Best Independent Marketing Campaign

With a tiny budget - but some big ideas - last year's Catey-winning Best Independent Marketing Campaign gained unanimous praise from the judges for its creativity, economy and effectiveness. Proprietor Brandon Weston and his team at the Glasshouse restaurant in Worcester faced the beginning of a new year with a marketing budget of less than £5,000 after spending more than intended on refurbishment - but they needed to raise the restaurant's profile and improve lunchtime business.

Within six months of the start of the campaign average spend at lunchtime had been raised from £11 to £19; average monthly turnover had gone up by 32%; and the Glasshouse was well and truly on the map with local diners. This was achieved at minimal cost by careful targeting of existing customers and Worcester businesses with new promotional material, and by setting up contra deals with sports clubs and business associations - trading special offers at the restaurant for advertising space in the clubs' programmes and mail-shots.

A new logo was created - based on a stained-glass feature in the restaurant's bar - and incorporated into the advertising literature for the campaign. The Catey judges were impressed with the look of the promotional material, and the use of postcards as the main vehicle for mailings was seen as particularly innovative and cost-effective - a postcard gets seen by more people than a leaflet hidden inside an envelope.

Weston correctly identified business lunches as a potential growth area, so a database of local companies was set up and the Glasshouse Business Lunch Club was launched. Members received a card that entitled them to a 10% discount on their total lunch bills, and special "lunch for a fiver" coupons which achieved a take-up rate of more than 40%.

Judge Stuart Harrison, principal of the Profitable Hotel Company, was looking for an innovative campaign to decide the Catey winner. "By being creative, they have achieved a significant uplift," he said.

Fellow judge Sally Pritchett, director of Something Big, was also impressed: "They had hardly any money but they thought hard about what to do with it. They've obviously got a good product, but have used the whole team and the local market and have been very imaginative."

Judges' criteria

* Businesses enter themselves for the Best Independent Marketing Campaign award, rather than being put forward by a third party.
* To qualify for the award the business must be a single-unit hotel, pub, restaurant or other catering outlet directly controlled by the owner.
* Individual outlets belonging to chains are not eligible. Individually owned hotels that are members of consortia, however, may enter.

This year's winner will be announced at the Catey Awards on Tuesday 1st July.

Previous Winners:

2002 The Glasshouse
2001 Crab Manor Hotel
2000 The Royal College of Physicians
1999 Brazz, Taunton, Somerset
1998 Castle Green, Kendall
1997 Gibbon Bridge Hotel, Forest of Bowland
1996 The Weavers Shed, Huddersfield
1995 The Wentworth Club, Virginia Water
1994 Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Great Milton
1993 Rutland Hotel, Sheffield
1992 Congham Hall, Grimston
1991 Keavil House Hotel, Dunfermline
1990 Grant's Hotel, Harrogate
1989 Greenway Hotel, Cheltenham
1988 La Belle Epoque, Knutsford
1987 Inn on the Lake, Godalming
1986 Mrs Crossley's Yorkshire Kitchen, Halifax
1985 Forest & Vale Hotel, Pickering
1984 D'Artagnan Restaurant, London

Sponsored by: Autograph Foodservice

Sponsor message:

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This year the Catey's celebrate 20 years of recognising high standards in the catering and hospitality arena and Autograph Foodservice are delighted to be involved for the first time in sponsoring the Best Independent Marketing Campaign Award. In today's highly competitive marketplace change, innovation and creativity are all pre-requisites for survival and success. All organisations need strategic and tactical marketing to aid visibility and differentiate their service and products from their competitors. Using marketing affectively and incorporating various elements of the marketing mix, such as PR, direct mail or advertising all add value to any business. As a past Catey winner, we would encourage any independent catering business has developed a marketing campaign that has assisted them in achieving their business objectives to submit an entry for this award category. Winners have the opportunity to inspire through example, providing valuable insights into what results can be achieved if you are creative and have the drive and ambition to see things through to the end. The Cateys are firmly established as the industry's eminent awards and everyone at Autograph Foodservice is thrilled to be part of an event that identifies and rewards excellence.



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