client case study
PAPA GEDE’S BAR
10TH ANNIVERSARY
SERVICES: MEDIA RELATIONS, MEDIA EXPERIENCES, MEDIA GIFTING, EVENT PLANNING
Papa Gede's is a New Orleans-inspired, intimate hidden cocktail bar in central Sydney - owned, designed and run by husband-and-wife team Lara Dignam and Michael Dhinse.
Impress offering abound on the cocktail list; creatively named concoctions such as Sloe News Day, Mental Clarity, Obituary... and the famous ‘Zombie’. Setting the bar apart, is their range of international and home-grown absinthes, and the opportunity for an interactive absinth drinking experience from a Fountain.
In the early days, as the Sydney small bar scene exploded, the bar was a media darling, but 10 years on the regular media mentions had all but disappeared. In the 10th year of business, the owners approached Famiglia PR to bring Papa Gede’s back into the spotlight. Our strategy leveraged in-house promotions, the 10th birthday milestone, and a party as key hooks to re-instate Papa Gede’s presence in city lifestyle guides, lifestyle media, trade media and food and drink media to generate fresh press on and offline.
We reacquainted the clients with a media landscape that had changed since they first entered the scene, and re-connected the business with media and bloggers through media gifting and an individual media familiarisation program.
As well as bringing in new audiences, the strategy functioned to reinforce positive perception and reinstate the continued relevance of the bar amongst existing audiences.
RE-INSTATING RELEVANCE, 10 YEARS ON
SERVICES WE PROVIDED TO PAPA GEDE’S
Media Gifting - We curated a media list and sourced addresses to deliver a muffaletta sandwich (bar promotion) and 10TH birthday party hard invite to selected media
Consulted with the bar on the “media-worthiness” of certain promotions - advised regarding the pitch-ability of promotions; advised to move forward with muffaletta , absinth as key hooks
Created media materials for a key promotion involving a “muffaletta” sandwich, crafted key messaging around the sandwich’s pop-culture references and ‘challenge’ of eating a whole one
Created media angle and key messages around absinth offering + pitched cocktail recipes
Tapped into existing consumer media conversations around the economy and the nightlife to offer Papa Gede’s as experts; developing talking points for the owners
Coordinated with the social media producers from leading city guides to shoot content at the venue
Coordinated visits from food and lifestyle influencers and media
Curated a media and influencer list for the 10th party, handled outreach and RSVP management
Developed key talking points around the bar’s journey across 10 years, and creative story pitches reflecting 10 years, angled at both consumer and trade press.
Above: The Daily Telegraph cover story. We played up the ‘giant muff’ and price-point, as well as playing up a similar sandwich’s feature on the popular Netflix show Queer Eye, to land a story. It then went viral, being featured on Daily Tele’s Digital website, and social media.
Below: The TODAY show, showcasing the ‘Muffaletta’.
The segment was a hit with Today hosts Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo and viewers, and shared on TODAY’s social media stories.
INSERTING PAPA GEDE’S INTO THE CONVERSATION
Famiglia PR was able to place this small bar’s owners in the country’s largest mastead. How? Politics affects everybody, so we flagged the upcoming NSW election as a chance to get a share of voice for Papa Gede's Bar. As husband/wife business owners and parents, Mike Dhinse & Lara Dignam were perfectly positioned to speak to how the NSW Budget affects hospitality small business, and families. The newspaper chose our clients - and a shoot on location at the Bar - for the feature image, which was a bonus and meant more real estate on the page for our client, as well as venue recognition.
A key part of the campaign involved inviting media to shoot content for their social channels. Here’s a bar tour where we invited Time Out to create a video for their popular video seres ‘We Tried’.
We curated a list of key media and foodie influencers, sending them a cute pack of the muffaletta (wrapped in the Papa Gede’s newspaper style menu), and crisps. This was accompanied by an invite to the 10th birthday party. Everyone took to social media to share their delivery, generating buzz for the client.
We came up with a creative angle and pre-prepared some content together with the client, and the client organised a photoshoot. We pitched the images and content together to Australian Bartender, the #1 bar trade website in Australia. They featured it online and in their magazine. They also featured it as the feature e-newsletter story on the day of the birthday party.
Right: Off the back of the media deliveries, we suggested a deep dive into the absinth offering to The Latch and they loved the idea, interviewed Lara for a feature story. This profiled the history of Papa Gede’s unique offering in absinth.
We also had feature coverage from digital websites who included the muff in their wraps and round ups (example below).
We sent through some recent links to articles about Sydney nightlife, and the new anti-NIMBY laws, as a relevant newshook to offer Papa Gede’s as interview subjects; sharing information about their 10 years in business and suggested several talking points and the theme ‘Sometimes, the little guys win: surviving 10 years in Sydney's small bar scene’.
The story was accepted and Lara went on Sydney ABC Radio for a 30 minute interview, where Papa Gede’s was heavily mentioned, including the address.
