In One Month, Visit Dublin’s New Espresso Martini Trail Generated $45,000+ in Sales for Local Bars and Restaurants During Their Off-Peak Season

Goal

November-February is typically a slower time of year for bars and restaurants in Dublin. This off-peak season is something that businesses plan for, but Visit Dublin, Ohio didn’t want to accept that – they thought there was something they could do to help. Their target audience is typically women ages 25-45, so they took a close look at what is trending with that audience right now. 

Sara Blatnik, the Marketing Director for Visit Dublin, Ohio, said there was one thing she noticed that was very popular with their target demographic. “People are very into espresso martinis right now, and we knew that most of our restaurants serve them.” She’s worked on other passes for the destination including the Celtic Cocktail Trail, Art in Public Places Pass in partnership with Dublin Arts Council, and Dublin Parks Pass in partnership with OhioHealth, and she had tossed around the idea of creating an Espresso Martini Trail. After doing some research, she didn’t see that this had been done by any other destinations. “I was kind of surprised that I hadn't seen it done yet,” she said. She decided to give it a shot – but not before putting together a strategic plan that centered around the time of year that her local businesses needed her help the most. 

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Creating the Dublin Espresso Martini Trail 

The Dublin Espresso Martini Trail launched on November 1, and Blatnik explained,

“We wanted to do something specific to the shoulder season. That would help boost foot traffic in the area, and would boost sales in our bars and restaurants at a time when they're not as busy as they normally are.”

The campaign lasts through the end of February, allowing a chance to put forth a strong effort throughout the period of time when their partners need the most assistance.

Her vision included a true experience that would make the pass fun for passholders and most impactful for participating businesses. Instead of just having the same basic espresso martini at each spot, she asked each business to get creative. Many of them have created signature espresso martinis especially for this initiative – including a s’mores espresso martini that has marshmallows on top, a pumpkin spice espresso martini, and more. Have you ever had a popcorn-flavored espresso martini? In Dublin, Ohio, you can have that, too. (Fun fact: It’s also the most popular one so far.) 

Visit Dublin, Ohio is also using the menu template as the layout for their pass. It is one of the tools within Bandwango’s Experience Builder that is frequently used for restaurant week/month passes. “It helps us to push our partners to be more creative,” said Blatnik. “Since we’re using the menu template, we feature the ingredients and we're able to include a photo of the actual martini.”

The pass is designed as a check-in challenge that lets passholders visit each of the bars and restaurants on the pass. They are using PIN codes as a check-in redemption method and passholders aren’t given the code to check in until they have ordered a drink. Once they check in, they are awarded points. When they’ve visited 10 places on the pass, they will accumulate enough points to be able to cash them in for the prize: an espresso martini beanie. 

Visit Dublin, Ohio started with 16 stops on the trail, but after the pass launched, something happened. “We’ve had four new businesses come on board just because they've heard about it and want to be part of it,” said Blatnik. She accommodated their request, and with Bandwango’s Experience Builder, she was able to log in and easily get those businesses added to the trail. 

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Results: $45,000+ in espresso martini sales over a one-month period  

“We know this is a popular drink and we know people are looking for things to do during this time of year, but this was way more popular than we suspected."

In one month, the real-time data shows amazing results:

• ‍2,616 pass sign-ups 

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• ‍3,227 check-ins (That equates to 3,227 espresso martinis purchased.)  

Almost 900 of those check-ins happened Monday-Wednesday, serving as further proof that a good initiative can help with slower days, too.

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• ‍Local businesses are making money.

“In November, we sent almost $45,000 worth of business to our Dublin bars and restaurants,”

Blatnik shared. “That’s pretty impactful during a time that normally doesn’t get as much foot traffic. It’s been really great!” 

Blatnik knows the average price of the martinis and is able to see the number of check-ins in her Bandwango reporting dashboard (which equates to the number of martinis sold), so she is able to create an estimate of the total economic impact. 

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• ‍It has garnered an impressive amount of earned media. 

She said, “We've had a ton of local and regional media exposure that’s resulted in about two million earned media impressions just about the trail – and we just launched it a month ago.” 

Blatnik has even gotten creative and pitched a public relations opportunity that involved taking a bartender on a television show. The bartender taught the show hosts and  viewers how to make an espresso martini. (If you’re interested in the s’mores-flavored martini, you’ll definitely want to check it out.) This served as a perfect, high-profile media opportunity where she could promote the trail in a creative way. 

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• ‍It also serves as a partnership retention tool. 

The timing of the Espresso Martini Trail also aligns perfectly with the DMO’s partnership renewal season. “We've been able to renew partners very easily, and then attract some new partners who want to be part of the trail,” explained Blatnik, “because you have to be a partner of ours to participate.”

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Visit Dublin’s Tips for Success

The Dublin Espresso Martini Trail has had an exciting start, but the work will continue to keep passholders engaged through the remainder of the campaign. After the holidays, the Visit Dublin, Ohio team plans to use targeted messaging to encourage passholders to keep visiting Dublin’s local bars and restaurants. The pass has proven to be a success though, and Blatnik has shared a few of her tips for others who are hoping to find a way to help their local businesses through slower times of the year. 

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Find something that is cool to your target audience.

“Look at what's trending, and see if you have the product in your destination. Not everything makes sense for everybody. We talk about this in social and digital marketing all the time. You'd rather be really good at one thing than be everything to everyone. Not everyone likes espresso martinis and we're ok with that. But I think if you can find something that's really popular to your target audience, it’s a home run.”

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Consider creating a short duration pass.

“Setting a time period where people have to complete it has a lot of power behind it. I really like the exclusive time period part of it. I think that gets people out and motivated, and keeps it fresh in people's minds. You only have people's attention for so long, and it's just easier to have that kind of condensed timeline to stay top of mind, for the media to still care about it, and for partners to still care about it.”

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Have participating businesses create special items.

“We don't want people to think that they're going to get the same thing at every stop. If you're just having espresso martinis that have the same ingredients at every stop, that's a little lackluster.”

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Choose good prizes.

“With the prize, we wanted to do something that the target market and that age group of people would think was cool, which is why we went with the brown espresso beanie. It has been super popular and we get so many comments about it.”

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Create a marketing toolkit for your partners.

“When the pass launched, we sent out a promotional toolkit of things that our partners could use to create their own social posts, to put it up on their website, and to use in their e-blasts. We were shocked at how much we've seen from our partners saying that they're an official stop on the Espresso Martini Trail. I think they're seeing the momentum. After seeing the media and community talking about it, they want to make sure that people know that they're part of this.”

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Use Bandwango’s data as a partnership retention tool.

We can say, ‘OK, your espresso martini is $13 and we can see that you've had 250 people visit so far.’ You just multiply 13 by 250, and you know what economic impact you’ve provided them already in one month,” she said. “I don't know what's more powerful than showing them the trail paid for their partnership, and then some.”

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Find the value in your local residents, too.

“Visitors are our target audience for a lot of things that we do, but we do a lot for residents also. At the end of the day, the point of us being here is to make Dublin a better place for the people that live here and work here and visit here. I think creating things like this that appeal to both is a great selling point for partners. And I think in our long-term advocacy plan of getting locals to understand what we do at destination marketing organizations, it's a great tool, too.”‍

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Conclusion 

The Dublin Espresso Martini Trail has proven that destination marketing organizations can take steps to provide meaningful impact to local businesses, even during shoulder seasons that are typically slower. Visit Dublin, Ohio expected this to be a good initiative, but this has exceeded their own expectations. Their local businesses needed help, and Visit Dublin, Ohio was there for them in their time of need. Through creative thinking, smart marketing, a strategic plan, and a trending caffeinated cocktail, they’ve found a way to drive visitation and spending during their shoulder season. 

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“I talked to one of our stops that pulled up their sales report for the month and they said the espresso martini was blowing everything else out of the water,” said Blatnik. “I think the popularity of the espresso martini is helpful, but I feel that packaging it in this way has really helped the restaurants and given visitors a reason to pick Dublin over going to another area.”

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Are you interested in helping drive economic impact to your destination? Reach out to the Bandwango team to learn more. 

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