Ah yes. There is nothing like national syndication and free earned media- when you least expect it. In fact, us marketers yearn for online attention like this…..
Owned and paid media are the most common platforms for brands and companies to engage with their consumers online. However it is the third type of online media that brands and companies (are often ignorant to and) strive to achieve, earned media. The best way to drive traffic and sales online is to create a stronger sense of public awareness about your brand, and to get people to talk about you. Earned media has an organic to the public, and there is a different level of trust that resonates with the consumer based consumers’ opinion of the respective earned media source. Some brands and companies that are ahead in the digital age, are cognizant of the effects that earned media can have to drive sales. Whether being featured on a prominent blog, featured on an Instagram post from an account with millions of followers, or retweeted from a famous athlete or actor; these are the moments that brands strive for.
I’m a partner in an Orlando watering hole called ‘The Basement‘, located in Downtown Central Florida. We are a local favorite that offers a laid back atmosphere, with a grungy 1920’s prohibition-era feel. My partners and I are proud University of Central Florida Alumni, the nation’s second largest college. Our establishment has grown to be the downtown UCF-alumni hub, and often host watch parties. The past few seasons have been memorable with our huge upset over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl Championship in 2014 led by Blake Bortles. However this season, our young team looks absolutely pathetic. Call it Coach George O’Leary’s gameplan, call it our young roster, or call it bad luck; either way it has been ugly.
One of my partner’s from The Basement decided (through what was first just a sarcastic comment) to offer ‘FREE BEER UNTIL UCF WINS’, and posted it on @TheBasementOrlando ‘s Instagram account. To clarify that it was not a joke, it even said “Seriously, free beer during every game until we win. Because we need something to be excited about.” So what started as a joke, to poke fun at our team’s slow start, turned into national syndication. I received the first e-mail from a CBS Sports representative asking to speak with a manager regarding the special. Next thing I saw during a business trip up to New York for Advertising Week, the NASDAQ ticker in time square was mentioning ‘The Basement, a bar in Orlando offering FREE BEER until their team wins.” I knew that this was in the midst of going viral, and was not going to stop anytime soon.
“The suds are going to be flowing in the basement”, ESPN said. CBS Sports wrote a story, and we got tweeted by SB Nation. Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, the Washington Post, Bleacher Report, USA Today, and many other large news stations and heavily trafficked domains did features on this activity. They most recently talked about the UCF Knights on College Gameday, with mention of ‘the bar that’s giving away free beer’. The local Orlando stations continue to keep other national sources up to date to piggy-back off of the attention gained from all over the country.
Sales are up. Our followers are up on all social media sites. We continue to get not just local publicity, but national publicity. While this may not be great from a cost of goods perspective, the bar has been very busy. The cost of domestic beer is lower, which has a lower margin that any type of cocktail. The thought process was to pack the place, and sell drinks, shots, and other items that were not free. Of course, the fact that UCF continues to lose is not helping, but the amount of publicity gained, and people talking about ‘The Basement Orlando”, is worth every ounce of free beer poured.
Some brands, companies, and PR firms will pay THOUSANDS of dollars for sponsored posts from celebrities or site owners rich with traffic. All we had to do was give away some free beer. Now let’s just pray the UCF Football team can win a game…. sometime…. soon.
