If you aren't already familiar with Beef 'O' Brady's, you likely have no idea what the concept is. Irish pub? Steakhouse? Funny fictional moniker?
'Our name does not tell people what we are. They think we are a sports bar,' concedes Nick Vojnovic, president of the 21-year-old concept's parent company, Family Sports Concepts Inc. The chain is a family sports pub, which is a casual-dining-type joint with TVs and liquor licenses, but the emphasis is on kids and families rather than scores and draughts. 'It's like when the SUV was introduced,' Vojnovic says. 'It was a new niche to the market.'
Over the years, the Tampa, Fla.-based company has worked to help diners appreciate its uniqueness through home-grown advertising and local marketing. Last fall management, with the help of Tampa-based ad agency Hardee Group, came up with a campaign that explains the concept of a family sports pub with higher-end production values and something else: food shots. Strange as it may seem, the newest ad campaign for Beef 'O' Brady's is the first featuring food photography in its two-decade history.
This is not the first advertising switch the company has made. The first ad shift was after Family Sports Concepts took over the chain seven years ago. 'When we came on board, we had a hokey little neighborhood thing,' Vojnovic says.
'In 1999 it was just me, 35 stores and no outsourced [ad agency] help,' agrees Vice President of Marketing Ken Hall.
From the Top
Using in-house resources Hall created a campaign featuring company founder Jim Mellody looking straight into the camera and explaining the void the chain filled in the marketplace. The spots were not high-end, but that Dave Thomas effect ushered in a 'sales spike immediately,' Vojnovic remembers, estimating that sales increased 10 percent annually with Mellody's testimonial ads.
After Sept. 11, 2001, changed the dining landscape and Mellody passed away in 2002, Hall and his team regrouped. They launched more sophisticated, edgy and humorous spots that assumed that everyone knew what Beef's (as its fans call it) was.
'We were getting ahead of ourselves,' Vojnovic says. 'We dropped off when we tried to be clever and funny.' Same-stores sales were flat, while TV watchers were entertained rather than educated.
While some restaurant regulars have a remarkable frequency of dining at Beef's four times per week, the $180 million chain also found that in Tampa, its hometown, consumers as close as 3 miles to its flagship unit had never heard of the brand. So the new spots needed to appeal to new diners, lapsed users and the occasional visitor.
The chain's franchisee advisory council urged management to include a consumer-education piece in its next ad campaign. The current spots answer the question, 'What is a family sports pub?'
Not Going for Laughs
Debuting last September, the new 15-and 30-second commercials target both new and loyal customers. They feature Girl Scouts, Little Leaguers, gymnasts and others celebrating childhood events at Beef 'O' Brady's, interspersed with food photography, and they end with the tagline 'See you at Beef's.'
Moving back to its core message has been an investment that has paid off. While the total ad budget was just $500,000 in the Mellody days and $100,000 in the early 2000s, today it is close to $4 million. Since 2004 average unit volume has increased from $640,000 to $1 million. Vojnovic attributes approximately one-third of that increase to the new ad efforts.
Hall is charged with keeping the 'What is a Family Sports Pub?' campaign fresh. The Hardee Group has been helping the chain develop four or five different versions annually, but much of the creative work is still done in-house.
The 2006 flight is likely to show Beef 'O' Brady's out in the community, as a large part of its marketing includes local outreach, such as to schools and community groups. The chain spends $1.6 million on local marketing, in addition to the $4 million it spends on traditional advertising.
As Beef's fills in existing markets instead of expanding into new states over the next five years, Hall has worked to improve those local marketing materials, as well as the menu and the Web site, without diluting the hometown message.
'There aren't that many restaurants that really welcome kids like we do. There's Chuck E. Cheese's, but that gives parents a headache,' Vojnovic adds. 'Beef's is like a big family room at your house.'
'Victories II' Length: 30 seconds
1. Voice-over: Life is full of victories.
2. They come in all shapes and sizes.
3. Where can family and friends go to celebrate them all?
4. There's no better place for good times ...
5. good sports ...
6. and great food ...
7. than your neighborhood Beef 'O' Brady's.
8. See you at Beef's.
SNAPSHOT
CONCEPT Beef 'O' Brady's Family Sports Pub
PARENT COMPANY Family Sports Concepts Inc., Tampa, Fla.
UNITS 190
2005 SYSTEMWIDE SALES $180 million
2006 SYSTEMWIDE SALES $230 million (company estimate)
AVERAGE CHECK $10
AVERAGE UNIT VOLUME $1 million
2005 AD BUDGET $4 million
AD AGENCY Hardee Group, Tampa, Fla.
EXPANSION PLANS 250 in 5 years
