Given the challenges of digital media, events are a tempting way for publishers to create new revenue streams by extending their brands. Done right, events can secure big brand sponsors and offer the opportunity to appeal to new readers.
Broadsheet Media has just opened its first Sydney pop-up restaurant, following the success of its Melbourne event last year. The restaurant aims to celebrate and support Sydney businesses, from coffee suppliers and chefs to the architects who designed the restaurant in Waterloo.
Founder and publisher Nick Shelton tells AdNews he sees events as the future of media, with the restaurant being another aspect to its multiplatform strategy.
“The restaurant works like any other media platform. It is a platform for content just like Facebook is. A pop-up restaurant or a dinner event forms a connection in the same way an article or video does,” Shelton says.
“It acts itself as a mini brand and provides us with an opportunity to connect our partners with audiences and Broadsheet with original content.”
Open for 12 weeks, Broadsheet Restaurant secured Holden, Diageo and Stella Artois as brand sponsors.
As part of the restaurant sponsorship, Holden will be hosting European themed dinners to promote its latest car.
Holden senior manager of brand partnerships Paul Balbo says: “Our partnership with the Broadsheet brand is a great representation of how Holden is leveraging publishers in new ways, the restaurant project is a platform that allows us to engage our strategic audience with an experience through their passion for food.”
Diageo is pushing its Singleton and Tanqueray products through a one-off cocktail list. Diageo has worked with Broadsheet for a number of years creating content around cocktail culture.
Diageo incorporated its spirits into the Broadsheet menu
A big part of Broadsheet’s mission is to tap into popular culture, which Diageo marketing manager of scotch and global brand, Johnny Morgan, says is the reason it continues to work with the pureplay publisher.
“Broadsheet has so much credibility with its audience, and having our portfolio of spirits like Tanqueray and The Singleton as a part of the curated experience at the Broadsheet restaurant showcases our portfolio in an elevated environment, embedding it in popular culture,” Morgan says.
Shelton expects to see 30,000 people through the restaurant over the next two months to sample a tasting of meals from Nomad, Fratelli Paradiso, The Apollo and Porch and Parlour.
The restaurant is promoted through Broadsheet’s own assets and also through a partnership with FBI Radio, which will feature chefs on the program.
“The restaurant is about building brand awareness, but we don’t push the Broadsheet assets too hard. There is reference to our site and our cook book, but we are more focused on growing the brand of Broadsheet rather than just visiting the website,” Shelton says.
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