Hospitality Marketing Case Study – CRIB Bar Southampton

Overview

ADVRT was asked by Southampton-based bar CRIB to revamp their marketing strategy from scratch. Here’s how we did it.

About CRIB

CRIB opened its doors in July 2021 as more than just a cocktail bar. With the purpose of creating a fun and inclusive atmosphere, 14ft-long Shuffleboard tables are a significant feature of the venue. An inclusive game by nature, Shuffleboard is incredibly fun, competitive and tactical that turns strangers into best mates by the end.

Another head-turner of CRIB is their food, with Big Dough Co serving the largest pizzas available in the city there. (Plus, if you can down a 23” pizza within an hour, it’s free!)

However, if opening a bar – albeit one unlike any other – wasn’t hard enough, the tough Covid restrictions at the time made a marketing strategy difficult for the owners to execute efficiently.  

Video Production

Video is by far the best way to communicate what a venue has to offer online.

We worked alongside our trusted video production partners to help produce a series of videos that could be used for social media, paid search and paid social campaigns.

In addition to the main edit above, we also produced a series of smaller videos that focussed on each bookable area within CRIB that could be used with targeted campaigns.

Why CRIB chose ADVRT

With the additional work caused by Covid regulations, the owners of CRIB decided to outsource the marketing to take some of the pressure off.

“Outsourcing our marketing has allowed us to free up time to work on building the business, ensuring staff, stock and internal processes are all running smoothly,” Sean Larsen, director of CRIB Southampton, said.

“When we were deciding on the best marketing partner to work with, it was obvious that ADVRT was the only agency for the job. We worked with ADVRT closely with a number of other venues and projects, so we already knew that our working styles were a good fit.”

Sean says having great communication and complementing working styles is important when inviting a third party to assist with your company’s goals as it ensures you’ll make the most of the partnership. 

“It makes so much sense to outsource this area of your business, especially within a fast-paced and continuously changing industry such as hospitality.”

A website Optimised to Win:

ADVRT developed a website from scratch for CRIB that was designed to communicate the fun, vibe and experience that CRIB was bringing to the public of Southampton.

By heavily leveraging video content that was produced, as well as including trust factors from press mentions that we helped deliver, CRIB’s website is currently the biggest source of bookings, through an integrated online booking platform.

We paid close attention to SEO at every stage of the website build, and through keyword optimisation, on-page and off-page SEO, CRIB is now benefitting from ranking first page for it’s chosen search terms, driving further free traffic to the online booking page.

ADVRT’s marketing solution:

ADVRT developed a marketing strategy that adapted to CRIB’s unique, and ever-growing business within an ever-changing environment. 

The Southampton hospitality scene is an increasingly crowded and competitive one. But having Shuffleboard in the business model really set CRIB apart. While this made CRIB stand out, it also posed another challenge – to make the messaging clear, and directed at the right audience.

With accurate and authentic messaging being part of the solution, ADVRT keeps communication open to make sure all output is relevant. Requesting images, information and offers from CRIB to use across their channels, and keeping on top of upcoming events, awareness days and timely promotions is an important part of the marketing strategy. This enabled ADVRT to tailor the marketing to the right people, and create an authentic brand for CRIB’s social media and website.

As a fully integrated partner of CRIB’s, ADVRT continues to make sure their marketing efforts get the results. While the brand and advertising is taken care of, Sean and his team can continue to do what they do – and enjoy – best.

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