Sports Live On
Buffalo Wild Wings relied on live sports for their in-bar and social experience. So when sports came to a sudden stop after COVID-19 lockdowns began, they celebrated the at-home innovators who carried on competition in at-home sports challenges and trick shots.
After our hero anthem video launched, we coordinated a UGC-driven engagement campaign throughout the Spring. We took key dates on the sports calendar and showed how that sport could live on despite the cancellation –– for example, on what would be Opening Day, we launched a bat flip challenge, or a golf trick shot challenge on Masters weekend.
It became a key engagement driver for the month, beating our monthly YoY growth goal in what would have otherwise been a slow month.
Real-Time Engagement
On top of our bigger swings, I was also the lead strategist on the account as BWW’s Engagement Agency, keeping the brand on top of the sports and pop culture conversation.
Whether that meant injecting our brand voice into trending conversations on Twitter, driving craveability with mouthwatering food shots on Instagram, or collaborating with engagement-driving influencers, we did it.
While the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry brought the relationship to the end, our final month of reporting showed 10% YoY growth over the year prior, despite the loss of sports and in-person dining.
(All screenshots link out to original post)
Return to Wing Count
Buffalo Wild Wings had to do a mea culpa: their move from a count-based system to a size-based system for their wings (think a “large” vs a “12-count”) was met with confusion, and frankly, anger from their devoted fans.
We did real “man on the street” interviews to highlight how confusing the decision was, and used the wisdom of a child for a comedic element showing how easy it was to see the right way forward.
We had to be scrappy for BWW and fast as a social content and engagement agency, so for this I handled all shooting, editing and strategy, as well as talent rights for our interview subjects, and delivered within 2 days of briefing.
