Buffalo Wild Wings’ ‘Protect the Football’ Campaign*

Issues:

» Service marketing
» Peculiarities of services
» Increasing purchase intent during the peak season
» Measuring effectiveness of campaign
» Integrated marketing communication

Introduction

Football season is the busiest time of the year for Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar (BWW). So as the 2012-2013 football season kicked off with the 2012 National Football League (NFL) , the team at BWW geared up to increase the footfalls at its restaurant locations on game days. The restaurant chain launched an integrated marketing campaign, “Protect the Football”, on September 3, 2012, to capture more consumer time and drive in-store traffic. The cross-platform ad campaign was designed to get the message across to customers that BWW was the best place to view their favorite sporting event. “Football fans know that there’s no better place to share in game day excitement than Buffalo Wild Wings. There’s a reason this is our busiest time of year: the energy and camaraderie rivals the stadium atmosphere and together with hot wings and cold beer – it’s an unbeatable combination,” said Sally Smith, CEO of BWW.

BWW (popularly known as B-Dubs), a casual dining restaurant and sports bar, was owned, operated, and franchised by the Minneapolis, Minnesota, US-based Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. Founded in 1982, the restaurant offered food items such as Buffalo-style chicken wings and beer and live sport. Visitors frequented the restaurant for its “neighborhood atmosphere” that included a multi-media system for watching sporting events. As of end 2012, there were more than 840 BWW stores across 48 states in the US, as well as in Canada. BWW had increased its measured media spending considerably over the years and spent US$60.7 million in the US from January through October 2011. Fallon was the restaurant chain’s lead creative agency since early 2012. ...