The brief
To revive the gastronomic heritage of Butler’s Wharf across four D&D restaurants, forging a partnership with and driving bookings during the Thames Festival to boost revenue across all sites, within a one-month timeframe.
What we did
Building on the Sanskrit meaning of ‘Thames’ as ‘the dark river’, we developed an idea that resounded with the Thames Festival objectives: to get Londoners to engage more with the river.
We cut all electricity in all four restaurants each evening along the river, so guests could have an unrivalled view of the river without light pollution.
We scheduled special events to run for the duration of the festival, with a Blackout Banquet highlight: a pop-up 40 metre, 140 seat banqueting table spanning the riverbank, lit only by candles and serving a rotating menu of dishes showcasing each of the restaurants’ Blackout Menus throughout the Festival.
Business Results
Guests served with over 4,500 plated dishes and 3,000 Tanqueray “Swim & Tonic” cocktails, and using more than 9,000 candles throughout the festival.
Incoming calls every five minutes at peak times generated exclusively by the press outreach Fully booked for every night of the ten day Thames Festival.
‘Likes’ on the Facebook page within 4 weeks (no advertising spend).
Combined circulation figures for the coverage achieved.
Key publications ran the story including:
- – Metro,
- – Evening Standard,
- – Time Out Magazine,
- – The Nudge and Stylist Magazine
- – Most popular story on FT How To Spend It Online
KOLs attended and covered the event from influential fashion blogger Liberty London Girl, as well as Design Museum and Thames Festival organisers.