Advertisers’ Latest Hangouts: Eateries, Bars
With the robust economy allowing Americans to regularly eat and drink out, advertisers are experimenting with innovative ways to reach consumers at their favorite hangouts.
In recent months, major companies such as Procter & Gamble, Fox Broadcasting, the World Wrestling Federation, Skky Vodka and Walt Disney Co. units ABC Television and ESPN have advertised on napkins, mint wrappers, washroom billboards, coasters and beer glasses at bars, restaurants and other entertainment spots.
The popular Chillers bar at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade is using pint glasses promoting ESPN, in addition to hanging ESPN washroom billboards. Recently, ABC handed out mints in bright-yellow wrappers, promoting its new fall series, “Wasteland.” And by the end of the year, several Los Angeles establishments will have dispensers in their restrooms, allowing patrons to sample cologne fragrances.
Advertisers hope to catch people while they’re relaxed and having fun. Plus, with the clutter of television and print ads, advertisers are eager to break through in innovative, relatively cost-efficient ways.
“We’re always looking for new and different ways to brand ourselves,” said Kris Coontz, ABC’s vice president of advertising and media planning. “And we want to reach people where they don’t expect to be reached.”
In past years, alcohol and tobacco companies were among the only groups that recognized the marketing potential of restaurants and bars. But a recent campaign by Procter & Gamble for Tide detergent shows that even some of the largest, most traditional advertisers are now testing the concept.
This summer, patrons at about 40 pizza and sandwich shops in Philadelphia and Boston were given Tide-branded napkins from eye-catching napkin dispensers. The bright orange-and-yellow napkins were imprinted with the Tide logo and the message, “Because napkins are never in the right place at the right time.”
Procter & Gamble won’t discuss the campaign, which was initiated by Saatchi & Saatchi’s Zenith Media and executed by C&E; New Media in Hackensack, N.J. But the intent was to reach people at places where they’re likely to get dirty. The packaged-goods company is now reviewing the campaign to determine whether it will be rolled out nationally.
“We only received very positive comments from consumers, and the response from local restaurants was also positive,” said Scott Tegethoff, senior vice president and group media director at Saatchi & Saatchi. “In general, the out-of-home arena of advertising has exploded. It can be effective, but you can’t just slap on a logo. The message has to tie in to the medium. With Tide, people got a chuckle out of it.”
Like the Tide campaign, the messages in restaurant ads often are humorous or somewhat quirky. For instance, the new ESPN pint glasses boldly ask, “Which SportsCenter do you watch?” And a napkin campaign for Riffage.com, an online music firm, states, “The only drag about building your audience online is that you don’t get to sleep with your groupies.”
The idea for restaurant advertising was fueled five years ago, when the New York-based company Go Card began distributing trendy postcards at bars and restaurants across the country. The postcards are now in 2,000 locations in 13 cities.
“People choose to take the postcards,” said Craig Singer, Go Card’s vice president. “And when someone chooses to take an advertising message, it’s much more valuable.”
Singer said his company’s next experiment is with fragrance samples. A few months ago, 1,000 wall-mounted fragrance sampling machines were installed at New York City bars, restaurants and health clubs. The company is promoting Lancaster’s Sunwater fragrance for women and David Off’s Goodlife scent for men.
Aside from tobacco and alcohol companies, entertainment, sports and Internet companies so far have been most willing to market themselves in restaurants, said Greg Kirschenbaum, vice president and creative director of C&E; New Media.
Kirschenbaum said the reasons are understandable. For instance, Net companies tend to have younger, cutting-edge customers who are receptive to new things. Entertainment companies want to reach hip adults out to enjoy themselves. And sports companies believe they can hit sports fans at sports-oriented bars.
“There’s direct synergy,” Kirschenbaum said.
In general, advertisers are trying to reach higher-income people between 18 and 39 who live in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
“That’s a group that’s bombarded with advertising, so they’re hard to reach and make a strong impact on,” Singer said.
To reach them, ABC carried out its recent “Wasteland” mint campaign at restaurants in New York City and upscale beach communities in Long Island. “This is an urban show, so we’re trying to reach an urban crowd in urban markets,” Coontz said.
In addition, the network last fall promoted the show, “Sports Night,” on pint glasses, given free to customers of clubs and bars in New York and Los Angeles. Overall, Coontz said the mint and pint-glass campaigns went over well. But he said one of the main drawbacks of this type of advertising is that it’s hard to know for sure.
“It’s not measured, so you can’t be exact as to how beneficial this is,” Coontz said.
Coontz said there is also some concern as to whether the small companies that print and distribute this material can deliver what they say.
Restaurants are paid fees when they allow advertising on their premises. Kirschenbaum estimates that the average annual fee per restaurant is between $5,000 and $7,000. All the merchandise they receive also is free.
Gary Nolan, owner of Chillers, said he decided to go along with the campaign because his customers don’t seem to mind the messages. Rather, they seem to like the free merchandise.
“We’re very new to it, but I thought I’d give it a try because they have good things to offer,” Nolan said.
