Essential: a marketing campaign should score locally
30-9-2014
In response to the article of the national marketing campaign, ‘Street Dine’ of the JRE (Jeune Restaurateurs d’Europe) in the Netherlands, Mr. Jan Vrielink, owner of, among others, the restaurant ‘Het Schellinkje’ in Meppel drew our attention to his campaign ‘Street-Dining’ organized in 2012 and 2013. As his restaurant is located outside the direct city center of Meppel he surprised shoppers with a prepared table, a glass of wine and an appetizer. A good example of what we want to achieve with Horecatrends.com (Hotel, Restaurant, Café trends): entrepreneurs who inspire each other to perform their own marketing campaign, adjusted to the capabilities of the organization and location. Most important is; the effect should be locally measurable! The action and the publicity in the local newspaper and on social media should inspire guests to come dine at your place. Learn how the employees of ‘Het Schellinkje’ have performed the campaign and the reactions from their ‘guests’…
A combination of a beertray and frisbee
29-9-2014
The frisbeer, a combination of a beer tray and a frisbee, was designed by the Slovakian designer Simon Kern. The frisbeer is made of cardboard and is designed to give the traditional beer tray a second function. With use of the frisbeer you can carry three beers in one hand and the portability is increased by the finger holes in the tray. The frisbeer is ideal for festivals: use it as a tray to carry beers to your friends and then use it as a toy for a game of frisbee.
An extra cold cocktail with IceLiners
25-9-2014
Keep your cocktail at the desired temperature with the silicone molds of IceLiners. The mold creates a layer of ice in a cocktail or whiskey glass that will keep your drink cool. It is simple to use: pour a small amount of water in the glass, with the mold in it, and keep it in the freezer. Instead of water you can poor in a (alcoholic) beverage as well. Try it with mint leaves or fruit which will give a festive effect to your drink. Watch the video tutorial for the instructions of IceLiners.
Spectacular cocktails
25-9-2014
Serve your drinks in a spectacular way with the first dry ice machine JetChill. The patented technology of the JetChill machine converts liquid CO2 into dry ice which gives a smoking and bubbling effect to your drink. The machine has a charging time of only 10 seconds before the special glasses can be used. Pour your favorite drink into one of the glasses and immediately there will be a reaction. We’ve spotted spectacular cocktails made with dry ice before: in 2013 we saw the Mistystix that creates the smoking effect with a stick of dry ice.
Johnnie Walker presents: Symphony in Blue
24-9-2014
Whisky brand Johnnie Walker organized a two-day event ‘Symphony in Blue’ in London to promote the launch of their latest exclusive Blue Label Reserve premium whiskey blend. Johnnie Walker used experiential, content marketing to promote their new blend and to transform it into a luxury product. The ‘Symphony in Blue’ took place on 16 and 17 September and was an impressive journey of theatrical, musical and artistic events where the six different tastes from Johnnie Walker’s Blue Label were brought to live; fresh, fruity, malty, woody , spicy and smoky. There were several performances, glacier ice, burning barrels, a mist of whiskey and of course a tasting of the Blue Label blend. The behind-the-scenes video from the ‘Symphony in Blue’ gives a good impression of how a brand can present itself in a special way and what is involved in organizing such an event. How would you sell your restaurant or hotel if you had the opportunity to do it this way? Check out the website of ‘Symphony in Blue‘ for photographs of the event.
JRE Streetdine
22-9-2014
Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe (JRE) organized a surprise campaign ‘JRE Streetdine’ on 13 September. All 28 Dutch restaurants affiliated with JRE went to unique locations and served culinary delights to passers-by. Some people were even invited to take place at a set table for a culinary flash lunch. Chairman Rik Jansma, of restaurant Basiliek in Harderwijk, hopes this initiative will encourage potential new guests to visit the restaurants. Check out the pictures for an impression of this ludic action.
Packaging design for beer
19-9-2014
A creative beer packaging design that shows the colour of the beer inside: Spanish creative agency Txaber developed a packaging design that combines the type of beer with the matching Pantone colour code. In this way you only have to look at the package to know what kind of beer is inside. For example, the package of a ‘lager’ beer has a golden colour with Pantone code 123C and a ‘stout’ beer has a dark brown colour and code 4975C.
Behind the packaging design
Txaber was born in 1969 in Bilbao and studied Graphic design at CVNP (Bilbao). He is not only developing packaging design but is specialized in text and color design as well, as seen on his website. He quotes “They say everything is invented and I struggle every day to go against.”
Packaging-free supermarket
19-9-2014
Many initiatives are designed to make supermarkets more sustainable: we have spotted the first dump supermarket in Amsterdam, there is a supermarket chain in Denmark selling local products and we have seen how supermarkets work together with restaurants to reduce their waste.
Bay & Buy
Wim van Dijk hopes to open a new concept through crowdfunding: the first packaging-free supermarket in the Netherlands ‘Bag & Buy’. In this store customers can pick their own products from containers, barrels and jars and can thereby determine the amount they need.
International developments
A comparable initiative can be found in several countries. In Germany packaging-free supermarket ‘Original Unverpackt‘ was funded by crowdfunding as well. The starting capital for this supermarket was collected in one day. Earlier this year ‘Robuust, the zero waste shop’ opened its doors in Antwerp and in France, Spain and Austria are a packaging-free grocery stores as well.
The crowdfunding for the supermarket ‘Bag & Buy’ in the Netherlands starts on 1 October. The crowdfunders also determine the location of this store: “Bag & Buy will open where there is the must enthusiasm” as said by Wim van Dijk. The initiator thinks he will need € 100.000,- to open the grocery store.
For sale: the VeloPresso
16-9-2014
We already wrote an article about the VeloPresso in 2012. After three years of developments the last details are worked out as well and from 16 September the mobile coffee bar can be ordered online. The VeloPresso is a unique and highly innovative coffee tricycle. It has a great mobility and does not require electricity. The VeloPresso can be ordered from £9,995,-.
Pop-up coffee bar Black Box in Ghent
12-9-2014
Pop-up coffee bar
A work-out followed by an artisanal cup of coffee. This is possible in the pop-up coffee shop Black Box in the Belgian city of Ghent. The specialty coffee bar is located in a garage box of CrossFit Gent, a gym focused on the new form of fitness, CrossFit. As from 4 September Barista Yf Feller serves freshly made coffees, for a month.
Bullet proof coffee
A special coffee on the menu is the ‘bullet proof coffee’. This is a creamy coffee made from butter from grass-fed cows, coconut oil and French coffee, what gives a boost, both physically and mentally.
For people who don’t like coffee, various activities are organized on location as well. For examples, a second-hand clothing market and an indoor picnic.
Pay-as-you-wish
A special aspect of Black Box is that there’s no pricelist available. Guests give a contribution and are allowed to choose what they think is fair to pay. Black Box is an example of a ‘pay as you wish’ concept which we may years ago in Vienna, Der Wiener Deewan. The system from ‘Pay as you wish’ is used for charity as well, like we spotted in 2007 at restaurant Trien in Herpen. Trust is a more recent example that opened in Amsterdam last year.
By Daan Prest
