Buca di Beppo’s 15th Anniversary National Campaign

Situation:

In order to properly celebrate its 15th anniversary in mid-July 2008, Buca di Beppo brought in Heather Atherton of Atherton Public Relations and Katy Springer, fellow PR consultant, and their virtual PR team to run a nationwide PR campaign in the summer of 2008. Objectives were twofold: 1) create an unusual event at the original Buca di Beppo in Minneapolis, MN that would generate media attention and create a model for other locations to copy, 2) book broadcast media tours to support local operators and generate traffic.

Approach:

In order to generate energy for the promotion nationwide, 10 markets were chosen to pursue for broadcast cooking opportunity as well as print/online media coverage. The markets included: Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Philadelphia, Chicago, South Florida, Washington, DC, Dallas and Detroit. Media tours for TV and radio were booked in all of the markets to promote some of the most popular “classic Buca” dishes featured as a part of the anniversary.

Minneapolis was a bit different as we were asked to create an unusual media event that would create great visuals for media and photos for the web site. We developed the concept of a “Mass Renewal of Vows” ceremony outside of the original Buca di Beppo in downtown Minneapolis. We secured a media partner in a daily afternoon television show with a male and female host who would help officiate the “renewal” ceremony. A contest was held via the television show and a radio partner to find 15 couples to join Buca for the ceremony and a private reception in the restaurant. Each couple was invited to bring two other guests.

Results:

• 30 TV, 30 radio and more than 100 print media hits secured across the 14 markets. Broadcast were either live cooking segments or live food drops (deliveries) to stations where they chatted on air about the restaurant and promotion.
• Buca di Beppo was very impressed with the results as they had not received that number of live broadcast interview opportunities in a two month period in the past.
• The event was a tremendous success. We quickly secured our 15 couples who all had fantastic stories to share. Photos were used to promote the ongoing promotion that lasted through mid-August. It solidified the relationship with KSTP TV and radio station KS95 in their headquarters.