The Challenge

Dave & Buster’s, which operates high-volume restaurant and entertainment destinations throughout North America, needed a partner to execute a public relations campaign for the opening of its first location in Central Pennsylvania. Specifically, Dave & Buster’s sought to: rapidly fill 200 jobs; attract 1,000 attendees to a pre-opening VIP event; mark its official opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony; connect with area groups and organizations to drive special-event bookings; and build excitement with earned media and social influencer coverage every step of the way.

The Approach

Leveraging our regional connections and market insights, PRworks implemented a full-scale plan to achieve all of Dave & Buster’s goals – not only to give it a strong start, but to position it well for long-term success, especially among its target audience of young adults.

The approach included:

• Counseling Dave & Buster’s leadership with local market and audience insights
• Kick-starting employee recruitment with media outreach and publicity tactics
• Facilitating introductions to leaders of area young professional groups, young adult sports leagues and university alumni groups
• Leveraging targeted group and influencer contacts for an email marketing campaign to build an audience for the pre-opening VIP event
• Arranging a Media Day to give media and influencers a sneak peek with tours, game play, food and beverage tastings, and interviews
• Coordinating a ribbon-cutting with local dignitaries and chambers of commerce
• Planning and executing an advertising buy to boost the grand-opening buzz
• Conducting media outreach for every newsworthy moment leading up to the grand opening to maintain a steady beat of publicity
• Creating relationships for local management with groups, sports venues and visitors bureaus to sustain awareness and generate bookings

The Results

On all counts, PRworks’ campaign for Dave & Buster’s grand opening hit the mark.

Employee Recruitment — Though recruiting proved to be unexpectedly competitive in Central Pennsylvania compared to other new markets, Dave & Buster’s successfully achieved its hiring goal with the support of PRworks’ media outreach efforts. Multiple broadcast, online and print outlets covered the hiring news, as well as the opening of a pop-up hiring site.

Media Day — About two dozen media representatives attended the Media Day sneak peek event including TV, radio and print media; entertainment bloggers; and tourism bloggers. In addition to earning on-the-mark broadcast and online coverage, the social media accounts of news outlets and individual reporters lit up with favorable posts and videos.

Pre-opening VIP Event — PRworks’ targeted email marketing campaign exceeded expectations, reaching more than 20,000 recipients and securing more than 1,600 RSVPs. The event generated a wave of word-of-mouth and social media buzz about Central PA’s newest place to eat, drink, play and watch.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony — A crowd of guests gathered for the ribbon cutting ceremony, which featured remarks by state and local officials and a grand-opening reception. The ceremony earned additional coverage online and on social media, including via area chambers of commerce.

Community Connections — PRworks successfully laid the groundwork for Dave & Buster’s to become well-connected in the community. Relationships were established for local management with numerous young professional groups and university alumni groups throughout the region, as well as sports teams and visitors bureaus.

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