Boileau Communications Management LLC

Wish I thought of that

One of our local watering holes, a sports pub named Blazer’s, held a nifty promotion last night that I wish I would have thought of. Name Your Price night gave the pub’s customers the right to decide how much they were willing to pay for their food. The results were interesting.

Business has been a little slow at Blazer’s lately. This is partly due to the economy, partly due to the fact that it’s off-season for the NFL and college hoops and partly because summer is ever so slowly making its way into West Michigan. So the management at Blazer’s came up with the Name Your Price promotion to pick things up.

Based on what I saw, the idea was a rousing success. The place was jumping as I visited during the after work/dinner hour, with a lot of the bar’s regulars there but also a lot of new customers. Management was smart in bringing in every one of the pub’s employees for the event, so there were plenty of bartenders and wait staff. Having gone to the expense of hosting the promotion it wouldn’t do to have customers disappointed by slow service.

The promotion also brought some positive news coverage for both the event and the establishment. And when I asked one of the bartenders how things were going, he said that for the most part people were knocking a few bucks off their food bill, but there hadn’t been a lot of people trying to abuse the spirit of the the thing.

So, a clever idea brings old customers back, draws new customers in, generates a strong favorable impression and creates some nice news buzz as a bonus. Hats off to Blazer’s on an innovative approach that worked.