AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS 2018 - 25TH - PRCA (Ireland)
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25ANNIVERSARY
TH
AWARDS FOR
EXCELLENCE IN
PUBLIC
RELATIONS
2018
PUBLIC
RELATIONS
INSTITUTE
OF IRELANDBest Consumer Public Relations Campaign
Best
Best Use of€50k
Campaign Media Relations
Or Under
Campaign
Burgers Better. The launch of BuJo
Description of Campaign
Through targeted and strategic media relations, the brand new
neighbourhood burger joint BuJo shifted perceptions of how
we feel about burgers, from taste to sustainability. This humble
independent restaurant was positioned as the ‘must-try’ venue,
bringing burgers to a whole new level, rapidly surpassing
established players in share of voice.
Rhona Blake, FPRII, Chairman of the PRCA and Orlaith Farrell, Client
Manager, Drury | Porter Novelli.
Public Relations Consultant
Drury | Porter Novelli
Client
Bujo
Background to the Campaign
BuJo set out to change perceptions of fast casual food in Ireland. They aimed to create an entirely unique offering,
combining the very best in local produce with an entirely sustainable operation. Their offering would be limited,
but they would ensure that it would be the very best produce, from the custom sourced meat to the compostable
straws in the compostable cups. They put their focus on grass fed, chargrilled burgers with a few carefully selected
menu items such as hand cut, triple cooked fries from potatoes grown in North Co. Dublin, dairy treats using ice-
cream from Co. Wexford, bespoke BuJo buns baked daily in Kildare, craft beer from Wicklow Wolf in Bray, craft
cider from Dan Kelly’s in Drogheda, and coffee from the very good folks at 3FE.
BuJo aimed to go far above and beyond other burger offerings in the region. Every single burger would be hand-
pressed on site and cooked in their open kitchen right in front of guests.
BuJo’s communications objective was clear and concise – using only strategic and extremely focused media
relations, BuJo aimed, despite having only opened its doors a matter of weeks earlier, to be positioned as the leader
1in the burger market in Dublin, with a defined target market of 18 to 35. With the ongoing challenge of what was
seen by many as an ‘out-of-town’ location, BuJo also had a major challenge to overcome with regards to brand
awareness, given the entirely new single outlet offering, and the wealth of well-established larger players in the
competitive set (Bunsen, WOWBurger, and Five Guys amongst others).
With the media relations campaign commencing just 2 weeks prior to opening date, it was vital to move swiftly to
generate as much high-level interest and cross sector coverage for the launch as possible. With a carefully mapped
out strategic plan we would need to create significant awareness for the brand-new restaurant and crack an
incredibly competitive, saturated (and loyal!) market of existing burger lovers.
Best Consumer Public Relations Campaign
Best Campaign
Statement €50k Or Under
of Objectives
• Through strategic media relations, introduce BuJo to as many Irish food-lovers, food media, key opinion leaders,
and critics as possible – driving awareness of its innovative approach and sustainability message.
• Highlight the quality of the menu above all else by driving awareness around BuJo’s talented Culinary Director,
Grainne O’Keefe and her exceptional career trajectory to date.
• Highlight the unique location of BuJo, the leafy suburban area of Sandymount Green, by focussing on all that the
area has to offer to visitors.
• Position BuJo as a true ‘community retailer’ and a ‘great neighbour’ to the existing successful businesses and
locals in Sandymount, Dublin 4.
• Position BuJo as one of, if not THE best burger offering in Dublin by engaging varied target audience groups
with a specific focus on ‘foodies’, industry experts, and 18 to 35 year olds living in Dublin.
• Build the profile of owner Michael Sheary, as the talented driving force behind the new venture.
• Maintain a sustained profile for the restaurant in media and in the public consciousness during its opening period
(October 2017) and through to Q1 2018.
Statement of Business Objectives
• Above all else, the media relations campaign needed to ensure that the in the first 2 months of opening its doors,
BuJo would proudly serve an average of 80 customers per day, and while doing so build a loyal base of repeat
customers.
• Leveraging the media relations campaign, BuJo set two ambitious and challenging goals – to be named Best
Burger in Leinster in BurgerFest 2018, and to be awarded as a Bord Bia Just Ask Restaurant of the month.
Programme Planning and Strategy
Drury | Porter Novelli analysed the potential opportunities and challenges that faced the opening of BuJo.
Whilst we acknowledged that the market was very much saturated, we believed that there was a real
opportunity for BuJo to enter the market as the most sustainable offering in the sector, in addition to being
led by a hugely talented young Culinary Director, Grainne O’Keefe. We took the decision to position Grainne
as the driving force behind the operation, having complete control of menu development, and bringing a fine
dining approach to the humble burger. In this way, we positioned BuJo as the only chef inspired independent
burger joint in the market, led by one of the finest young chefs in the country. Grainne’s expertise inspired trust
and gave authenticity to the restaurant and the menu, ensuring that the quality of the menu was at the forefront
of all media coverage.
We knew that with the quality of produce as well as Grainne’s unique menu, we could convince key journalists that
there was a new leader among the competitive set. However, the proof would, as always, be in the tasting and in order
to truly change perceptions of what burgers could and should taste like – we would need our targets to meet with
Grainne and Michael, experience the burgers first hand, and make them think differently about their experience of this
new phenomenon of ‘fast casual dining’.
Audience Profiling
In order to appeal to our audience ahead of the launch, we needed to segment the audience into 4 different
categories; these included: self-proclaimed Dublin based ‘Foodies’; all 18 to 35 year olds in the South Dublin area;
Sandymount locals (including businesses and residents) and local parents of children.
2The profiling of the audience was carried out in the initial stages of the planning activity. However, as some segments
overlapped with others, we broadly defined our core audience to include burger appreciators in the greater Dublin area
between 18 and 35.
Strategy Planning
In a unique approach and incorporating BuJo’s ethos of changing perceptions of fast casual food, we agreed that
we would NOT issue a proactive news release to all relevant targets, as would often take place. Instead we agreed to
drive interest and intrigue amongst a select few by devising a focused list of targets, to be approached to carry out an
interview or Q&A with Grainne or Michael regarding the new venture in the days and weeks prior to opening.
Best Consumer Public Relations Campaign
Our strategy would include those who spoke directly to our target audiences, including print, broadcast and online
Best Campaign €50k Or Under
media outlets.
We aimed to drive interest and excitement for the launch of BuJo, and we understood that by drip feeding the
information out to a few select targets, word of mouth among these journalists would create a stronger impact than a
‘mass media’ approach. In a ‘tease’ style campaign, we would encourage journalists to engage directly with us in the
lead up to the opening and the official launch.
Through the use of in-depth research into burger consumption patterns in Ireland, we generated new angles for the
various media outlets approached.
Given the profile of the target audiences, the use of platforms such as Instagram and Facebook were of paramount
importance in not only building a loyal following of BuJo advocates from a standing start but also in ensuring the
tongue in cheek personality of the BuJo brand came shining through to our audiences from the outset. Carefully
curated content, showcasing the incredible team-work, the local suppliers, and the delicious menu items, captured the
imagination of followers and soon became a core element of our communications strategy.
The Exclusive
As BuJo offered a unique story to journalists, we agreed to offer the exclusive business story to Colette Sexton in the
Sunday Business Post, while Katy McGuinness of the Sunday Times would receive the very first interview with Grainne
in the restaurant before it had opened its doors.
While we appreciated a lot of our target audience consumed their content online, we felt that by introducing BuJo
with a double page spread and front cover of Food in the Sunday Times Magazine, this would position BuJo as a top
player among the other leading burger restaurants in Dublin and set the tone from the start.
We then developed a specific list of national, online and broadcast targets who would be approached to interview
Grainne or Michael, with each given a very specific and unique angle, with a strong focus on online media and Lovin
Dublin in particular. We ensured that we maintained a consistent level of positive media coverage throughout the
opening phase of the restaurant through careful planning and agile response to incoming requests as these began to
gather pace.
The ‘Need-to-Know’ Strategy
As we anticipated, once we began to approach our selected targets for interviews, we began to receive requests from
additional journalists and publications who were keen to get their own news angle on the story and the new launch. In
this way, we then were able to coordinate interviews and shoots of the restaurant within a time-frame that provided us
with consistent and ongoing share of voice in the weeks and months after the official opening date.
Measurement
We smashed the KPIs and with no advertising spend, the campaign relied entirely on its PR and media relations
strategy alongside an organic social media campaign.
• Double page spread and front cover of Food supplement in the Sunday Times.
• BuJo topped the Irish Times Index of What’s Hot.
• Exclusive business story and interview in The Sunday Business Post.
3• Broadcast interview with Bobby Kerr, Newstalk – key outlet for our target audience.
• Two organic videos captured by Lovin’ Dublin.
• Exclusive feature – The Perfect Burger in Life Magazine, Sunday Independent.
• Maintained positive coverage across the opening period which included 8 national print, 1 broadcast interview
and 16 online articles.
• Secured profile opportunities across the areas of business, lifestyle and food and drink media.
• Positioned as a key player in the burger market in Dublin.
• Described by Lovin’ Dublin as “The stunning burgers in BuJo are among Dublin’s best.”
Best Consumer
We also met and Public Relations Campaign
exceeded the business objectives:
Best
• From 3rd November until 23rd€50k
Campaign OrBuJo
of December, Under
welcomed over 15,000 guests* (average 300 per day), who
consumed over 2.5 tonnes of Irish beef, over 5 tonnes of Irish potatoes and 1.5 tonnes of ice cream. (*sales target
was 80 per day)
• BuJo won Best Burger in Leinster by BurgerFest.
• Awarded Bord Bia’s Just Ask Restaurant of the Month and the only fast casual restaurant in Ireland to receive a
three-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
• BuJo is in discussions regarding expansion and DruryPN will remain communications partner of choice into the
next phase of growth.
Michael Sheary, owner and founder of BuJo said, “This team are our key partners in the success and growth of BuJo.
They understood what we aimed to achieve and having no advertising/marketing campaign, we relied solely on the
PR strategy and their exceptional media relationships. Their unique communications approach positioned our humble
burger joint, as one of the most exciting restaurant launches in Dublin. The media relations for BuJo has driven, and
continues to drive our success, changing the perceptions of fast-casual – one burger at a time!”
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