Challenge:
The Union had two declining nights pitching the same product on a Wednesday and Friday. After a period of drifting as a venue, employing bar managers rather than entertainment managers and passing marketing of venue over to union marketing team, great at producing internal marketing for traditional union services but with no experience of venue marketing. A promotion would be putting a couple of posters up inside the venue. Typically people would only start entering between 11 and 12pm.
After analysis we produced a report outlining changes to marketing and strategy. The main points of which were:
- To create a clear differential between the two. The Wednesday retaining it’s cheesy sports night whilst repositioning the music policy for Fridays to create more of a weekend club night.
- Direct the brand and marketing campaign and injecting it with some style, female targeted to establish a night where they can dress up in posh frocks without having to enter town.
- Adding flyers and posters back into the marketing mix.
- Setting up the smaller unnamed back bar as a pre bar with Free Entry between 9pm and 10pm leading to Free Entry into the main venue when it opened at 10pm.
Results –Small back bar was renamed ‘The Relentless Bar’ (gaining sponsorship from Coca Cola as an added bonus).
Between 9-10pm would be full 230 people with 100 + queueing to main venue by 10pm.
The Friday numbers doubled entering on average 1.5 hrs earlier without affecting Wednesday numbers projected estimates adding another £300,000 to the unions annual turnover.
