Dave & Busters:

Guiding National Brand Success

Background

Dave & Buster’s operates several high-volume restaurant/entertainment complexes throughout North America. Targeting young adults, each location offers an impressive selection of high-quality food and beverage items, combined with the latest games, attractions and sports viewing.

The Challenge

Following Dave & Buster’s IPO (NASDAQ: PLAY), the company quickly entered into a phase of opening new locations throughout the country. We have served the Dave & Buster’s team in a variety of capabilities since 2013, including as leading PR agency for their food and beverage brand, local store marketing efforts for new store openings, promotion of new dining options, and in-store programming and games. we handle upwards of one store opening  per month.

The Solution

As the PR agency for food and beverage brands like Dave & Buster’s, we are involved in all aspects of new store openings to generate awareness among young adults and families who serve as the key traffic drivers for the business. Tactically, we support Dave & Buster’s in numerous ways.

We draft and distribute press releases for marquee entertainment and new investments in the business including the introduction of its VR gaming platform, updated menus and “WOW Walls”.

We manage all marketing and PR elements for new store openings, which includes pre-opening and post-opening media relations, targeted outreach to key groups/businesses/entities to support VIP event attendance as well as ongoing partnership opportunities and more. We also conduct media buys to support grand openings, including out-of-home, broadcast and radio.

The Proof

Our work supporting the concept’s 15 new store openings in 2019 alone resulted in some seriously impressive numbers. We had 800 total media placements—600 print/online placements, 100 broadcast features, 100 social and influencer posts—totaling 4.6 billion impressions. We built more than 55 ongoing partnerships with key community groups (2-3 per market) including professional sports teams, alumni organizations, adult sports leagues, corporate entities, etc. At each grand opening VIP event, 73.2 percent of the 12,500 guests welcomed fell into the target age demographic for the brand. We began solely managing all grand openings in 2019 for a 12% increase over 2018 performance in the first 90 days.

Let’s Build Something Big

Our next big thing may be your next big thing.

Our Process

Our process is iterative—and it’s never really “done”. While there are many steps that go into a successful campaign, there are a few key steps that we do in the best client partnerships—setting us and you up for success long into the future.