants, leveraging a similar after-dinner ritual for brand engagement.
• “We’ve been testing ... [and it] has been having great results. So we’re going to be launching that at some point in the next year.” – Shawn (20:50)

Memorable Quotes

• “Six out of every hundred fortune cookies get posted to social media. So when you put 10 million cookies out there, you’re getting 600,000 organic posts from people, which is just insane.” – Shawn (03:32)
• “We're not going to say ‘X brand is in your future’ on the fortune side ... It’s more on the other side that we place the brand into that experience.” – Shawn (02:28)
• “72% of America feels like they have to compare their life to this fortune ... that’s why it works so well, that’s why people are open to suggestion at that moment.” – Shawn (04:18)
• “We price on a CPC—cost per cookie ... you're really inserting yourself into a century-old tradition ... when people are open to suggestion.” – Shawn (15:37)
• “Every time I hear the next turkey giveaway or backpack giveaway ... everybody in your market does that. This is something unique where you stand out.” – Chris (19:41)
• “We're giving people a good, nice, warm feeling of, okay, this is your path ... that’s what you’re buying into here.” – Shawn (20:00)

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 00:49 – Testing 20-40 different fortune messages per campaign
• 01:56 – What is Open Fortune? How it works
• 02:45 – Maintaining fortune traditions; brand appears only on reverse
• 03:32 – Organic social virality: 10M cookies = 600,000 social posts
• 05:22 – The family/social ritual of reading fortunes aloud
• 06:17 – Gary Vaynerchuk’s partnership & praise (“the new Super Bowl spot”)
• 07:00 – Capital One’s viral breakthrough
• 08:47 – How Open Fortune tracks ROI: image recognition, market studies, QR codes
• 10:47 – How a PI firm engagement would work
• 12:30 – Market exclusivity: tailored per region and category need
• 13:52 – The right messaging approach for PI firms
• 15:37 – Pricing: Cost per cookie vs. CPM/Impression
• 17:00 – Humorous messaging examples (Duolingo’s viral TikTok)
• 18:25 – Message rotation & experience management
• 19:41 – Differentiation from “me too” charity campaigns
• 20:50 – Expansion: “Fortune Taco” for Mexican restaurants

Contact & Special Offer

• Website: openfortune.com
• Shawn’s email: shawn@openfortune.com
• Exclusive offer for PIM listeners: openfortune.com/pim

Summary

This episode presents a fresh, powerful alternative to saturated billboard and digital spaces for PI law firm branding. Open Fortune leverages the intimate, superstitious ritual of fortune cookies—delivering high-intimacy, highly shareable, and trackable brand interactions at the very moment people are most receptive to new messages. Shawn and Chris lay out concrete examples, share viral case studies, and dissect why this unique channel drives both awareness and authentic, word-of-mouth brand building—making it a strategic play for any PI firm seeking standout market presence.