Organising special events

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You could, at times, be forgiven for thinking there aren't enough days on the calendar to accommodate all the "occasions" modern life has to offer....

You could, at times, be forgiven for thinking there aren't enough days on the calendar to accommodate all the "occasions" modern life has to offer. If you're in the pub business, though, what cannot be forgiven is a failure to take commercial advantage of such occasions.

Traditional days such as like Mother's Day, Hallowe'en, Christmas and New Year are known drivers of business into pubs and bars. Potential customers have free time, the excuse to celebrate and socialise and they are more than willing to consume and spend.

Casting the net wider, sporting events have an increasingly celebratory feel. The World Cup is nothing less than a global festival, and Wimbledon, at the end of June, is a social as much as a sporting fixture.

But events need not be headline news to have a successful spin-off for the pub trade. A local food festival or your pub's 10th anniversary can produce a packed and profitable house just as well.

Making the most of any occasion means tuning into the atmosphere and the feeling it creates, and selling on the back of that feeling. There's no better way of doing this than theming your pub, transmitting the excitement to customers and prospective customers.

Properly planned and executed, events themed around occasions are a tried and tested way to increase takings. Of course, they can flop too. It's up to you to translate ideas and initiative into revenue.

So how do you do that? First, decide in plenty of time what occasion, or wider event, you are going to focus your energies on. Who are you targeting? Existing customers? New customers? Day trippers? Tourists? Families?

And what do you want to achieve? Perhaps you want to tempt customers from a rival or foster loyalty among your regulars. Maybe you want to generate some quick revenue or introduce a new range of drinks.

Whatever the occasion, it's essential to consider whether it - and your version of it - will meet your needs and appeal to the customers you want to attract. The decision should take into account what is right and realistic for your pub. A Wimbledon-themed Pimm's Garden Party could be an ace idea, but in some pubs the response would undoubtedly be "You cannot be serious!".

Having decided on the theme, one key to success is to plan in plenty of time. Communicating to your existing customers that there's something exciting in the offing will help drive a critical mass of attendees. You need to enthuse staff and get them talking to customers about the event.

Around the pub, making use of existing point-of-sale spots, such as chalkboards and menus, can help build a buzz. Get the message across that this is an occasion not to be missed and not only will your regulars turn up, but they'll bring their friends too.

Good events are planned with enthusiasm, and that only comes from the organisers. Make someone on your team responsible for making it a success. It could be you, your manager or your team leader. Whoever it is, that person should take "ownership" of the event. They will need to keep the rest of the team on board and informed about its purpose, progress, what will be happening - and their own role in making sure things go smoothly.

Research has shown the commonest cause of events failing to deliver their objectives is the absence of such ownership within the outlet, leading to a lack of commitment, half-hearted execution and poor results.

You can't have a successful event without you and your staff living it. After all, if you don't, why should your customers? A good event has a feeling of authenticity, of something genuine, and in organising it, it's your job to create that atmosphere.

Giving your event an identity is another key to its success. If you don't do that, how will you describe and convey what's happening? A clear identity will help you generate a feelgood mood and create the sense of something people want to be involved in.

When preparing and positioning your event materials, a good tip is make sure you separate decorative props from anything containing a selling message. You want a good balance between both, but keep your hotspots for selling messages. Remember that while decoration is important packaging for the occasion your objective is to do more business.

Properly teed up, your event should lead to a busy day at the tills in the bar and the restaurant, so be conscious of your realistic capacity to handle so much business all at once and plan for it. Keeping things simple not only helps you manage the day but helps keep customers satisfied too.

Have plenty of staff on to keep service levels up and, when planning your catering, simple food can be best. Simple food also makes linking a drink to it in a themed meal deal more effective. Whether it's strawberries and cream with a glass of sparkling wine during Wimbledon, or beer and curry for a big football night, you will sell more.

Attention to staff "buy-in" is critical. Briefings, staff room posters and reminders on order pads and at the till can all help to keep them involved and "on message".

You might also consider incentivising staff by rewarding them if things go well and if targets, such as increased sales of a certain brand, are met. An element of competition may encourage staff to steer customers towards particular products.

Rewards need not be expensive. The best performing team member might get a day off or, for a group, you could offer a take-away at the end of the night. When it comes to higher value rewards, barstaff have shown a preference for tangible items like CDs, ipods or vouchers rather than experience-based rewards. Instant gratification is perhaps the test.

If staff are aware of the aims of the event, of how the incentive scheme works and the rewards on offer they are more likely to get into the spirit of it and give their best.

Your customers should need no such incentive. They come to your pub to have a good time and if you put that feeling together with an event or a special occasion they are likely to feel even more like having a good time than they normally do.

Choose the right occasion, plan carefully and get into the spirit of your own event and you may well find your business has more occasions to celebrate than you had ever realised.

  • Gemma Teed is planner at Leeds-based marketing communications agency Brahm.

Top tips

o plan well in advance, and inform and involve your customers

o make your team accountable for implementing an event and reward their success

o link events to simple, themed food and drink solutions

o separate decorative and selling material - and don't overwhelm your customers with messages

Why not try...

  • themed staff uniforms, from simple branded T-shirts or badges to coloured accessories such as green ties for St Patrick's Day, through to full-blown fancy dress and face paint
  • asking your drinks suppliers what branded materials they can supply
  • back-bar displays of drinks themed to the occasion, for example champagne at New Year

Related topics Events & Occasions

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