Why 'nothing out the ordinary' isn't good enough for pubs

18-Jul-2012 - Last updated on 24-Jul-2012 at 08:16 GMT

Willock: "Make sure customers choose your pub and it's dressed to impress"

What do publicans and equine dentists have in common? They both look gift horses in the mouth. Or so it would seem if you believe some of the statistics that have been bandied about in the past week.

Our colleagues at him! Research & Consulting recently sent me some survey results that appear to suggest that thousands of licensees are failing to take advantage of heaven-sent opportunities to increase footfall and sales in their pubs.

They interviewed thousands of customers at cash & carry depots around the country, asking: “Have you done/will you do anything differently in your outlet for the following events — the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Euro 2012 football tournament and the Olympic Games?”

Of the pub licensee survey respondents, only 44% said they had done something special for the Diamond Jubilee, just 32% had created themed occasions for the Euros and a paltry 30% said they planned activities for the Olympics. Indeed, 42% said they had done “nothing out of the ordinary” for any of
these events.

I repeat: “nothing out of the ordinary.” Nothing to attract customers, excite customers, upsell customers, or actually deserve customers and the tens of millions of additional drinks and meals these events have gifted to the trade.

What are we to make of these responses? Well, given that the survey was conducted at wholesaler premises, we might surmise that many of the respondents run freehouses. And thus that, unlike their tenanted and leased peers, they lack the support of a business development manager (BDM) and access to professional point-of-sale (PoS) material.

Punch, for example, spent huge amounts of time and money on its Summer of Our Lives initiative, which encouraged and helped its licensees to make the most of this unique season — “to cement their place at the heart of the community and become the venue to celebrate national events”.

For the independent licensee, the lack of a BDM, can be both a blessing and curse. On one hand, no one nagging you to do all those things you know you should. But on the other hand, no one nagging you to do all those things you know you should!

There are ‘virtual BDM’ services available to freehouses. Carlsberg’s We Deliver More website is a good example, offering planners, personalised PoS material and direct marketing services. So there’s no real excuse for ignoring or failing to take advantage of gilt-edged opportunities when they arise.

I’ll leave you with one more stat from last week to highlight the scale of the opportunity presented by the Olympic Games, which start in eight days. The Evening Standard reported: “PricewaterhouseCoopers say 61% of us plan to watch the Olympics on TV at home.” That means, by my calculation, 39% are planning to watch it out of the home.

Make sure they choose your pub, and that it’s dressed to impress.