Marketing Strategy Project

Restaurant
Marketing Strategy

Restaurant Marketing Strategy

A brand awareness strategy for an on campus restaurant

Completed for Class Credit in Services Marketing at the University of Central Florida (MAR 4841)

Burger U Brand Awareness Marketing Strategy

Be unique, be creative but most importantly be efficient , effective , and realistic

During the Fall of 2014 in my Services Marketing class, we were tasked with having to split into teams and work with the management team of a new on-campus restaurant, Burger U, to develop a top-of-mind brand awareness strategy.

The Background

Burger U, opened on UCF’s campus, across the street from the CFE Arena in Fall of 2013. This quintessential college burger bar offers high-quality burgers, wings, salads, shakes, and has a full bar for a fun and casual environment. Because Burger U is not in the main flow of campus, they find that many of the students, faculty, and administration are unaware that they have opened.

The Assignment

While gaining practical, hands-on experience develops three marketing strategies that are efficient, effective, and realistic.


Goals:

 

  • Learn how to find research information or conduct primary research to help understand who the customer is and how best to reach this market to build top-of-mind awareness.
  • Be able to create innovative, diverse strategies to build awareness among the UCF Community, attract them to the restaurant daily, and ultimately build repeat business. 
  • Learn how to engage the UCF community through social media and guerilla marketing.
  • Work effectively in a team environment.
  • Deliver a presentation to a marketing executive in a professional manner.

 

The Deliverables 


  1. A written report that contains:
  2. Three fully developed strategies to reach this target, including one social media technique. Each strategy should be laid out accordingly:
  3. The goal of your proposed strategy/tactic
  4. Target Audience Profile 
  5. Description of strategy/tactic in detail 
  6. Timeframe
  7. The estimated cost to execute
  8. Sample execution
  9. A PowerPoint slideshow (that was used during for our oral presentation) 

 

Bonus Pressure:

 

  • Awards and prizes will be given to the following teams:
  • Most effective use of marketing research to create on-target strategies
  • Most creative (but feasible) promotional strategies
  • Best presentation

 

The Strategies

After interviewing the Burger U staff and conducting target market research. We developed three unique strategies that employed organic social media posting and guerilla marketing tactics. These strategies embraced the university's culture by establishing tradition through competition. 


Strategy one involved the rollout of a Selfie competition. The contest utilized the power of social media to harness awareness and garner sales for Burger U. During our research a teammate posted a sample post and was able to bring in four brand new customers who wanted to try out the food. 


The contest will not be without its reward, as two lucky winners (the selfie post with the most likes) each received a $25 gift card to Burger U. 


A cost-effective way to spread brand awareness for a new restaurant on-campus, selfie contests are an effective way to spread awareness of on-campus establishments, organizations, and even events. The contest can be held within a manner of weeks and does not take much in form of social media management as well. And with an estimated cost to execute of $90, this strategy is one that can be easily implemented and measured through social media growth and revenue increases.


Strategy two was developed to establish an annual event that embraces Burger U as a permanent fixture on-campus. The Annual Burger U Battle of the Buildings (B2B) will be a competition involving the housing communities on the UCF campus. The purpose of the competition will be to drive a student’s competitive nature in a fun interactive environment that will only benefit Burger U in the long run with a loyal customer base and an increased profit margin.


By splitting up the six housing communities on campus that will be split up into three (3) teams each consisting of approximately 2,000 students. 

 

  1. Team Burger: Academic Village (Nike, Hercules, and Neptune Communities)
  2. Team Fries: Apollo, Libra, and Lake Claire Courtyard Apartments Communities)
  3. Team Wings: Towers at Knights Plaza (Tower I, II, III, and IV)

 

Students will earn points for their respective teams by purchasing food from Burger U and competing in numerous events throughout the semester. The team with the most points at the end of the semester will earn a special Annual Battle of the Buildings Champion shirt and a sheet of coupons. 


Coupon suggestions:

 

  • Free beverage
  • 50% off the entire meal
  • Free fries or chips with purchase of a burger
  • BOGO fries or chips
  • BOGO salad
  • 5 free wings with the purchase of wings

 

By getting sponsors to help pay for the cost of the t-shirts, the cost to execute can be reduced to approximately $2,700. That includes the cost of printed material for the guerilla marketing campaign. 


This strategy also utilizes the power of social media by creating an organic posting strategy that leverages influencers within the UCF community to spread awareness and increase participation.


Strategy three was developed from the Sunday Funday culture of the college campus. With a little upfront investment in custom cornhole boards and some flyers to be printed and posted around campus, a Sunday Funday event can be one of the most profitable days of the week.


Downtown Orlando venues thrive on sunny Sundays with live music, cold drinks, sporting event viewing parties, greasy food, and local comradely. And given, 73% of the Top 100 Nationally Grossing Night Clubs and Bars have an outdoor patio, terrace, or rooftop space, Utilizing Burger U’s outdoor area can be essential to growing the brand.


Cornhole tournaments, music, beer, burgers, and wings can put Burger U on the map a as well-known place to watch games and enjoy the company of good food and friends during college football season. Adding the convenience of an on-campus restaurant that serves alcohol, Burger U can quickly become the tradition UCF was waiting for.

The Results

After presenting our final marketing strategy to our professor and the management team at Burger U, we were awarded the "Most Creative Marketing Strategies". 

Fun fact: We named our team the Burger Bandits and I was tasked with designing a logo that represented us.

References
The Official Trade Organization of the Night and Club Industry (2014). Retrieved from www.nciaa.com/.
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