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On this page is the story of our 2011 Irish Bar marketing campaign designed for our company.

We themed this project "Who is going to be the Luckiest Establishment". The idea for this came to me on the first weekend in March, 2010. I found myself in the gridlock of the St. Patrick's Day Event in Hoboken. (Full details of how I arrived there found at end of page). Seeing all those green shirts naturally begot the question "Why am I not doing all these shirts?" I thought that whomever was best represented at the parade would naturally be the the luckiest establishment in terms of sales. The walking billboards call t-shirts would serve to greatly increase brand awareness. My designs would ensure that the end user would not only have just a St. Patrick's Day shirt but would have a shirt that they keep and wear. Let's face it, Kelly green shirts are not the most prevalent shirt on the market.

With my concept in mind, I developed a 3 phase mail campaign along with physically visiting each company that responded.
The campaign had to be designed to get noticed, spark interest and require action. It had to overcome the "noise" that each business gets in terms of advertising and marketing literature sent their way, it had to be tailored to each establishment and it had to be better than good.

Phase 1 - Initial Mailing

I created my own list using many different internet sources. I was able to do this knowing that the end list would be about 200-225 addresses.
Each recipient received a page (pictured above) of some simple designs. Each page was uniquely tailored to each bar/restaurant. For the example, I have used Legends so as not place more importance of one bar over another.
I included a Letter stated our goals, why use Legends, and what is in it for the Bar. A price list and a calendar (call for action) was also included.
It looked great, but after getting my mail that day and realizing how many envelopes I just chuck in the round file without opening, I knew it wasn't enough

How to stand out from the Crowd

I decided to customize our envelopes. I did not want it to be like anyone else. I was on a non existent budge at this time so custom printed was out. Here is what I came up with

Each white #10 envelope was individually illustrated for each mail recipient. I included on the envelopes quotes in Irish as well as my own copy. [An ale for what ails you, a Tale for Friends and a Place to bring them together] as well as tag lines/illustrates emphasizing who is going to be the luckiest. I illustrated shamrocks, pots of gold, rainbows, irish pubs, irish thatch roof houses, figures and more. Each envelope was different. My return address was also handwritten along with the recipients address.

My goal was for the recipient to think What the Heck is this?. If I can accomplish that, I have accomplished them opening the envelope. My logo is on everything inside, so even if they only view it for 1.5 seconds (average view time of mail), then phase one will have succeeded.

Out of 190 sent out, we had an immediate response from 3 places.

Phase 2 Mailing

Phase 2's mailing was to include a unique item that the bar could use or display. It passively shows different capabilities of Legends. I decided on a magnet, again, because of my non-existent budget. This was done completely in house.

GET LUCKY
The idea is to promote that you get lucky at the establishment. I used this as an opportunity to illustrate another pin up. I believe that including the Four of a Kind eliminates the thought of "Go to this bar and get lucky with a hot girl" as my friend thought it meant. It is only crushing to my ego when its about my company. So this mailing got delayed, research was needed.
First stop - my wife, she didn't think it came across that way. Next, a selected email solicitation of people who I trust to be honest with me. I only asked for their thoughts about the look and message. No one thought the message was coming across as a "solicitation". BUT to be honest with you fair reader. I did come across a lot of political correctness because of the pin up. I decided to take the gamble and sent them as is.
Here is why I made that decision. One - its an irish bar, and Two, It is my believe that any bar owner/manager is more grounded in the reality of life than being pre occupied with political correctness.

The mail piece was sized to a 5x7 Invitation envelope. Every one likes getting an invitation right? Included in this piece was the magnet, a price list and a 5x7 piece with a short story about us on one side and a call for action on the other. The weight of it costs us .63 to mail.

Phase 3

Two parts - one is a 4x6 post card sent via mail directing recipients to our website/St. Pats' Promo page. We decided to add incentives to orders of 200+ shirts (Free Banners) and to include other promotional items such as St. Pat's Necklaces, etc.

Second part is old fashioned calling. We are calling each establishment to see if we can set up a face to face. We will be telling each call that if we come out, we will give them a free St Patricks Day shirt that showcases our talents of fine detail, multiple color and special placement printing on a Kelly Green shirt. Thus living up to our hype.