Marketing: Show your true colours

Flexible licensing will encourage more pubs to go 'chameleon'. Jane Howarth looks at how this will change the way bars operate and promote drinks.

Chameleon bars - which, like the famous lizards, change "colour" in response to factors such as mood, temperature and light - are an accepted concept in the industry. But the advent of flexible opening means that adopting chameleon principles will soon become a necessity for licensees, rather than merely an option.

Fortunately, knowing what many of the most significant changes are likely to be means we can, without expending too much energy, cast at least one beady eye over some of the techniques that are likely to come to the fore in on-trade drinks marketing as the industry responds to a changing environment.

Constant adaptation will be king in the world of the chameleon bar. Lighting, music, staff uniforms and food and drink menus will all have to be tailored according to the time of day and the "need state" - marketing speak for the customer's reason for having a drink.

Promotions are also likely to be increasingly tailored with soft drinks, for example, tied to meal deals at lunchtime.

Decluttering back-bars by removing glassware and focusing on creating displays of key brands is already seen as good practice. But with increasing pressure to speed up service and the need to make customer decision-making as easy as possible, there will inevitably be a move towards concentrating on the fastest-moving, most popular, most profitable brands behind the bar.

So while drinks menus may continue to offer a wide range of drinks and cocktails, only key brands are likely to be on display on the back-bar and in the fridges.

The trend for "zoning" bars to appeal to different need states will grow to the extent that it will be standard practice. Clear areas will emerge with different functions.

For example, in family pubs you might find the following areas:

• Socialising: standing area to drink and chat
• Hold: area to manage flow into dining zone
• Huddle: quieter area for couples or small groups where tables may be reserved, and table service may be available
• Dine: separate dining area
• Smoke-free: separate no-smoking zones
• Family: family dining area located near a play barn or children's facilities.

Implemented effectively, zoning will allow venues to meet customer expectations throughout all "phases" of their visit as they move from zone to zone, or for different kinds of visit, as well as at the same time appealing to a range of different customers within the same outlet.

When the chameleon is king, promotional messages will need to reach customers in all zones. A customer who is seated and receiving table service, for instance, may actually never go up to the bar, making it all too easy for them to revert to their default drink - a tried and tested safe choice that's usually available everywhere - without considering new brands, drinks or meal promotions.

In this scenario promotional material will have to work hard in all zones, perhaps consisting of customised activity to promote products appropriate to each. For example, second drinks with meals in a dining zone, long mixers for spirits in "chill out" zones at late-night venues or soft drinks in the family zone.

The advent of longer licensing hours will also bring the issue of responsible social drinking to the fore. We are already seeing the demise of the familiar happy hour and two-for-one drinks deals. In future these could be replaced by promotions focusing on "pacing" and long drinks, with added value promotions likely to prove more socially acceptable than price based ones.

Keeping up with the chameleons​

It's a jungle out there, so what can you do to ensure that your pub gets noticed in the new chameleon culture? It may not be feasible for every pub and bar to compete with nightclubs in the late-night entertainment stakes but there is an opportunity to take advantage of extended opening hours by tailoring the ambience and offering of an outlet to the mood, and customers' prevailing need states at any one time. You could start by dividing your licensed day into "day parts", for example:

• morning coffee
• lunchtime dining
• afternoon tea / meeting friends / shopper's pick-me-up
• after-work drinks
• evening dining
• late-night drinking.

If you follow the day parts you will need to invest time and money to accommodate some basic but essential changes to give you the flexibility to meet the needs of each part of the day. For example:

• furniture will have to be modular and easy to move, giving more flexibility in the available space
• style of service will need to change to suit the mood and requirements of consumers in different zones at different times of the day
• back-bar and point-of-sale materials such as posters and table-talkers may need to be remerchandised throughout the day to provide a focus on brands appropriate to the day part, for instance, soft drinks at lunchtime and spirits at night.

All this constant rearranging might not sound terribly practical, bringing with it images of staff rushing around at key times every day. But once the routine is established it doesn't have to be like that. And simple changes can make a big difference. Such as:

• having separate menu cards for different day parts - pastries for mid-morning, light lunch solutions, sharing platters for the after-work crowd and a more substantial evening menu
• training staff to remerchandise your venue as a matter of course as they clear up during the day or at the end of their shift
• changing lighting and music to suit the time of day
• dressing dining tables to suit the day part
• tailoring staff uniforms so that shift changes are accompanied by an appropriate change in dress.

Even in a chameleon culture your outlet will never be all things to all people. However, by maximising your relevance to the full range of your customers' requirements you can maximise the opportunity to "lock them in" to your bar more often, and for longer, to keep them consuming for longer and to cross-sell them the food and drink solutions that you would prefer them to enjoy.

Top tips for a new era​

Thinking of turning chameleon? Try these top tips and your bar could be looking forward to its day in the sun:

• Work out what your day parts are and adjust your offer accordingly
• Streamline your back-bar (and if you haven't done so already, declutter)
• Ensure promotional messages reach customers in each of your zones
• If you aren't already zoning, start working out how you could incorporate zones into your premises
• Concentrate your promotions on adding value and experience for your customers, rather than pushing volume.

• Jane Howarth is head of sales promotion at Poulters, based in Leeds. The company's Drink Tank research programme draws on over two years of research into consumer behaviour.