PR > Practices & Specialisms
THE ODDSHOP, Amsterdam / FNV HORECA / 2016
Overview
Credits
CampaignDescription
We proved hospitality personnel is indispensable by starting our own restaurant. Completely without staff.
The restaurant had signs everywhere telling guests how to run the place. From pouring a beer to cooking main courses and even doing the dishes afterwards.
The place was set up like a real restaurant. Nothing was fake. Except for the plants, which had hidden cameras in them. :)
We created a lot off buzz around our innovative restaurant concept and on opening night we had a full house.
Then it all went terribly wrong. People started pouring beers without paying for them, they were elbowing each other out of the kitchen and meals turned out inedible.
Our guests themselves proved our point. And after we revealed our true intentions the nation agreed: What sounded like a cool idea at first, only proved how much we need skilled personnel to keep the industry from falling apart.
Execution
First, we hired a real chef to act as our entrepreneur. The chef was already a known ‘food creative’. So launching this ‘groundbreaking hospitality concept’ would fit perfectly with his image.
Together we created a real restaurant from top to bottom. With signs everywhere so it could really be run without any staff. A website and social media helped to make the restaurant come to life.
We then sent out a press release. Announcing a revolutionary hospitality concept. Within minutes the phone started ringing and stories of our tantalizing new restaurant were everywhere. Foodsy was quickly named one of the hot new places to visit.
On opening night we had a full house. We switched on the hidden cameras and watched as the restaurant without staff was a complete failure.
We turned the footage into an online film. Now we had our story and could go public with our message.
Outcome
Every major news outlet shared our story. Along with a huge amount of smaller outlets such as food websites, hotspot blogs and trade press. In the end we had over 60 million impressions.
With an average reading time of 1 full minute per article, engagement was off the charts. (Average reading time for online articles is normally around 15 seconds and under.)
Our main focus was to get the importance of staff back on the agenda. Creating leverage for us in negotiations with the employers' organization.
It worked. We created nationwide attention for our cause.
We generated over €500.000,- in earned media. And even got more than 15.000 signatures on the petition supporting our cause.
But most importantly, the organization that left us at the table two years ago contacted us afterwards to reopen negotiations.
Making Foodsy a very successfully failed experiment.
Relevancy
With Foodsy, the first restaurant without personnel, we proved to the nation that hospitality personnel is indispensable.
We created a real restaurant, without any staff at all. And invited people to come run it themselves. It failed completely. Then we could create nationwide attention for our message.
PR was the essential ingredient in putting our cause back on the agenda. And forcing the employers’ organization that left us at the table two years earlier to contact us again.
And reopen negotiations for the collective labour agreement we had been fighting for ever since.
Strategy
What we needed most was for everyone to agree that we can’t do without hospitality personnel. And that we have to take better care of them. If we could get support, we had leverage to get the employers’ organization back to the table.
The hospitality industry is vulnerable to trends, so we counted on a lot of attention just from announcing our ‘hip new hospitality concept’. And it worked. People eagerly embraced the idea of a restaurant without staff, creating a lot of buzz before the opening.
After the disastrous opening night we had proven our point. We now had momentum and the necessary proof to back up our claim. What followed was a frenzy.
Every major news outlet started sharing our message of how much we need to take better care of hospitality personnel.
With this nationwide attention and support the employers' organization couldn’t ignore us any longer.
Synopsis
The Dutch hospitality industry has always had a collective labour agreement. Protecting personnel from exploitation and ensuring proper compensation for their immense efforts.
Two years ago the employers' association left the table during negotiations. Effectively canceling the existing agreement and preventing a new one from coming into place.
This created an impasse where employers could force contracts that were completely in their favor. Conditions rapidly worsened and more and more people started bleeding from the sector.
We had to remind everyone of the importance of skilled hospitality personnel. Putting the issue firmly back on the agenda and forcing the employers' organization back to the table.
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