“Take me home, country roads” Morgantown is a small town located in Monongalia County, West Virginia, with a population of less than 31K (2020), making it the 3rd largest city in state. Nestled in the foothills of Appalachia, Morgantown is also home to West Virginia University, one of the nations top ranked “Party Schools” (according to Playboy Mag. 1998 -2017). On any given home game weekend during the fall each year, Morgantown’s population easily balloons to over 130,000+, easily making it the most populous city in the state overnight. Along with WVU’s 40,000+ students, alumni and die-hard Mountaineer football fans from across the country come to tailgate, pack the 65,000 seat Milan Puskar Stadium and of course, celebrate Mountaineer victories.
Fat Daddy’s Located in the heart of downtown Morgantown nightlife scene, Fat Daddy’s went from years of success as Envy Nightclub, to somehow finding itself on the brink of financial collapse with less than two months to spare before students came back onto campus. As the 3rd attempt at rebranding in just the previous 5 years was set to begin during the summer of 2012, the owners reached out requesting a new logo design as well as help with picking out paint colors for the interior walls.
(BEFORE)
CHALLENGES ●
Complacency among ownership & management ultimately created a toxic company culture
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Internal division & misalignment exacerbated decline of business & overall CX
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Lack of leadership & poor management led to complete loss of focus on customer and CX
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A number of external influences in addition to several questionable financial investments intended to mitigate risk and prevent bankruptcy essentially further accelerated intensity of business’ dramatic decline
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With support options financial resources exhausted, pressure from time constraints intensified a sense of panic among leadership which continued throughout all levels of organization
BEFORE: LOGO BEFORE
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Logo was not effective in communicating intended band value and brand promise
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High number of colors in logo was very costly to transfer onto other substrates for marketing
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Mixed reviews / less than positive sentiment regarding logo & overall brand identity
AFTER: NEW BRAND IDENTITY & RENEWED FOCUS ON CX
BEFORE: MARKETING COLLATERAL
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Ineffective brand communication due to lack of cohesiveness and consistency in messaging
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Perceived brand value emphasized cheap pricing rather than a valuable experience
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Lack of clarity around target market resulted in inability to deliver quality customer experience
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Over time, audience engagement and sales dramatically declined
AFTER: NEW BRAND MESSAGING & COLLATERAL
BEFORE: LOGO/SIGNAGE & ENTRANCE RAMP
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
(PHOTO TAKEN DURING RENOVATIONS)
FINAL RESULTS & OVERALL IMPACT ●
Sales increased by 19% on average quarter after quarter for the following 2.5 years
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Every sales record previously set over previous 9 years (2003-2012) since establishment of business was completely shattered over the 4.5 year period (2012 2016) following the relaunch of Fat Daddy’s in Fall of 2012
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In 2018, Business eventually financially stabilized and regained market share dominance allowing for ownership to acquire the entire building which Fat Daddy’s was located, essentially tripling its footprint and over doubling its original occupancy limit
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The Fat Daddy’s brand along with its portfolio of assets was acquired for an undisclosed amount at the beginning of 2019