PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN Elevate
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
provided by PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN Elevate STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS Inspire Brands and Stockholders Inspire Brands, which was renamed from Arby’s, is the parent organization of Buffalo Wild Wings. Therefore, a net gain or loss in sales will affect the Inspire Brands organizations. Inspire Brands will pay $157 per share for Buffalo Wild Wings, representing a 7 percent premium to Buffalo Wild Wings’ Monday closing price of $146.40. Buffalo Wild Wings Employees As of Dec. 25, 2016, Buffalo Wild Wings employed approximately 44,000 team members--3,400 full-time and 40,000 part-time team members working in the company-owned restaurants and 600 team members based out of the headquarters or in field management positions. As of Dec. 25, 2016, Buffalo Wild Wings operated 1,240 locations internationally. Buffalo Wild Wings Consumers According to Simmons Oneview, of those who indicated they visited Buffalo Wild Wings most often out of all family and sit-down restaurants, they were more often male, conservative and aged 21-28. Potential Buffalo Wild Wings Consumers Through the partnerships between Buffalo Wild Wings, DraftKings, Dignitas and the recent purchase by Inspire Brands, Buffalo Wild Wings consumers offer potential for brand growth and an increase in sales. Furthermore, Inspire Brands purchased Sonic Drive-In, which could influence Sonic customers to now dine in at Buffalo Wild Wings. Partnerships The Buffalo Wild Wings-DraftKings partnership will produce an exclusive fantasy football game only available to fans inside the restaurants on Sundays. The game, “Blazin' Fantasy Football,” was made available on mobile via the Blazin’ Rewards App starting Sep. 9. Dignitas-Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. announced today a partnership with Team Dignitas, an internationally recognized esports organization. Through the partnership, Buffalo Wild Wings becomes the “Official Hangout for Team Dignitas” and receives prominent logo placement on the sleeve of Team Dignitas jerseys, player appearances at restaurants, exclusive content featuring players, and branding on monthly Team Dignitas live streams on Facebook. Farmers Buffalo Wild Wings’ main commodity is its wings. Therefore, farmers who raise chickens and other meat products such as cows are impacted by Buffalo Wild Wings sales. STAKEHOLDERS’ ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE: Our target audience values convenience and expediency. The audience also values a family-friendly atmosphere. Above all else, decision making for parents is motivated by the needs and wants of their children. At any of our many locations nationwide, parents appreciate a space that not only provides a meal but also keeps children entertained and occupied. Additionally parents, especially those with elementary aged children, value comfort and ease. Our target audience will also be able to appreciate our commitment to families via our community outreach programs. We will continue to encourage families and youth sports teams to apply for Buffalo Wild Wings scholarships and team sponsorships via our website. We will be more active about publicizing these initiatives, with feature stories about the efforts and the communities impacted on our website and social media platforms. Through The End Zone initiative we will emphasize the child-friendly aspects of the restaurant. To make parents feel comfortable at Buffalo Wild Wings we would stress the casual in casual dining, through our advertising initiatives. We would also make it clear to parents that Buffalo Wild Wings is not only comfortable but fun. Our secondary target audience also values ease and comfort in their dining experiences. In addition to that, young professionals also care about cost. With our social media discount promotions, we will be able to appeal to their thrifty side. IN THE NEWS: During the month of November, four articles circulated regarding Buffalo Wild Wings. One article from madison.com was an analysis of the seasonal pumpkin spice sauce by Rob Thomas on Nov. 9, 2018. He stated that “it wasn’t bad, exactly.” Another article discusses Buffalo Wild Wings’ financial situation in restaurantbusinessonline.com. On Nov. 7, 2018, Peter Romeo wrote that changes made to Buffalo Wild Wings by the casual brand’s new owner are having a positive effect, but came too late to help franchisee Diversified Restaurant Holdings (DRH) avoid a net loss of $1.8 million on a 5.2 percent drop in same-store sales for the third quarter. However, the brand’s new owner is having a positive effect and the football season has helped the restaurant this year. Another article written on Oct. 25, 2018 by Amy Wenk also discussed the financials of the chain. According to bizjournals.com, the owner of Buffalo Wild Wings raises $6.5 billion to buy more big name brands. Lastly, on Nov. 11, 2018, S.M. Walsh wrote in heavy.com about Buffalo Wild Wings’ Veterans Day deals and discounts. MEDIA RELATIONS: In order to encourage media to cover our events and share our press releases, we plan to email our media contacts, tweet at media pages and Facebook message pages. While emailing media contacts is the most effective and traditional measure, we feel that tweeting and Facebook messaging media pages will create a direct line to of communication. We will also provide the media with as much information as we are able in a timely manner. To foster media relationships, we will provide our contacts a tour of the headquarters with the new Buffalo Wild Wings president Lyle Tick and feature an informal Q&A session off the record to promote a colloquial relationship among the press. The press will also have access to the charity basketball game private training session with Dwyane Wade. Furthermore, we will send our media contacts a monthly newsletter with upcoming Buffalo Wild Wings information and a young professional of the month section. A copy of the newsletter is included in the press kit. Media Contacts: ESPN Minneapolis Twitter handle: @1500ESPN Chicago Twitter handle: @ESPN1000 National Twitter handle: @espn Email: [email protected] ABC News: Minneapolis Twitter handle: @KSTP Chicago Twitter handle: @ABC7CHICAGO National Twitter handle: @abcnews Specific targeted Twitter handle: @GMA Caragh Fisher, News Coordinator for ABC, Good Morning America, ABC, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC, GMA Day 212-456-3437, [email protected] Elizabeth Hecht, News Coordinator for ABC, Good Morning America [email protected] FOX Sports Minneapolis Twitter handle: @fsnorth Chicago Twitter handle: @foxkickoff National Twitter handle: @FOXSports Email: [email protected] NBC News: Minneapolis Twitter handle: @kare11 Chicago Twitter handle: @nbcchicago National Twitter handle: @NBCNews Specific targeted Twitter handle: @TODAYShow Dominique Cuce, Manager Communication for NBC News, Project Assignment: Dateline NBC, TODAY (212) 664-6192 [email protected] Elizabeth Kushel, Manager NBC News Project Assignment: Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist, TODAY, TODAY, Weekend Edition (212) 664-1892, [email protected] CBS News: Minneapolis Twitter handle: @WCCO Chicago Twitter handle: @cbschicago National Twitter handle: @CBSNews Specific targeted Twitter handle: @CBSThisMorning Samantha Graham, Executive Director, Communications, CBS This Morning, CBS This Morning: Saturday 212-975-6795 [email protected] Wall Street Journal: National Twitter handle: @WSJ Reporter: Julie Jargon @juliejargon [email protected] Minneapolis Star Tribune National Twitter handle: @StarTribune Email: [email protected] Reporter: John Ewoldt [email protected] 612-673-7633 New York Times: National Twitter handle: @nytimes Reporter: Adam Bryant @AdamBBryant Washington Post: National Twitter handle: @washingtonpost Reporter: Des Bieler @DesBieler [email protected] Vox: National Twitter handle: @voxdotcome Reporter: Rachel Sugar @rtsugar Buzzfeed: National Twitter handle: @BuzzFeed Reporter: Alicia Barron @aliciaebarron Our primary audience is parents with young children, in the age range of 30-40 years old, who are financially comfortable. Attention will be directed towards news outlets and morning shows. Before school, parents and children watch ABC’s Good Morning America and the TODAY show. As a result, to generate buzz amongst families, we will target morning shows and news shows that parents may watch during school hours and during dinner when parents have the news on the television as background noise. Furthermore, we included media in national newspapers like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal food reporters to target parents who read the news. Our secondary audience is young professionals from the age range of 21-28 who consider themselves technology wizards and are fairly interested in football and current events. Therefore, we will target local and national news on ABC and NBC and sports channels like FOX Sports and ESPN. We also included millennials news publications like Vox and Buzzfeed to generate excitement among young professionals. Additionally, we included the Twitter handles of news outlets in Minnesota since the Buffalo Wild Wings headquarters is located in Minneapolis. We will also reach out via twitter handles in Chicago because we will sponsor a charity basketball game in Oak Lawn, Illinois. SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES: Based on our primary research, social media users seem to respond well to the trivia questions posted to our pages. As a result, we will continue the initiative and offer added incentives to play. Buffalo Wild Wings currently features images that create