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Communication channels

Hello guys! We are coming to the end in developing the strategy of entering into Russian market. We already have distinguished our target groups and defined the positioning. Basing on this information, now we need to focus on communication tools of our promoting.

First, we are not going to use TV for reaching our audience. The average Hooters’ visitor does not spend a lot of time watching TV, although is considered to watch sport programs, the Olympic Games translations or football championships. However, prime-time advertising on these communication channels is too expensive during these events, so we decided to focus on other communication tools.

Obviously, we are going to use internet resources extensively as long as our customers are mainly young, with an open mindset and active internet users.

• First, we are going to use contextual advertising in social networks and search systems as well as teaser advertising. 

• Then we think it is necessary to make a fancy and appealing, maybe even provocative viral video, which can be shared and promoted by internet users.

• Also, we find it necessary to develop Hooters Russia website, bright and attractive with lots of nice pictures and videos. We are going to provide there all important information about our restaurant – menu, different events, special offers etc. During these thematic parties and events we are going to make a lot of pictures of our customers participating in competitions or just enjoying the evening, so that they can find them online later.

• And speaking about different event, we are going to organize weekly parties and competitions, for example, Mister Hooters, Miss Bikini etc.  Such events can attract even more customers and also serve as a communication tool.

One more important and effective communication tool is advertising in popular men’s journals: Men’s Health, Maxim, GQ. Target audience of these mass media is exactly the people we want to see as our customers. However, we want not only to print advertising blocks there, but in partnership with these magazines, also to write articles and reportages about Hooters and American culture.

Finally, in order to attract active men, we think it is crucially important that our advertising posters are presented in main airports and probably ski resorts. Also, we want to participate and maybe become sponsors of some sport events like beach volleyball championships or music festivals. 

Group	Communication channels
Have a business-lunch (12.00-14.00)	Posters in airports, articles and advertizing in men’s journals
Have a meal (anytime)	Internet advertising
Celebrate occasion (party)	Internet advertising, advertizing in men’s journals
Have a glass of beer with friends on hard day’s night	Internet advertising, music festivals
Watch sports event	Sport events sponsorship
Participate in thematic event/party	Thematic parties, website with visitors’ photos

Positioning

In America Hooters is a restaurant for low-middle class, mainly targeting manual workers and their families. In Russia we decided to go for different positioning and go for restaurant of premium class, thus being able to command higher margins. In this light, we see ourselves in the same pricing level as Fridays or Hard Rock Café, which are viewed as our direct competitors.

This decision is motivated by a desire to increase profitability and is facilitated by the number of factors: 

     1.    The niche of American restaurants in premium segment is not saturated;

     2.    We have a unique proposition and are going to build strong brand image in Russia, which gives us optimism regarding chosen business model of premium restaurant;

     3.    The brand itself is adapted from country to country, so we have quite huge degree of flexibility in our positioning in Russia (no internal strict restrictions).

Concerning the point №2, we are going to ultimately stress the American distinctiveness of the restaurant, emphasizing 1) cuisine and chef from USA 2) to help promote American origin of the restaurant, we will widely use “cheerleader” theme (waitresses’ uniform, promotions, shows, ads).

Our message to the each of the groups:

Group	'Significance pyramid’	Key message	Ad slogan (example)
Have a business-lunch (12.00-14.00)	(1)Food (2)Price (3)Waitresses/Ambience	enjoy tasty and convenient American food in Hooters	“Hooters. Delicious American food” – “ Hooters. Вкуснейшая Американская еда”
Have a meal (anytime)	(1)Food (2)Price (3)Waitresses/Ambience	tasty American food in original environment	“Hooters. Delicious American food” – “ Hooters. Вкуснейшая Американская еда»
Celebrate occasion (party)	(1)Waitresses/Ambience (2)Food (3)Price	enjoy the unique celebration in Hooters	« Hooters. Party like nowhere else” –“Hooters. Праздник, который запомнится»
Have a glass of beer with friends on hard day’s night	(1)Waitresses/Ambience (2)Price (3)Food	enjoy the cheerful evening in the nice environment of Hooters	“Hooters. Happy when the friends are near.”«С друзьями веселее. Еще один вечер в Хутерс».
Watch sports event	(1)Waitresses/Ambience (2)Price (3)Food	come to watch sports in Hooters	“Hooters. Happy when the friends are near.”«С друзьями веселее. Еще один вечер в Хутерс».
Participate in thematic event/party	(1)Waitresses/Ambience (2)Food (3)Price	enjoy the celebration in Hooters	« Hooters. Party like nowhere else” –“Hooters. Праздник, который запомнится»
Frequenters	(1)Waitresses/Ambience (2)Food (3)Price	you’re always welcome at Hooters	“Hooters. You’re always welcome” – «Hooters. Тебе всегда здесь рады»

Based on identified positioning, we can consolidate our segments in wider groups, based on the most important value they seek in our restaurant (and thus having similar key message --> similar ads addressed to them)

Having different key messages for each of the group, we see that the most important values can be traced through the all segments of target audience. Thus we can elaborate unique integral positioning of Hooters:

“The truly American food in the cheerful ambience of Hooters”

Entry tactics

Some details concerning the core activities under the chosen entry strategy

Segmentation and targeting

Segmentation matrix

·       We assume that all of our customers belong to middle or upper middle class, are open-minded, liberal thinking, have westernized lifestyle.

·       Most of our customers are males aged 25-50 who are either office workers or businessmen belonging to middle or upper middle class, who have high income. They may be alone, engaged or married, nonetheless they are more likely to visit hooters in male only groups or alone.

·       Most of them (except those having business lunch) are attracted by unique Hooters ambience, style and waitresses.

·       Price:

• Price plays least significant role in the customer perception of Hooters (category 7), thus they are ready to tolerate higher prices (although not premium in comparison to gourmet restaurants) in return of ambience and style. This group is Hooters fans, but although they are frequent customers, they make up lower percent of visitors.

•  Nevertheless, other (categories 1,2,4,5) who are making up majority of our customers and groups are also fans of Hooters, but since they are more frequent visitors, they are not ready to pay premium  every time they come to our restaurant. Therefore they should be offered reasonably priced food+beverage bundles or frequent-buyer loyalty programs.

• Customers (categories 3, 6) are seldom visitors, although their average bill is higher.

·       Quality and selection of food and beverages is also significant and cannot be neglected. Nevertheless, food preferences are different, as 3 out of 4 belonging to a category of most frequent customers (1,4,5) are likely to demand food+beverage bundles, or mostly beer and snacks. Only categories 2 and 7 are likely to demand wide selection of menu items including main courses.

Kano model

SURVEY RESULTS

   We have carefully analyzed the results of the survey which took place on March 21th. We mostly needed the information from Russian people, using the information from other participants for comparison. Primarily the survey was set to investigate the following: whether the women in Russia would be willing to visit Hooters and what do men think about going with women. We also needed some hints about people's prioritites (food or atmosphere) and about pricing.

Surveyed: 12 men (6 - Russia, 6 - other countries), 17 women (15 - Russia, 2 - other countries).
Average age: 23
Income: low (students) or middle
Socical characteristics:  active life-style, communicative, educated, love travelling.

1. Do you think you would go to Hooters? (yes, no, don't know)

Male: We've got only 1 negative answer from non-russian participant, others chose yes(8) and don't know (3).

Female: "yes", "no" and "don't know" are 6/6/5 respectively.

2. Reasons for visiting Hooters (food, friends and sports for men, food and friends for women).

Male:  10 votes for having fun with friends, 5 for food and 4 for watching sports. (Other suggestions were to flirt with the Hooters-girls and to drink beer)

Female: Only 5 women out of 17 chose eating as a primary goal of visiting Hooters, 11 chose spending time with friends. Other variants: parties.

3. With whom to visit Hooters? (boyfriend/girlfriend, company of friends)

Male: only 2 men out of 12 decided to take their girlfriends with them. 10 preferred not to.

Female: 4 women out of 17 chose boyfrined as the right company to visit Hooters. Others preferred to visit with friends (if to visit at all).

4. How much to spend on dinner? (for male only)

Only a few (2) people (Russian) agreed to pay more than 700 roubles for a decent dinner.


General conclusion:
Women in Russia are not eager to visit a restaurant like Hooters. Only 6 out of 17 answered affirmative to the first question. But even if the women agree to visit such a place, they are not willing to come with their boyfriends. The women prefer to visit such restaurants with friends and for the purpose of good time spending, not food or anything else.

This perception might be difficult to change, and the question is - should it even be changed at all. There was a campaign in USA which targeted specifiaclly men WITHOUT women. Most probably Hooters in Russia would target men, and of course would welcome women, but not market the restaurant for them specifically (only as a part of our target groups (new segmentation - coming soon)).

Men in Russia do not want to take their girlfriends to restaurants like Hooters, but are mostly willing to visit it themselves. Spending time with friends is the top priority, but having good dinner and watching sports is also important. The Hooters-girl image is assumed to be an extra-benefit for the restaurant rather than the reason for a visit.
However, we were discouraged to learn that only the few men were ready to pay more than 700 roubles for dinner. Our prices can't be lower than that (information on pricing coming soon), and our competitors charge even more than that. We might have chosen the wrong segment for our restaurant, and that was one of the reasons we restructured all our segmentation. Now it is more psychological rather than demographical as before.

Internationalization: Service, Hooters girl and Image

Service Style
Global Objective:
Fun and casual. Comfortable atmosphere. Famous Hooters Girls - attractive females with friendly attitudes and table waiting skills.  
Reality:
   In the US and western countries Hooters is famous for its friendly, cheerful, sexually appealing waitresses.
   However, in Asia, for example, in Japan, Hooters emphasizes such restaurant’s qualities as healthiness, friendliness and hospitability, not sex appeal.
   In Shanghai where overworked and underpaid wait staff are not known for their sweetness, Hooters offers also different approach: courteous, attentive service with a smile.

Hooters Girl Image

Global Objective:
The official Hooters policy states that a Hooters girl is to have the look and the attitude of the “all-American, cheerleader, surfer, girl next door.”
Reality:
    Hooters Girl Image differs a lot in western and Asian countries.
    In western countries female sexuality used as a marketing tool, so Hooters girls are the main attraction and asset of the company.
   In Asia, on the contrary, Hooters girls look with much less sexual context. Their main goal is to provide friendly service and communicate to customers: foreigners and expats making them feel at home.
Menu
Global Objective:
The menu offered at a Hooters restaurant is divided into ten areas (Hooterstizers/appetizers, salads, chicken wings, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, sides, soups, desserts, and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages).  Menu prices and availability of certain menu items vary from location to location depending on actual geographic location, availability of certain products, strategic decisions of franchisees, and cost of certain food/drink items.  Menu items range from $3.99 for certain appetizers to $149.99 for the gourmet wing dinner (a bottle of Dom Perignon and twenty wings). 
Reality:
As for the menu, it really doesn’t change a lot depending on the country. Just sometimes each country franchisee adds one or two additional dishes or drinks.

TARGET GROUP INTERNATIONALLY

Global Objective:
    Hooters characterizes itself as a neighborhood place, not a typical family restaurant. Sixty-eight percent of customers are male, most between the ages of 25-54. Hooters does not market itself to families, but they do patronize the restaurants. Ten percent of the parties we serve have children in them. Hooters is in the hospitality business and provides the best possible service to anyone coming through the door.


Reality:
    Targeted groups differ a lot among several countries where Hooters operates. In the U.S. Hooters targets its main audience – men of different ages. NY Hooters, for example, started a provocative advertising campaign which allows married men receive a special discount. The campaign could be negatively accepted by a lot of wives.



However, 10% of the visitors in the US are families. Some parents take their kids there on their birthdays and the girls sing "I'm a little teapot".










    In Latin America Hooters are associated with sport and parties, probably because of the lifestyle in these countries. Most of Hooters webpages in Latin America are full with hundreds of pictures from different parties and events.


In Europe Hooters has a strong orientation towards male audience. As an example, in Switzerland Hooters is famous for groom wedding-eve parties. The pictures presented on the webpages are more sexually aggressive and the pages have much less information about offers for families.




In Asia hooters targets a large audience of expats and tourists as long as 85% of customers are currently foreigners. The service is made in much more neutral way with much less sexual context. Hooters girls here are university students who speak good English. They are fun, open-minded girls.

HOOTERS INTERNATIONALLY

  “We are committed to providing an environment of employee growth and development so that we can provide every guest a unique, entertaining dining experience in a fun and casual atmosphere delivered by attractive, vivacious Hooters Girls while making positive contributions to the communities in which we live” (Hooters Brand Mission Statement, 2007). 

Hooters restaurants look similar and provide similar services all over the world. However, there are some differences depending on cultural issues and habits in this or that country, which we are going to observe in this report.

Brand

Global Objective:

Hooters is a restaurant whose waiting staff are primarily young, attractive waitresses usually referred to simply as "Hooter Girls" whose revealing outfits and sex appeal is played up and is a primary component of the company's image.

Reality:

The attitude to the brand is very different. While Australia and Latin America accepted easily the restaurant of American food with emphasis to female attractiveness, in some other countries brand perception changed.

Like with any cross-cultural trend, some things get lost in translation. In Beijing, the name "Hooters" doesn't have the same connotations to the Chinese as it does to Americans. It simply means "owl", which affects the restaurant’s positioning.

In Mexico Hooters faced the challenge of translating its name and sexy image in another culture. On a broader scale, American companies were seen by some as "corrupting Mexican values".

In Canada and UK Hooters faced opposition of feminist organizations. Miss Canada International lost her crown when she became a Hooters Girl. And UK activists achieved the closure of Hooters in Bristol.

However, Hooters is not changing its branding and successfully continues to occupy its specific niche.

Sport bar or not?

Another question to discuss. Russians are fond of football and the sport bars are really popular there. We have to think of some football translations inside the bar. Should we include Russian hockey as well? This sport seems to also be very popular. The following scheme illustrates the additional clients we can gain by offering the sport shows, but I’m not sure if we really need them. Won’t they scare away the other clients? 

POSITIONING BASICS

Some key factors analysis for future positioning strategy:

- Demographic factors

         

- Psychological factors

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