NIGHTLIFE: AN OPPORTUNITY THAT ONLY GETS BETTER WHEN THE ECONOMY TAKES A NOSE DIVE!

I started my marketing career at the age of 18, marketing businesses to college students via a medium my partner and I called CDC or the College Discount Card. It was a card that was given free to students and enabled them to stretch there valuable but tight dollars. After graduating college in 1992, and with the internet still no where to be found, my partner and I grew apart, he went to law school and I moved to Boston to help start a college nightlife and entertainment guide called University People Magazine. I was always intrigued throughout college with the nightlife scene and how to market brands to the consumers who frequented these establishments. I took that magazine and built it into one of the best nightlife magazines Boston has ever seen. What made UPM different was that when we sold ads to establishments, movie companies, record labels, or even CPG companies, ads were always accompanied by a photo page of people in the nightlife scene celebrating the brands, products, or the establishment. We took products and intertwined them into the scene we always gave patrons of bars and nightclubs something for nothing and in return got photos of candid photos of consumers and then along with the names of the people in the photos, came up with quirky captions to go along with each photo all for the world to see. Every week when the magazine hit the streets the city went wild, people scrambled throughout the city to get the magazine and see if they or someone they knew was featured and with what products.

After hanging out in the scene and studying these consumers of the night, I realized that there was something special here. I began to entrench myself in the scene and study the consumers who went to these establishments. Boston was just the start of my long winding road of a career. Over the years I worked as a nightclub promoter, a club manager, a regional marketing manager for Charles Jacquin the makers of Chambord, to Assistant NY Market Manager for Dewar’s via US Concepts, to starting a marketing company called Fat Cat Promotions which worked with such clients as Bacardi, Jim Beam, Southern Comfort, Tito’s Vodka, Street Glow, Absolute, The Original Soupman, and many more until its sale two years ago. Fat Cat developed and executed on-premise marketing campaigns for these companies or created custom events for them. Over the years I learned how club owners think, how liquor distributors push products, how alcoholic and non alcoholic beverage companies push products, what consumers want, and most of all that when the economy takes a nose dive, this industry tends to grow. Why does it grow you ask? Because when people lose their jobs, begin to lose money, lose faith in our government, or just struggle to pay the bills, some how, some way, they always find a way to scrounge up the funds to go to the local bar or club and drink there sorrows away.

One might not think that consumers who are down on their luck might not be ideal candidates to market products to but they are actually the best. These are the people who are looking for some assistance and that assistance can come in the form of a new shirt, a new cd, free song downloads, free product samples, etc. These are the things that when these people finally get back on their feet, their buying habits will change, they might or might not buy your product right away because you gave them a free sample or a giveaway, but in the end consumers love free stuff. In a recent study done by the Advertising Specialties Institute, people who receive a free sample of something or something of value imprinted with a brands logo are more likely to remember and buy that brand afterwards.

In a down economy, the nightlife scene is a marketer’s dream. It offers a consumer base which is typically well educated, between the ages of 18-40 and is either spending the money of their parents or that which was self earned, in other words they have money to spend on things they want. It is an industry which offers up an audience of early adopters which are typically open to being bombarded with marketing while they are blocking out the woes of the world. These are the people that can make or break brands. This is an industry which is receptive to just about anything. The mediums available to a marketer to reach these consumers is endless, it is an environment that allows creativity to run wild. Some mediums available are bathroom advertising, on-premise sampling, MCs and DJs from within the scene, bartenders, SMS, establishment web banners and emails, fliers, websites, bar television networks, party sponsorship, or create your own. If you’re looking to test out marketing in this environment, you can always get involved in my latest program the Nightlife Survival Kit, which allows marketers to test out this environment for a very small slice of their marketing budget.

This environment is one which allows CPG companies to market products for as little as $1000 per establishment, but pick your locations and programs wisely, each is different in their own way. Each location caters to a different demographic audience with different tastes on different nights such as alternative lifestyle, Latin, Afro-American, classic disco, jazz, blues, house music, country music, techies, etc. Once you have chosen your demographic profile, make sure the models that are sent to educate the consumer in these venues, know your product inside and out, and have used or tasted your product. Make sure the models being sent into these establishments dress like and can relate to the audience with which you are trying to connect. Over the years I have seen many agencies tell clients that they know the nightlife industry and the only thing they seem to know about this industry is how to walk in the door and have a cocktail. The nightlife industry is an industry unlike any other. It is an industry which is sometimes hard to understand and one in which it is sometimes a difficult environment within which to market products, but if your agency is chosen wisely and they can show you the ROI they have created for other clients in this type of atmosphere, then you can rest assured this agency is one that can bring you the ROI you desire.

Why the launch of Party FM is so significant to NY/NJ nightlife marketing

This week a historic event occurred on New York airwaves. We lost a pioneer of NY radio when on October 30, 2009 at 5 PM the airwaves at Pulse 87.7 went quiet but at the same time, we can thank Vic Latino, for changing the NY radio landscape for music lovers, advertisers, and club owners for years to come. On Monday, November 2, 2009 at 6 AM Vic Latino launched PARTY FM. PARTY FM is significant because it is the first time a station has been able to broadcast from the Hamptons to the Tri-state area. Depending where you are the number on the dial will change but the music, on air personalities, etc. will remain the same. You can PARTY FM on the dial at one of two FM stations: LI-105.3, NYC/NJ- 87.7. PARTY FM can also be found online at http://www.partymusicleader.com.

You’re probably asking yourself what the hell PARTY FM has to do with nightlife marketing and the answer is a lot. This station is significant because it allows a marketer to influence a consumer via radio during the day, follow consumers as they go out to party for the night and influence them via product sampling/events, and then again when they drive home or to their next destination. These reasons alone make PARTY FM the ultimate marketing medium for targeting nightlife patrons. Other radio networks have tried but failed due to lack of knowledge and understanding of the nightlife industry but PARTY FM and Vic Latino get it. They understand how club owners/managers think and operate, and most of all, the consumers that frequent nightlife establishments not just on the air but also in an on-premise/in-store/event environment. So the next time you are looking to go after nightlife consumers, PARTY FM, will be a good starting point.

How do you get the staff of nightclub, bars, restaurant, and lounges to support, endorse and recommend your product to customers?

The other day I was asked by a colleague of mine named Gerard Jansse, for some effective/creative techniques to get bartenders and venue staff to support, endorse, and recommend a new product. Gerard informed me that his client was looking to launch a new rum into the already crowded category. After thinking about the task that Gerard had before him and how difficult his task was, I began to craft my answer to his question and this is what I came up with:

When looking to market a product in a nightclub, bar, lounge setting, the marketer must remember to get bartender and venue support. The marketer must not forget to embrace those that interact with the consumer, or face the consequences. Unfortunately one marketer in general is starting to face the consequences. The marketer I am referring to is the liquor industry. The liquor industry has lost their way and seems to think that if you buy your product into a bar, nightclub, or lounge and get product on the shelf the job is done. Unfortunately this is not true. Once the product receives bar or venue space, and your signage is prominently displayed in the venue, the marketer must now figure out how to move that product. If the marketer is ignorant to the workings of the restaurant, bar, nightclub, and lounge industry, the product that they just paid to get into the establishment will die a slow and painful death due to the staff being unrewarded and uneducated. In order to get your product moving and gain the support of venue staff, one must embrace, reward, and educate them. The staff must know what makes your product, in this case rum, different from the competition. Differentiation comes through education (making this fun, maybe a game show setting where the staff can win cash and prizes when questions are answered correctly) and the way the product is displayed and served. The way the staff serves the product must be turned into an event. The staff must know unique mixology points about the product as well as the normal mixology. One can launch a master mixologist contest for the staff member that comes up with the best drink. You can also spur sales by incentivizing employees who meet certain sales goals for the next three, six, and twelve months. You can reward the individual bartenders or entire establishment staff with things such as being whisked away for an all expenses paid 3-5 day vacation where everything revolves around the product (i.e. distillery tours, manufacturing, tastings of upcoming products, booze cruises, etc), over sized tips at the end of the night if a certain number of bottles are sold, the opportunity to guest bartend at a world famous club, the label of master mixologist or head brand ambassador of your product where the staff member is used in ads, sent on tour, and is paid a salary. One thing that assists the staff in moving your product is visible signage throughout the venue.

Venue staff is a great way to get the ball rolling but even a rolling ball loses momentum after a while until someone gives it a push. Just like a ball needing a push, so do your sales, so don’t be scared of using promotional models to give sales the push they need to continue their momentum. If you decide to use models, remember one thing, make sure they know your product inside and out. No matter how hot or good looking the model, if they do not have product knowledge and I mean know everything about your product, you might as well flush your marketing dollars down the toilet. Please remember that a good majority of promotional models drink on the job when in a bar setting, can't tell you a damn thing about the product and think that doing an on-premise or in-store promotion is all about handing out premiums. Truth of the matter is the goal of doing an on-premise or in-store promotion is to educate your current and future customers and get them to try your product through education.

UNDERSTANDING THE NIGHT: A Marketers Guide to Product Marketing in the Nightclub and Bar Scene - Part 2

OK, now that you have decided on your plan of attack, the question is what will allow the promotion you have created to get you the best ROI.

1) Always send in promotional models who can relate to the audience of the venue within which you will be promoting your product (i.e. sending a non-Spanish-speaking model into a Spanish nightclub, sending a white model into an all-Afro-American nightclub, sending a straight person into a gay bar, etc.).
a. When I owned Fat Cat Promotions, I always made sure the models were sent into establishments where they could relate to the consumer they would be approaching and be in an environment I n which they would feel comfortable.
2) Product knowledge/education: This is key, just like in any other industry, a consumer who cannot touch or feel your product must be sold on your product via product knowledge and education.
a. I have always sent in spotters during events to be my eyes and ears and see if the models know their product info or followed up with establishment management to get a first hand accounting of the promo and have always quizzed employees on product knowledge.
3) Have models sample your product before promoting it.
a. Over the years I have always done product tasting/knowledge classes.
4) Premiums- shirts, hats, printed promotional items/ad specialties, etc. More on this later!
5) Signage- own the establishment/location domination.
a. In every establishment I have always placed signage throughout the establishment. I have even done best decorator contests for each promo. Get creative for Dewar’s we used to take Dewar’s cups and stick them on the wall to make a D or spell Dewar’s behind the bars and to make them pop, we used to place blinking light buttons in each cup.
6) Make coupons available to allow patrons to remember and hopefully purchase your product outside of the establishment
7) Compile a mailing list of everyone. Get name, address, cell #, and email. Offer the consumer something in return for this info
8) Send the consumer to your website to receive a gift and to get them to further interact with your brand.
a. This could be done by simply giving the consumer a business card sending them to a website for a free download or gift.