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Located in the heart of Downtown Athens, Georgia, The Rook & Pawn is a board game cafe run by husband and wife team Tim and Carrie Kelly. After bonding over board games years ago, the couple

passed this love onto their two children and are now sharing it with the Athens community. Enter the doors and be swept away into something more than a location - it’s a destination. Regardless of whether you’re going for a specialty cocktail or trying out a new board game, you will be engrossed in an atmosphere where you will be connected in a different way not common in today’s society. That is the intangible that separates the Rook and Pawn from the array of other downtown entertainment options.

Our work centered on the idea of a connection between The Rook & Pawn and its customers, as well as the bonds those customers share with each other. The brand’s essence revolves around these emotional

ties; in its ability to understand that people, not just products are what make a good business great. Athens is full of bars, breweries and other localities - all offering spaces for collaboration and quality time with friends and family. Customers don’t choose The Rook & Pawn just for their lunch specials or their custom blend of Jittery Joe’s coffee. The moment they walk into the doors located at 294 West Washington Street, they are instantly consumed by an atmosphere unlike any other. People come to The Rook & Pawn for the atmosphere and unique aspect it brings to this city. It’s Athens’ largest living room.

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KEY FACT: The Rook & Pawn is one of the first board game cafes in the South with a diverse menu, full service bar and more than 500 games to choose from.

PROBLEM: The Rook & Pawn is brand new to the Athens community. Even though they are in the heart of the city’s downtown district, they are off the road, and their location is easy to miss, so they struggle with brand awareness. They also have issues with brand positioning because of how many offerings they have (lunch/dinner, coffee, bar and board games).

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective is to increase current social media following by at least 30% by Spring 2016. The secondary objective is to increase the breadth of who they market to – in order to make the Rook & Pawn’s audience more inclusive and appeal to classic, casual gamers (i.e. Life, Monopoly, etc) rather than just the stereotypical “geeks”, etc.

TARGET MARKET / AUDIENCE:The primary target is UGA students and young professionals. We want these millennials to associate the nostalgia of growing up and playing board games with their families with coming to The Rook & Pawn. The Rook & Pawn has many affordable food and drink options for this target perfect for both finishing a paper or hanging out with friends. The secondary target is Athens locals who currently visit the cafe and identify with the “nerd culture” of dedicated gamers. Many of these individuals funded The Rook & Pawn’s Kickstarter campaign in Summer 2015.

INSIGHTS: Being a college student it’s hard to find places that are both unique and within my tight budget. When you think of Athens, you think of bars, restaurants, music and nightlife. I would love a place where I could eat some lunch and study but enjoy a local craft beer with my friends after class one night.

PROMISE: More than coffee. More than a lunch menu. More than tables, chairs and dim lighting. It’s a world of board games. It’s an invitation and an entrance to an inclusive environment.

SUPPORT: The Rook & Pawn prides itself in being a member of the Athens restaurant community. With the advice and support of local coffeehouse and restaurant owners, the tight-knit staff at the cafe want to bring the closeness of this community to local patrons. The success of its Kickstarter campaign had the cafe filled with local support before the doors even opened.

TONE AND MANNER: Quirky and lively, yet inclusive with a relaxed bar atmosphere. Think Athens meets Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. Be appreciative of nerd culture origin while remaining accessible to those outside of it

MEDIA / COMMUNICATION VEHICLES: Print: Flagpole ads, Membership Cards. Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

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Athens has bars, cafés, coffee shops, and places to game, but Rook & Pawn is the only location with all four things combined. The problem was not convincing people that Rook & Pawn was a unique experience and fun destination, but making them aware of its existence. The challenge we faced was mainly awareness. Rook & Pawn opened in the summer of 2015, and when we took them on as a client in the fall the Athens community was oblivious to the incredible food, fun, and atmosphere Rook & Pawn had to offer. It’s is a place where everyone can come together to play games, have a drink, and just relax. It is also a great choice for fun events, both private and public. Our objective was to drive overall awareness among Athens locals and college students, drive awareness about various promotions and events, and to distinguish the café as a place for different sorts of people to enjoy versus a spot for intense gamers only. Rook & Pawn is an all-inclusive board game cafe where anyone can have a good time. It was up to us to let people know about this brand new local Athens gem.

STALEMATE GAMBIT ENDGAME

Our strategy focus was establishing an aesthetic and tone of voice, promoting the quality food and beverage options, and using events and special offers to get people in the doors. Lunch ads featured the deal that anyone who bought lunch during the week could play games for free. The art direction took a classy photography angle to show the aesthetic of the brick and mortar Rook & Pawn while the copy used a play on words to convey the fun, laid back tone of the café. The social media push involved advertising events that partnered the Rook & Pawn with local Athens businesses that are already community favorites like Avid Bookshop or Creature Comforts. These types of events increased awareness among the Athens townies and created credibility. Other social media efforts included helping the client organize all accounts on Hootsuite and creating a solid posting schedule to encourage engagement. On the college student effort, posters for the downtown area as well as engaging social media posts helped to create a buzz for Rook & Pawn throughout campus.

Results were astounding. Social media engagement shot up: Facebook by 22%, Twitter by 28.6%, and Instagram by a whopping 69.5% increase. Weekends at Rook & Pawn are always packed, to the point that weekend hours had to be extended later into the night to meet demand. Consumers responding positively to the authenticity of the café and to its unique qualities. We part with our clients firmly rooted in the Athens business community with style guides and infographics showing how to utilize platforms like SnapChat to continue engaging younger college audiences. We were there to help Rook & Pawn communicate effectively with their ever-increasing fan base, and to help them plan how to carry on once we leave. Not that they will have a particularly hard time, as it is obvious Rook & Pawn has many years of success ahead. Being there for their first year of business has been an enjoyable challenge, especially because they are so photogenic and fun. The community loves them, and so does our team. The future is bright for Athens Coolest Living Room.

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Our work centered around creating a distinct brand identity for The Rook & Pawn online. Because The Rook & Pawn was new to Athens, they had not taken any branded

photographs of their unique space downtown to post on social media. We took more than 100 photographs that show off their delicious menu items, the pub-esque vibe of their location and the community that could be built while playing games in their space.

The Rook & Pawn wanted to use the strong online community of Facebook to better communicate their events to the Athens community. We focused much of our creative work

on making branded flyers to post on their Facebook event pages. These flyers were also printed out and posted inside of The Rook & Pawn and the businesses they partnered with for these events.

With a consistent online presence, The Rook & Pawn wanted to offer merchandise for their guests that would fit into their defined tone and identity. Since opening,

they have sold out of and reordered branded t-shirts, cans of a custom Jittery Joe’s coffee blend, Athens icon meeples, and European soccer-inspired scarves. They also have handmade clay mugs and wooden dice rollers that are available for purchase at the cafe.

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The Rook & Pawn had previously purchased recurring ad space in Flagpole, so we turned these photos into print ads that would show

off the cafe’s lunch menu and communicate that guests could play games for free with any lunch purchase.

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The unique Rook & Pawn merchandise has been great sellers. Our proposed merchandise, seen on the next page, would continue the line of quality fan-favorites and encourage visibility around Athens and the UGA campus. A hooded sweatshirt is advertising in itself, as people

often inquire their origins. A tote bag serves the same purpose. The wax seal and liquor bottle, however, are more for keeping up the attitude of Rook & Pawn which has a very Victorian London pub feel. 22

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Events hosted by and at Rook & Pawn were key to introducing the cafe to the greater Athens community. By partnering with already established Athens businesses, regular clientele of these other local favorites were introduced to Rook & Pawn and all they have to offer. The

partnerships also established credibility for Rook & Pawn since all partners have been respected businesses in the community. The strategy of these partnerships was meant to reach the local Athens community, but college students also enjoyed the events as most were free entry. In addition to local community members and college students, active groups like the Athens Area Board Game Meetup Group were able to hear about Rook & Pawn. This board game group has since hosted several private and public events throughout the year. In all, the partnerships prove that anyone and everyone can enjoy time at Rook & Pawn whether they are there for board games, beer, or comic books.

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Before: 836After: 1,417

Before: 576After: 741

Before: 1,645After: 2,007

Tim and Carrie run all of The Rook & Pawn’s social media accounts and were already growing their social following when we began working together. Because their followers were responding to their tone and authenticity, we compiled some recommendations for their posts instead of taking over their accounts:• Share more photos of events at the cafe. As unique as the space is, the people in it make it more unique. Show off your

success. • Share more photos of the bartender’s handcrafted cocktails. • Capitalize on the fun the staff has with one another.We also opened a Hootsuite account for The Rook & Pawn. This would allow them to schedule social posts and spend more time with their guests in the cafe instead of sitting on social media throughout the day.

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