MARKETING: Sports Bars are Showing Women’s Sports but There’s Room for Improvement
According to a Nielsen research study, 84% of sports fans are interested in watching women’s sports. But are sports bars taking advantage of that fandom? We polled our subscribers of The Daily Rail newsletter and the SportsTV Guide (all sports bar & restaurant owners, operators and managers), to find out that answer. The good news is that you all are showing some form of women sports regularly, but there’s still plenty of room to better leverage that programming.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Angry Orchard Ice Cream
Hard cider company Angry Orchard has teamed up with the boozy ice cream company Tipsy Scoop to created a spiced cider ice cream. It’s called Angry Orchard Unfiltered (not very exciting), the seasonal release blends brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped caramel apples and Angry Orchard’s unfiltered hard cider. The ice cream is 5% ABV and available only in select NYC stores. You can, however, order it globally online. Maybe this could be a great new menu addition?
Paper or Plastic?
According to historic data from the National Christmas Tree Association of America, sales of fake Christmas trees have increased enormously over the past decade, while sales of real trees have remained relatively stable. In fact, an estimated 32.8 million real trees were sold across the U.S. last year, the highest total since 2013. That's despite sales of plastic trees climbing from 10.9 million in 2012 to 23.6 million last year. Things could change this year with a shortage of real trees expected to drive up prices which could result in more customers opting for plastic.
Star Wars: Rise of the Blockbuster
When the Star Wars franchise returned to the big screen in 2015 with Episode VII – The Force Awakens, the first chapter of the third and final Skywalker trilogy quickly became the highest-grossing Star Wars film in the franchise’s decade-spanning history. Grossing more than $2 billion at the box office worldwide, the seventh part of the Skywalker saga edged out Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) by more than $1 billion. That’s only part of the story though. Taking ticket price inflation into account, the original 1977 Star Wars film is still the most successful one.
SOBER NIGHTS
Why it matters to you: Consider a sober night as way of attracting folks looking for a social home.
Anyone that is sober or recovering from alcohol addiction knows that going out and avoiding folks drinking can be a challenge of epic proportions. The journey to recovery often leads to isolation for people that are getting clean because the social life they experience in their prior life cannot be sustained while fighting to stay sober. Enter the newest trend in hospitality -- the Sober Bar. That’s right, just as the name implies, these are bars with all the atmosphere but none of the booze. Guests drink virgin cocktails, fruit shakes, matcha tea lattes and even ice-cold non-alcoholic beers.
This isn’t limited to folks that are getting sober. There are also people, who despite not being addicted to alcohol, would prefer not to submerge themselves into the world that represents hangovers, DUIs, and all the problems that come with excessive alcohol use such as anxiety and depression, substance abuse, fatty liver, and other sicknesses like strokes and dementia.
We can’t in good conscience suggest you adapt to this trend by ditching your back bar, but you might consider doing a Sober Night promotion at your restaurant or bar. Invite guests to your bar on a Sunday night for an evening sans booze. Folks interested in a sober experience will still buy beverages and can still be profitable. Just deliver some great alcohol-free options and enjoy the evening. Imagine no drunken fights, no puke in the bathroom; only happy guests enjoying one another’s sober company.
[Source: TrueActivist]
KENTUCKY CHRISTMAS IN JAPAN?
Why it matters to you: Great marketing is always bourn of someone thinking on their feet.
You may not know this, but there is an enormous Christmas tradition in Japan and it surrounds none other than Kentucky Fried Chicken. The short story is that in the early-70s, KFC was being introduced in Japan at a World Expo in Osaka. Enter Takeshi Okawara who instantly fell in love with the tender golden fried chicken from America. Unfortunately, all of Takeshi’s love wasn’t enough to make KFC successful in Japan. The branding didn’t match cultural expectations and consumers simply didn’t know what the heck KFC was and the chain was on the brink of disaster. This is when Takeshi’s brilliance shown through when he used Christmas to make KFC succeed in Japan.
He initially connected chicken as an alternative to turkey for the Christmas holiday that had become entrenched in Japan’s more secular culture. He sold buckets of chicken and sides with the Colonel dressed up as Father Christmas in front of all 75 of their locations. But it wasn’t until a radio interview he did in 1973 that KFC broke through to real success in Japan. Takeshi was asked if KFC for Christmas was how they celebrated the holiday overseas…and he answered yes. The rest is history, especially considering there was really no way to easily verify in those dark days before the internet. So, the moral of the story is sometimes a little white lie can lead to some wonderful fried chicken for Christmas.
[Source: AtlasObscura]
