Hard Rock Cafe

Challenge

When iconic food and lifestyle brand Hard Rock Cafe evolved its brand to appeal to a younger, ‘pop’ audience in a new European flagship destination, Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly Circus, it turned to Kallaway for help.  

How could we attract a younger demographic, without alienating the brand’s loyal rock fans and families who love the brand and its rock music association?

Our Smart Imagination solution

Our ‘Has to Be Hard Rock’ campaign enabled both the brand’s target audiences to call Hard Rock home by clearly setting out the destination as their natural first choice for great food and great times, all to a soundtrack of iconic music and underpinned by Hard Rock’s brand culture of ‘love all serve all’. The 'Has to be Hard Rock' positioning brought the brand’s new dining experience, menu and entertainment to life via an intensive, targeted media and digital strategy across two phases: 

Pre-launch buzz building

• BBC and ITV broadcast interviews with Rita Gilligan, Hard Rock’s longest serving waitress of 48 years, which clearly articulated the Love all Serve All message
• Anastasia Walker from pop trio, Bang Bang Romeo unveiled the music memorabilia for the new site to the national press. Music heritage from pop stars like Rihanna and Ed Sheehan, to rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Freddie Mercury was profiled across the media from The Daily Star to the i and Kerrang
• A mass Harley Davidson ‘ride by’ the new brand flagship generated stories across The Evening Standard and The Daily Telegraph as well as wide social engagement
• The influencer campaign involving rockers like Chris Alterton from The Amazons to reality TV stars such as James Lock from TOWIE provided Hard Rock with a reach of 6m across its audiences 

Opening night party

• We secured over 100 guests from rock and pop as well as reality TV, the media and influencers to enjoy the party and share the Hard Rock Piccadilly Circus experience on their channels. Slipknot's Sid Wilson led the honorary guitar smash and Keane performed an exclusive gig. Media coverage ranged from live ITV broadcasts to The Mail Online and OK, while social channels conveyed the excitement of the night to Hard Rock fans around the world

Results

Hard Rock Cafe Piccadilly Circus has been fully booked since opening