the boatyard grillmedia plan fall 2014-fall 2015Kyle James, Mollie Wiener, and Maria Buitrago

the boatyard grillthe boatyard grill

situation analysis & marketing objectivesRelevant Information:

Target Markets & Audiences:

The target markets of the BoatYard Grill include graduate students, families of those 35- to 45-years old, and those who are older than 50, especially retirees.

The BoatYard Grill is the premiere waterfront restaurant in Ithaca, New York. Located just by the water, the BoatYard invites customers of all ages to come to the restaurant to not only enjoy American grilled cuisine, but also to have a wonderful dining experience that can be found nowhere else in the area. Outdoor seating options, fresh ingredients, and reasonable prices make the BoatYard Grill a great dining option for families.

Whathasposedaproblemfortherestaurantisthetrafficchangesthatcomeaboutduringthe colder seasons. While the summer is an extremely busy time for the BoatYard, it is extremely slow during the winter. The BoatYard also would like to appeal more to college students. However, living on a student’s budget makes it hard for those in college to justify spending approximately $25 on one meal. As such, most people use it as a “special occasion” restaurant - which is not how the BoatYard wishes to be seen. While students are eager to recommend visit the restaurant when their parents are in town, they rarely ever consider it as a regular dining option when there is no special event to celebrate. This, the BoatYard wants to change.

Consumer attitudes toward the BoatYard Grill vary. Those who have visited the restaurant typically see it favorably, according to rating aggregate websites like Yelp and Urbanspoon, which give the restaurant 3 out 5 stars based on 73 reviews and a 76% approval rating based on 275 votes, respectively. Customers note the excellent and personalized service as being one of the restaurant’s best features.

As for geographic potential, the main focus is to reach those in the Ithaca and greater Tompkins County area, such as residents of Cortland. Also desirable, however, are residents of the Elmira-Corning area nearby.

SWOT Analysis

strengths• Good location; on the water• One of the only waterfront restaurants in the

area• Hosts an array of events - weddings, sorority

parties, private parties, corporate, etc.• Large bar• Quality food• Lots of repeat business• Philanthropic• Kids eat free on Monday• Customer familiarity• Small plate section of menu

weaknesses• Seen as a “destination” restaurant• Expensive for college students• Building is old• No catering

opportunities:• Retail sales expected to increase 2% this

year in Tompkins County• Area with tourism

threats• Winterdrivesdowntrafficsubstantially• Students leaving during winter and summer

seasons• In a highly competitive area for dining options• TCAT stop does not drop passengers off

directly at restaurant• Reluctance of community to build facilities on

the lake• Large student population means that

many residents are uninterested in a more expensive dining experience

Marketing Objectives

1. IncreasethetrafficthattheBoatYardGrillseesinthewinterseasonsby20%inthenextyear.

2. TheBoatYardGrillneedstomaintainitscurrentcustomerbaseinordertokeepprofitsatastable rate and develop personalized service with their returning customers. As such, a major marketing goal is to keep repeat customers at the current levels.

3. TheBoatYardGrillisinterestedingrowingitscustomerbaseinordertoraiseprofitsandaddnew people to its list of returning and regular customers. In response to this, a marketing objective is to grow a new customer base, especially within the student market and those who are new to town. We want to grow college student visits by 10% in one year as well as grow overall new visits by 20% in that same time period.

4. The BoatYard Grill wants to make their bar a more popular spot in the restaurant in order to drive uptrafficandappealtoawideraudience.Asaresult,wehopetouseincreasebaractivityandactivity during Happy Hour at the BoatYard by 15% in the next year.

Thenumberonetaskthatthismediaplanislookingtoaddressistoincreasethetrafficthatthe restaurant receives during the winter season, primarily between the months of November and May,asthosearethetimeswhenrestauranttrafficisreportedlyatitslowestaccordingtotheclient.Morespecifically,wewouldliketoincreasethenumberofdinersattheBoatYardGrillby15%duringthe winter season in the next year as a result of this media plan.

The secondary goal of this media plan is to increase the activity of the Happy Hour at the BoatYardGrillby10%inthenextyear.Webelievethatthiswillbebeneficialtoaccomplishbecauseitwilldriveupprofitsfortherestaurantaswellasbringinmorecollegestudentswhoarenewlylegal-ly allowed to consume alcoholic beverages to the restaurant.

Task Definition

media objectives Ourfirstobjectiveis to increase the number of people who visit the BoatYard Grill during the winter season. Our target audience for this task is residents of the Ithaca and greater Tompkins Countyarea,astouristsdonotcometotheareaduringthistime.Morespecifically,weareinterested in targeting families during this time, as the student population of Ithaca is either not in theareaforthewinterseasonorextremelybusywithschoolworkandthestressoffinals.Families,being the restaurant’s main customer base already, are who we want to increase their number of visits during the winter because they have proven to be reliable customers in the past. Research shows that 20.5% of those who visit family restaurants and steakhouses do so with children under the age of 12, and 11.7% visit with children between the ages of 12 and 17. Also important to note is that people who are currently married make up 57.5% of those who visit family restaurants and steakhouses. Those who already visit the BoatYard Grill during the summer are the most viable people to target as they already enjoy the restaurant and their experiences there and have proven to be loyal customers who come back. Thus we want them not only to continue dining at the restaurant during the summer, but also to consider it just as much in the winter season.

Secondarily, we want to increase the number of people within Ithaca and the greater Tompkins County area, the Cortland area, and those living the Elmira-Corning area who visit the BoatYard Grill and consider it as a dining option on a regular basis. In particular, the BoatYard is interested in increasing its number of student visitors due to the presence of college students, both at Ithaca College and at Cornell University. In order to attract more students, we want to target those who are juniors and seniors at their respective institutions, as they are more likely to live off campus and therefore not rely on a prepaid meal plan, and it is much more probable that those students will have transportation and jobs that pay them enough to make them feel like they are at leisure to spend money on dining out at a restaurant. We believe that attracting more students is possible, because of people who are aged 20, 75.5% of them visit family restaurants and steakhouses, while 75.2% of those aged 21 visit the same restaurants. Additionally, 81.4% of college students visit family restaurants and steakhouses.

Third, we want to increase the activity at the bar in the BoatYard Grill. The client wants to emphasize how many options the bar has to offer in terms of alcoholic beverages, and feels that it is currently being underutilized by patrons of the restaurant. We conducted research using Simmons Oneview in order to determine who is most likely to visit bars and/or drink alcoholic beverages at restaurants. People between the ages of 30 and 49 make up 37.6% of those who often drink alcoholic beverages when out to eat at restaurants, and they make up 41.6% of people

who go to bars and nightclubs. Of people between the ages of 24 and 29, 43.1% go to bars and nightclubs and 12% regularly drink alcoholic beverages at restaurants. 43.6% of people who often drink alcoholic beverages at restaurants are over the age of 50, however only 10.3% of people over the age of 50 visit bars and nightclubs. These statistics indicate that we should focus on targeting people between the ages of 24 and 49 primarily, and secondarily people above the ages of 50.

As stated earlier in the Target Audience breakdown, we would like to focus the bulk of our media plan on people within the Greater Tompkins and Cayuga, Cortland, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler and Seneca county areas. Because these counties are the counties that contain and are adjacent to Ithaca, they are the ones that have the most frequent visitors to the restaurant. We also want to put some media executions within the Elmira-Corning market as well, however, this will be significantlylessthanthemoneyinthefirstareawementioned.Weplanonutilizingthisplantokeep our current market strong while supporting growth in another potential market.

As for timing, we plan to advertise mainly in the winter seasons and the summer does not need any help getting the restaurant business. As such, we will focus our marketing efforts to be mainly between the months of November and April in order to position the BoatYard Grill as a viable dining option during these months in the minds of our target audience. We plan to make use of the effective reach communication model to reach the student demographic because we believe that if we make the restaurant present in the minds of students without bombarding them with information, they will be more likely to choose the BoatYard Grill as the restaurant they want to go to the next time they decide to go out to eat. With our family target markets, we want to use the recency model, asfamiliesaremorelikelytomakespur-of-the-momentdecisionswhenitcomestodiningout.Forthis reason, we will advertise at times we believe that they will be feeling hunger and thinking about lunch or dinner plans in order to make sure that they have the BoatYard Grill fresh in their minds and that they are inspired to go there for lunch or dinner.

media objectives, continued

media strategiesMedia Mix

Our media mix will consist of traditional elements, including newspaper, radio, and billboards, but will also include digital components, such as online review sites and search engine optimization.

Fornewspaper,wehaveselectedTheIthacan,TheIthacaJournal,andtheCornellDailySun.Inorder to attain our goal of reaching college students and bringing a younger demographic to The BoatYardGrill,wedecidedtoplacehalf-pageadsinbothTheIthacanandTheCornellDailySun,during particular times of the year in which students would frequent restaurants, namely during parents’ weekends in the fall and accepted student weekends in the spring. It is our belief that attractingstudentstoTheBoatYardGrillwhentheyhaveafinancialbacking(i.e.,theirparents’buyingthemdinner)willallowthemtocrossthethresholdfromfirst-timevisitorstofrequentvisitors.OncestudentshavesampledthefoodatTheBoatYard,weareconfidentthatthatfactorwillenticethem to return and strengthen their conviction to visit the restaurant. The advertisements in The IthacanandtheDailySunwillhelptocreatetop-of-mindrecallwhenstudentsarecontemplatingwhere they should go for dinner.

In addition to the two campus newspapers, we have also elected to place half-page ads inTheIthacaJournal,inordertoreachourolderdemographics,aged35-49(primarily)and50+. Because people in older age groups tend to subscribe to or purchase traditional, tangible newspapers, we feel that The Ithaca Journal is an appropriate choice to reach these markets. In addition, the small business package that The Ithaca Journal offers includes online ads, which will help us to reach those subscribers or visitors to the site who consume primarily digital media. This will help us achieve a balance between the younger and older demographics that The BoatYard currently seeks.

Nextinourmediamixisradio,forwhichwehaveselectedthreestations:WFIZZ95.5FM,WHCU95.5FM,andWNYYAM.Toreachthestudentdemographic,webelievethatZ-95.5istheidealchoice,withatop40radioformat.StudentsregularlytuneintolistentoZ-95.5’spopformat,especiallystudentswhohavecarsoncampus--whichisfitting,becausetheyfacefewerbarrierstoget to the Boatyard, such as a lack of transportation. WHCU 95.5, on the other hand, with its news talk format, is suitable for reaching the older demographic discussed earlier. In particular, WHCU is the only radio station with a live local morning and afternoon show. In addition, WNYY AM’s morning talk radio is perfect to access the same demographic, as well, but during another daypart. WNYY is also a progressive talk station, which is important to access a mostly liberal population like Ithaca’s.

Forout-of-homemedia,weelectedtoplaceabulletinonabillboardonRoute13attheexitleadingtotheShopsatIthacaMall.Ratherthanspendonmultiple,smallerboardsinlesstraffickedareas, we chose to invest in the largest possible billboard on a frequented patch of Route 13 in order to garner the largest amount of impressions possible and reach the most people. In addition, we chose to buy another board on Route 96-B incoming to Ithaca, in order to capture the attention of families on their way into Ithaca.

Indigitalmedia,ourteamexaminedtheBoatYardGrill’sorganicFacebookpresenceandfound their social media to be very active, with constant updates on daily menus and special events takingplaceattherestaurant.BecausetheirFacebookpresenceisalreadystrong,wethoughtitwisetobuypromotedpostsonFacebookinordertoboostpageviewsanddrawmoreattentiontothe events posted there. With the highly shareable aspect of social media, the BoatYard Grill should receive a bump in both new and repeat customers.

Finally,wedecidedtosendoutthreedirectmailpiecesduringtheslowestseasonfortheBoatYardGrill—the winter months. These pieces will be targeted to those postal routes in the 14850 and 14853 zip codes, which will serve to cover the majority of the Ithaca area. We limited the target of our direct mail pieces to the routes that contained a concentration of at least 35 percent of our target audience, aged 35-49. We believe that this will be an extremely effective way to drive customers to the restaurant during the winter.

Our media mix effectively combines newspaper, radio, out-of-home, online, and direct mail media sources to reach our target market of 35-49 year olds as well at those who are 50 and older and create a memorable, synergistic effect on the audience. We hope to use the newspaper sources as a way to get our target market thinking about the BoatYard Grill at the beginning of their day, every time they read the paper. This will create a lasting impression of the Boatyard Grill in our target market. This will be combined with our radio executions on morning drive radio. By exposing our market to two different forms of media in the morning, we will make sure that BoatYard Grill stays fresh in the minds of our target market. We also want to combine our radio on the way home from work with the out-of-home billboards so that when our target market is traveling around or into Ithaca, we can hit them with two reminders of the BoatYard Grill as a place where they can get a hearty, refreshing meal, potentially with family or friends. We also hope to remind our target market that the BoatYard Grill has a great bar scene as well. In combination with our local radio ads and our advertisements on restaurant review sites we hope to reach the “Ithaca visitors” market. The BoatYard Grill shows off many great things Ithaca has to offer, and we want more visitors will be abletoknowaboutthatthroughmedia.Finally,thelastthingwewanttodoisuseourdirectmailasphysical, tangible reminder of the BoatYard grill. Studies have shown that people are more likely to

media strategies, continued

Scheduling Many of the media vehicles in this plan are based on a heavy-up schedule that focuses our main marketing efforts during the winter season and colder surrounding months, between the months of October and April. This will be the best for our goals because it will not only communicatethebenefitsofdiningattheBoatYardGrillatatimethatpeoplemaynototherwisebe thinking about it, but it will also induce greater numbers of customers to come during those months, when ordinarily people coming into the restaurant is much more rare. We especially plan to emphasize our advertising around the holiday season so that people who are hosting family members from out of town will think to take their extended family to the BoatYard for lunch or dinner one day. This will serve the BoatYard by drawing in its desired family market.

BecausecollegestudentsareinIthacaforverylittleofDecemberandJanuaryduetothemonth-long winter break, media efforts on vehicles that target that demographic will not be made duringthosemonths.Assuch,weplantoadvertisefor4months-October,February,March,andApril-intheCornellDailySun,IthacaJournal,andtheIthacan,aswellasontheradiostationsWFIZandWHCU.Wechosethosefourmonthsbecausetheyfallunderthecolderseason,andalsobecause two of those months - October and April - feature the parents weekends for both colleges and Ithaca Today respectively, meaning that students whose parents come into town will be likely to suggest they dine at the BoatYard Grill.

The advertising we plan on doing on WNYY is varied depending on the month, with a heavy-upatfirstandthenacontinuousschedulefollowing.InNovemberandDecember,weplantoplace 2 ads a day - one during the morning drive, and one during the afternoon drive - in order to emphasize the BoatYard Grill as an option for adults and their visiting family members during the holiday season. This will help us to reach the older audiences that are present at the BoatYard Grill onasomewhatregularbasis.OnceDecemberisover,wewilladvertiseonWNYYonceadayinthemorning drive between the months of January and April.

Forouronlineadvertising,whichconsistsofFacebookads,weplanuseacontinuousscheduleinordertoreachpeopleyearroundbyboosting3postsontheBoatYardGrillFacebookpage per week. We also will use a continuous schedule with our billboards, featuring four billboards in total, with two being on display for 6 months in the winter and the two others being on display for 6 months in the summer.

As for our direct mail pieces, we will have them pulse throughout the winter. We will send one pieceoutduringOctober,onepieceduringDecember,andonepieceduringMarch.Thiswaywewill keep the attention of those within our target markets throughout the entire winter season, as they will repeatedly see our direct mail pieces in their mailboxes. We expect that they will take interest in comingtotherestaurantthesecondorthirdtimetheyseeadirectmailpiece,ifnotthefirst.

read and pay attention to something if it is tangible and addressed to them personally. The direct mailwoulddojustthatandaddtheperfectfinishingtouchtotheplan.

tactical planMonths September October November December January February March April May June July August TotalWeeks 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4

Newspaper

The Ithacan 1/2 pg ad 1/2 pg 1/2 pg 1/ 1/2 pg 1/2 pg ad $3,420.00

The Ithaca Journal 2 ads per week, 6" in full color $2,730.00Cornell Daily Sun 1/2 pg ad, daily 1/2 pg ad, daily $1,379.84

Radio

95.9 WHCU FM 1, :30 spot/day, 3-7pm 1, :30 spot/day 3-7pm $7,200.00

WNYY AM 1, :30 spot/day on both Morning & Afternoon 1, :30 spot/day, Morning Drive $3,630.00Z 95.5 WFIZ FM 2, :30 spots/day, 3-7pm 2, :30 spots/day, 3-7pm $4,320.00

Out-of-Home

Rt. 13 Billboard 12 months of the billboard by the Triphammer Mall $14,854.0096B Billboard 12 months of the billboard on 96B leading to Ithaca College $12,454.00

Online

Facebook Promoted Posts 3 Promoted Posts per week $15,600.00

Direct Mail

14850 & 14853 Zip DM D DM $23,451.48

Spend $5,220.00 $10,356.30 $5,720.00 $11,972.14 $11,472.14 $13,821.80 $8,251.64 $8,325.30 $3,400.00 $3,400.00 $3,700.00 $3,400.00 $89,039.32

Impressions 774,200 1,915,058 892,046 959,324 921,312 1,829,312 1,888,046 2,114,750 778,200 754,200 811,750 778,200 14,416,398

media budget breakdown