The Punchbowl Lapworth is a country pub and restaurant near Solihull in rural Warwickshire, well established with a good reputation, but operating in an area of significant and developing competition.
Whilst enjoying good, profitable trade, the management was aware of the need to maintain a position ahead of its competitors, wanted to refresh the offering, increase mid-week trade and present a higher profile throughout the local catchment area whilst also encouraging business from the greater Birmingham locality and tourism trade.
Cloud 9 was asked to develop a marketing strategy to meet these criteria and also to take a fresh look at marketing collateral and make suggestions for ways of using the investment in marketing more effectively.
Cloud 9’s full service approach enabled us to recommend a campaign that encompassed both traditional and emerging marketing elements, to create a holistic campaign which could be rolled out cost-effectively and was flexible enough that it could be tailored to meet specific needs, such as special events and promotions.
The starting point was to refresh the Punchbowl’s visual identity. The existing logo was not used consistently and everything had a tired and disjointed feel about it. Fonts were used haphazardly, colours were random and everything just felt a bit ‘unloved’.
We looked a their ‘personality’, focussing on their desired clientele and produced an updated look and feel that was more in tune with the atmosphere of the venue without alienating their existing trade (think evolution – not revolution).
Next was a ‘content-managed’ website that was to be the hub of all marketing activity. Multiple users (both Cloud 9 and the venue management) would have the ability to add, edit and delete content quickly and easily and of course, with full analytics – results of all ongoing marketing activity would be completely measurable!
Key to our strategy was planning ahead for special calendar events, creating events that would increase trade – and letting everyone know about them!
We involved customers, created email campaigns, engaged with them and steadily grew a loyal band of customers who wanted to spend time there and also encourage their friends to do the same.
With a clever mix of both online, offline and social media marketing we increased the average mid-week cover quantity from <10 to between 40 & 60!
They really got under the skin of the business, and quickly understood what we do, what we wanted, what we needed and as a result we saw dramatic improvements in our mid-week trade.
If you're looking for a good creative agency that are friendly and great to work with, you should pop by and pay these guys a visit.
James Feeney
Owner of The Punchbowl Lapworth
Additional Information
Our work for The Punchbowl Lapworth includes:
Print: menus, Posters, invites
Website: design, build, search engine optimisation
Social media: setup and ongoing co-ordination
Photography: location and food photography
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