Boatyard Grill Media Plan

Carly Smith, Kaitlyn Turkett, Sage Ratner and Stefanie Tanaka

Situational Analysis

MISSION STATEMENT:

We are committed to providing Ithaca residents and visitors a unique and entertaining dining experience with American grill cuisine in a waterfront restaurant & bar that is casual, contemporary, and high-energy. Only the freshest ingredients are used to deliver great flavorful food and beverage offerings, all prepared and served by a knowledgeable, friendly and engaged team that treats you like a guest in their home. We are committed to 100% customer satisfaction, while making positive contributions to the community we live in.

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS:

The Boatyard Grill was established in 2001 by Mark Campagnolo. The restaurant is located on the west end of Cayuga Lake and the only waterside restaurant in Ithaca. The Boatyard Grill’s brand is highly focused on the community and aims to provide their customers with the most valuable experience possible. Over time, they have established both a consistent and loyal customer base, which has allowed the restaurant to further conduct a friendly and inviting atmosphere.

In the past, The Boatyard Grill has attempted to advertise and provide more valuable opportunities to their customers by being involved with college athletic events and local business growth. They have used different forms of media to market their brand, such as radio, television, and newspaper. One of the biggest promotional successes they have had is when they placed their gift cards into BJ wholesale stores. They are currently trying to sell their gift cards in Wegman’s as well. The Boatyard Grill is a staple restaurant in Ithaca area that is community focused and has an unlimited opportunity to expand their mission by reaching new target markets and growing top of the mind awareness through media.

ENVIRONMENTAL FORCES

1.Competitive Forces The Ithaca area has more restaurants per capita than New York City. There is a vast amount of competition in the geographic market. Owner, Mark Campagnolo considers everything from Wegman’s carry out to Maxies competition for his restaurant. There are multiple restaurants spread out around the city of Ithaca. Route 13, the Commons, and Collegetown are all hot stop locations for popular restaurants. The Boatyard Grill serves American- cuisine food, so more comparable narrowed list of competitors consist of the Mahogany Grill, The Ithaca Ale House, and Maxies.

2. Environmental Forces

Ithaca is well known for its beautiful summers and harsh winters, along with the rest of Central New York. Due to the Boatyard Grill’s location by the water, it makes the restaurant a hotspot in the summer. The scenery is a major attraction, but unfortunately in the winter there is an exponential lull in business due to the cold weather. April through November is the restaurant's busiest time.

The City of Ithaca is also known for its environmentally conscience mentally, which is further emphasized through the regulations and laws for businesses. More specifically, there is a lot of regulation put in place on The Boatyard and the activity around it because of its location next to the lake. There are opportunities available, such as boat side service or water ferries that the Boatyard could consider investing, but are limited by the environmental laws.

3. Economic Forces Currently, Tompkins county has one of the lowest rates of unemployment. This obviously helps the local business engage in service activity. Every customer wants the best quality for a cheap price. The Boatyard offers the best value they can offer to their customers, but are facing a declining price standard trend per meal. There is a possibly that in the near future the price standard that is going to fall to $15 a meal. The Boatyard Grill has a bill price of $20-$25, this could add to their competitor forces exponentially. There are also studies found recently that there may be another economic decline on a national or global level. It has been said it may even be worse than the 2008 financial crisis. This obviously will have an impact on the amount of business they will perform.

SALES: Boatyard Grill typically has an average check receipt of $20-$25. They are extremely seasonal and have a sale spikes in the summer.

MARKET SHARE: Similar to the sales patterns, Boatyard Grill’s market share increases exponentially in the summer. Although they do have relatively low market share in college student market segment. They typically bring in about $4 million per year in revenue.

CREATIVE STRATEGY: There is no strategic creative strategy or “Boom” factor to their advertising. The website and advertisements convey a nautical feeling, with straightforward body copy. There is a lot of potential here, especially to reposition their business to new target markets.

TARGET MARKETS/ AUDIENCES: The target audiences that the Boatyard serves on a regular basis is usually 25-55 year olds, graduate students, and families with children. They typically do not have to advertise to out of town visitors, which is a major benefit, but they have a major untapped resource of students. They have had difficulty targeting that specific target market.

GEOGRAPHIC POTENTIAL: There are a lot people that come from the southern tier of New York into Ithaca especially during the summer. There have been significant amounts of visitors from the Corning, Binghamton, and Elmira area. Boatyard Grill can advertise to them more aggressively and further increase sales and awareness there. If they are successful in the southern tier that should try to further

expand north to other Finger Lake Regions, especially wine trail hot spots.

BOATYARD GRILL SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths● only lakeside restaurant in Ithaca & on

lake Cayuga● Reliable/repeating customer base● Live entertainment● Strict employment training: consistent

and reliable service● Specialized brand/customers

relationships● Warm and friendly atmosphere● Customized menu based on

seasonality● Uses local products● Large community focus● Solid brand mission/image● kid/ family friendly atmosphere

Weaknesses● Location is difficult to access for

students and people who use public transportation

● Narrowed loyal/repeat customer base● Losing clout or appeal to certain

demographics● Decreased levels of awareness● has a ‘special occasion’ reputation● Seasonality: winter is very slow● Strained student target market● no reservations● No discounts/coupons● No Catering

Opportunities

● Loyalty Program● Student Marketing

Promoters/Representatives

● Establish with college for event & day to day service

● Social Media● Website update● Create custom specialty drinks that

are attractive to the consumer● Increase distribution amongst retail

store for gift cards● Binghamton/Elmira/Corning

Geographic area

Threats● City regulations limit close by activity● Potential economic recession coming

○ Price per meal standard will lower to $15

● Competitors○ “Restaurant Row” /Aurora

Street○ The commons restaurant○ Wegmans○ Maxis○ College restaurants

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

1. Keep core audience

A. Position towards attributesFrom a marketing standpoint, focusing and advertising the Boatyard Grill’s strengths and special offers that not many know about would be important to address in the media plan. Live entertainment and localized products are two things that students and families in Ithaca look for when dining at a restaurant. It creates a fun, lively atmosphere that supports Ithacan music and agriculture.

2. Attract new customers

A. College students:A majority of the problems that the Boatyard Grill wants to address tend to do with the lack of business within marketing towards college students. Although it is known that students tend to come only when their parents visit, Ithaca is a college town based community. Therefore, to have a successful business year round, a marketing plan should be prioritized towards the students. This would help create consistency and brand loyalty. Examples of how this would be executed would be providing student discounts or a student day during the week. Another idea is creating a bigger bar/nightlife scene. Marketing towards sororities, fraternities, and sports teams for formals/other events would be ideal. In addition to formals in the Boatyard Grill, the restaurant should consider catering for events if a certain group does not want to make the trip but instead hold it in their personal homes. Reiterating the special attributes of live entertainment, lively atmosphere and specialized service of the Boatyard Grill will also play into attracting new customers.

If the Boatyard Grill wants to achieve success as soon as possible, these plans should be implemented as soon as possible. With the academic year coming to a close, it would be smart to advertise deals on graduation parties and specials. This would get business going for the busy summer in which the restaurant tends to thrive.

TASK DEFINITION

1. Keep core audience - Create a customer loyalty program/system - Advertise more heavily during winter month (Nov.-May.) - Direct email or program - notify them of upcoming events and specials or menu changes - Expanding distribution of gift cards

2. Attract new customers - Student Promoter- Sponsor more college/alumni based events - Advertising in surrounding marketing - Utilize target markets platforms - Increase social media interaction

Media Objectives

TARGET MARKET OBJECTIVES:

1. Keep core audienceTarget audiences:Seniors

demographicso ages 65+. middle - upper middle class. live within the town/city of ithaca or

the greater tompkins county area. educated. retired.   psychographics

o Looking for places to go. regularly go out to dinner. prioritize social interactions.

Mothers demographics

o ages 30-54. middle- upper middle class. educated. in work force.  living within the town and city of ithaca or the greater tompkins county area.

psychographicso social, busy, consistently on the go.o looking for family friendly atmosphere that still offers high quality service and

food.   purchase influence

o they are the primary decision makers in the family. normally decide where and when to bring their family out to dinner.

Professionals demographics

o ages 25-50 working and living or around the community. educated. middle-upper middle class.

psychographicso busy hectic schedules. looking for nice place to go after work. prioritize good

service and high quality food and experience.

2. Attract new customers

College Students demographics

o male/female ages 18-22. attending Ithaca College, Cornell University, or Tompkins County Community College. Middle- Upper Middle Class.

psychographicso very busy. prioritize social life and atmosphere. spending conscious.  typically

do not have their own means of transportation.  more willing to spend more money and to travel off campus if celebrating a “special occasion”  

Graduate students   demographics

o males/ females ages 21-25 graduate students attending Cornell University or Ithaca College. Middle- Upper Middle Class.

psychographics

o very busy. prioritize social interaction. typically have jobs, more spending money than college students. willing to go out to bars, get drinks, and socialize with friends.

2. Attract new customers

College students● Demographics: male/female ages 18-22. Attending Ithcaca College, Cornell

University, or Tompkins County Community College.● Psychographics

○ Very busy. Prioritize social life and atmosphere. Spending conscious. Typically do not have their own means of transportation. More willing to spend more money and to travel off campus if celebrating a “special occasion”

● Purchase influenceAges 18-22. Attending Cornell University, Ithaca College, or Tompkins County Community College. Busy, working, always on the go. Generally tight for money, looking for deals. Typically,don’t have means of transportation. Are willing to travel off campus and spend more money

Graduate students:

● Demographics○ Males/ females ages 21-25 graduate students attending

Cornell University or Ithaca College.● Psychographics

○ Very busy, prioritize social interaction. Typically have jobs, more money. Willing to go out to bars, get drinks.

GEOGRAPHIC OBJECTIVES:

Our geographic objectives focus on advertising in Targeting Retail Trading Areas. To reflect our marketing objectives we would like to keep our core customers as well as attract new customers. We would specifically like to target the massive amount of students that reside in Ithaca area and grow Boatyard Grill’s top of the mind awareness amongst the different campuses. The customer base that Boatyard Grill has now is both older and from the Tompkins County area. Ithaca will be the sole geographic area that we will advertise in because it is the most highly populated city in the county. The next closest market that compares to Ithaca’s size is Elmira and Corning, which are drawn in naturally during the summer months.

TIMING OBJECTIVES:

Our ultimate goal is to reach our target consumers effectively in order to achieve maximum sales and return on investment. To do so, we plan on putting a great emphasis on timing considerations for advertising. Our first change is to have our advertisements on a pulsing schedule. This will be most effective as it combines both principles of continuity and flighting. There will be low levels of advertising all year around with heavier advertising levels during winter months since that is our weakest time of sales. To be more specific, our next objective is to concentrate on advertisements Wednesday-Friday in order to gain a large audience for the weekend. To maximize reach overall, it would be most effective and least costly to advertise once a day during these days, rather than trying to reach a smaller audience more times a day.

Media Strategies

MEDIA MIX SELECTION:

Print We have allocated a total budget of $4,500 to put towards newspaper advertisements. While our client expressed disinterest in print advertising, we feel that a small percentage of the campaign budget should be placed toward this due to high reach and circulation of newspapers. We have selected both student and regional newspapers to place Boatyard Grill advertisements within. The three newspaper advertisements that advertisements will be placed in are The Ithaca Journal, The Cornell Daily Sun, and The Ithacan.

Ithaca JournalDue to budgeting purposes, five print advertisements will be placed within the Ithaca

Journal. Each advertisement will be placed in the first friday of the month for five months. We will heavily advertise on Ithaca Journal’s website (Ithaca.com) in order to create consistency and synergy. This regional newspaper will aim to reach community members of Ithaca and within the greater Tompkins County area.

Cornell SunAdvertisements will be placed within Cornell University’s award winning student

newspaper. This will be beneficial as it has a high reach and will target the college student demographic at Cornell University.

The IthacanPrint advertisements will additionally be placed in Ithaca College’s award winning

student newspaper. The purpose of this is also to target the college demographic at Ithaca College.

Radio We allocated $9,066 to radio, which is about ten percent of our budget. Radio can be used as a highly effective medium within the Boatyard Grill’s geographic range. There always seems to be a constant flow of traffic both within or going through the Ithaca area, so this automatically equates to people spending more time in their cars, subsequently having more exposure to the radio. Radio frequencies also spread passed our geographically targeted areas, so as a supplementary effect we reach surrounding areas as well.

Cayuga Radio Group The Cayuga Radio group has a plethora of radio channels that reaches almost every

demographic in their airing radius. There are seven stations that Nautical Media used to reach our target segments. The genres include talk, news, country, hits, rock and various music stations. County Q was used because it has the highest listeners per week, with a wide spread demographic. WHCU was chosen for similar reasons, it is the second most listened to station within the Cayuga Radio Group. Vine, Lite and I 100 all have a very heavy weight placed on both middle aged men and women with families. As the head of their families they are the main

decision maker and are targeted specifically on three different stations for that reason. We also used WNYY to target our older demographic and Hits to target the younger, student population. Cayuga Radio Group has allowed Nautical Media Agency to strategically reach each one of our target markets.

92 WICB 92 WICB was used to target the younger student demographic that we are attempting to reach. This station spans from Onondaga County to northern Pennsylvania, but has the most awareness in the Tompkins County area. Often times the market segmentation of student, recent grads, and alumni listen into this station on the weekends and when they know their friends or former colleagues may be DJ-ing. On the weekends students will have the most time on the weekends in the afternoon, so the advertisement between noon and 6p.m. will remind them of the Boatyard Grill.

Out of Home

Advertising through transit and billboards will be beneficial for the Boatyard Grill, as it will reach those who use public transportation as well as those who travel on main routes. By having both radio and out of home, there is a sense of synergy. As people are on their way to work or running errands, they will see the billboards, hear the radio ads, and be able to make a connection.

InternetA larger percentage of our budget has gone towards internet advertising. Internet advertising will be an effective way to reach both current and prospective customers of the Boatyard Grill. The websites we will be placing banner advertisements on will be Ithaca.com, the Cornell Sun, as well as Yelp.com!

Ithaca.comIthaca.com is the website of both the Ithaca Journal as well as the Finger Lakes

Community Newspaper. Placing banner advertisements on this website will be beneficial as it will reach consumers of both print newspapers.

The Cornell SunIn addition to utilizing their print newspaper, banner advertisements will also be placed

on The Cornell Sun’s web page on a consistent basis throughout the duration of the year.

Yelp.comThis media vehicle was chosen because it is a popular restaurant review site in which

people search the highest quality restaurants based on their geographic setting. Advertising on Yelp.com acts as perfect opportunity to attract a new customer base since will already be searching for potential restaurants to eat in Ithaca.

Direct Mail With direct mail, there is a high potential return on investment because this type of advertising is extremely targeted towards the consumers that are more inclined to eat at the Boatyard Grill. We will easily be able measure the effectiveness of this by comparing the number of visitors prior and after implementation. In addition, this media channel is a more personal way to reach potential and existing customers. By making each customer feel special, it builds a reliable relationship.

Production Costs Ten percent of our budget has been allocated to the production costs. This will cover the expenses for the production of radio commercials, billboard. mailing lists, print advertisements, and creation of internet advertisements. We found it more beneficial to automatically allocate $9,000 into its own separate budget so we did not have to take away from media mix’s effective frequency.

SCHEDULING: For the media scheduling strategy, we will implement advertising on a pulsing schedule. There will be a continuity of advertisements throughout the year with heavy advertising during key times of the year. Due to Boatyard Grill’s location, it is perceived by as a seasonal restaurant, so we will heavily advertise in the late fall and winter to change consumers’ perception. The Boatyard Grill also has a significant amount of awareness from Word of Mouth marketing in the summer time, so it would economically benefit the Boatyard Grill to taper off their advertisements between April and October.

Print Media Selections

Medium Vehicle

Weekly or Daily

# of weeks

# of months

Size # of sizes

Discounts Total Cost

The Ithacan

Weekly 4 weeks 7 months ¼ page 4 25% $1068.75H3 Size (5.9’)

Ithaca Journal

Weekly 13 weeks Package deal

$2,340

Cornell Daily Sun

Daily 5 weeks (on

Fridays only)

¼ page $1056

$4,464.75

Ithacan

Ithaca Jounral

Cornell Daily Sun

Print

Out of Home Media Selection

TCAT Transit

TCAT Size of Ad Cost months # of buses Total CostKing 250 6 4 6,000Queen 200 6 4 4,800Tail 200 2 3 1,200

12,000

Billboard

Location Cost per Month Size Month Total CostRoute 13 $950 6 $5,700

Radio Media Selection

Dayparts Cost # of hours

# of weeks

#of months

Total cost

WNYY MF 6a-10a $15 4 6 $360MF 3p-7p $15 4 6 $360Sa-Su 6a-7p $12 4 12 $576

1296

I-100 MF 6a-10a $30 4 6 $720$720

Country Q MF 6a-10a $45 2 12 $1,080Sa-Su 6a-7p $15 2 12 $360

$1,440

HITS MF 6a-12m $8 4 12 $384Sa 6a-12m $8 2 12 $192

$576

LITE MF 6a-7p $45 4 6 $1,080MF 3p-7p $45 4 6 $1,080

$2,160

WHCU MF 6a-7p $35 2 12 $840$840

Vine MF 6a-10a $8 2 8 $128MF 3p-7p $8 2 8 $128

$256

92 WICBModern Rock

Fri-Sat 12p-6p $15 an hour

6 2 5 $1,800

WNYY

I-100

Country Q

HITS

LITE

WHCU

Vine92 WICB

Radio

Internet Media Selection

Direct Mail

# of recipients Cost per postcard Total cost10,629 $1.27 13,500