The Long Mile Inn Project

Marketing Assignment presented to Lecturer Bernadette Walsh by Karin Hackl

(2908807), Leonardo Lacerda (2938137), and Melanie Alves Basilio de Souza

(2924867)

Dublin, Ireland

November 2016

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Table of ContentsEXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................3

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES..............................................................................................4

METHODOLOGY AND DETAILED FINDINGS...............................................................................5

Primary Research.............................................................................................................................5

Stage 1: Observation...........................................................................................................................5

Stage 2: SWOT analysis between The Long Mile Inn and The Halfway House.....................................7

Stage 3: Questionnaire with residents.................................................................................................9

Secondary Research........................................................................................................................11

CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................12

RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................................................13

A Christmas charity night event:........................................................................................................13

Other recommendations to the Long Mile Inn:.................................................................................14

REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................16

APPENDIX..............................................................................................................................17

Questionnaire of satisfaction for the Long Mile Inn..........................................................................17

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

After applying our methodology which consisted in primary and secondary marketing

research - the first one based on observation, a SWOT analysis with the venue’s biggest

competitor and a questionnaire applied to the residents of the area, and the second

based on the information collected at the Central Statistics Office website (CSO), we

present in this document our analyses of the data followed by a few good

recommendations to relaunch the Long Mile Inn for Christmas and for 2017 hoping that

the venue will start making more profit and have a good future ahead in the business

and entertainment industry.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The Long Mile Inn is a pub located in Walkinstown, North Dublin and it has been the

focus of this study as a new strategy is required to re-launch the pub for the Christmas

season. Unfortunately, since its reopening a few months ago it hasn’t been attracting the

desired number of customers to achieve the profit needed to remain active in business.

The objective of this market research is to explore the reasons why it might not be doing

well by using primary and secondary marketing research and also to come up with a

new strategy to change the image of this organisation to attract more people.

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METHODOLOGY AND DETAILED FINDINGS

Primary Research

Stage 1: Observation

Taking into consideration that more than one type of primary research is desirable and

recommended to achieve better and reliable results (Perner 2005) it was decided to

start with a primary research method called observation. This method uses reflection

and understanding of customer behaviour in order to obtain data. The first visit to the

Long Mile Inn occurred on Saturday the 22nd September 2016 where we spent about 2

hours, between 1pm and 3pm.

The first observation made was that most of the customers were elderly people between

50 and 70 years old. During the time spent there not many customers were coming in

and at one point we were the only patrons with one member of staff in the pub.

Another important observation is the quantity of other pubs in the same area some of

which are quite close to The Long Mile Inn. There is even is one right across the road

called The Halfway House, which is well known and quite well attended by residents of

the area. We visited The Halfway House the same day and around the same time and it

was full of customers.

During the visit to The Long Mile Inn, we noticed that this pub has two smoking areas,

one downstairs and one upstairs. The downstairs one is small and was dirty with barrels

full of empty bottles and flies all around, not providing a great environment for

customers, as shown in the images below:

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In addition to that the emergency exit was locked with padlocks which automatically

makes the exit unavailable to be used in case of emergency. As a matter of fact, the

locked exit was pointed out by one of the customers who was in the smoking area while

we were observing. This customer also stated he does not feel safe being there with the

exit being locked.

In general, the prices in the pub where quite reasonable, which makes it more attractive

for customers. Unfortunately, there was no food available for purchase other than the

usual pub snacks crisps and nuts.

The lounge area which is the biggest and nicest part of the pub, was closed on the

observation day. In the lounge there is a big screen and a couple of small ones too, a

nice smoking area and baby chairs available which might be a good advantage. As the

lounge was closed there was just ¼ of the pub left open for customers to enjoy.

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Stage 2: SWOT analysis between The Long Mile Inn and The Halfway House

SWOT is a method used to analyse a company and the factors that affect its operation.

Its goal is to identify the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats

and use this information to help the company to become more competitive and efficient.

(Tiernan et al. 2013)

The Long Mile Inn

Strengths Weaknesses

Big Screen

Good sound quality

Parking space in front of pub

Big lounge and area

2 smoking areas

Good price

Normal license

Don’t serve food

Inactive social media

Closed fire exit

Opportunities Threats

Special Dates (i.e.: Halloween,

Christmas)

Big Sports Events

Off licence just beside the pub

Competitors

Government influences

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The Halfway House

Strengths Weaknesses

Serve food

Traditional carvery

Active social media

Small place

Normal license

They don’t have smoking area

Small screen

Opportunities Threats

Special dates (ex: Halloween,

Christmas)

Big Sports Events

Off license

Competitors

Government influences

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Stage 3: Questionnaire with residents

The third method used in this market research was the questionnaire for residents living

near to The Long Mile Inn and it is attached to the appendix of this project. It took place

in Walkinstown, between 14th November and 21st November of 2016 and it was applied

to 12 female and 14 male residents of Crumlin over the age of 18.

The results of this questionnaire are shown in the graphics below:

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Most people we questioned mentioned that they would not recommend to their friends

or family to go to the Long Mile Inn for the reasons stated under “what do you dislike

about the pub”.

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Secondary Research

Secondary research is important for learning about the potential of an area and about

future customers.(Department of Tourism 2012)

According to the CSO - Central Statistics Office Ireland (2016), a website that compiled data from the Census 2011 in Ireland, the general profile of the 11,294 people living in the area is as follows:

These numbers can be used to draw a picture of the average person living in the area

and therefore the marketing can be targeted to this average. For the Long Mile Inn this

means that their marketing strategy should be targeted to single people over the age of

25 as our questionnaire has shown that younger people are mostly going into the city

centre and also these are the people who have statistically speaking the most

disposable income.

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CONCLUSION

In the current marketing environment, because of the huge number of products and

amount of information available, it is becoming more and more difficult to achieve loyalty

with customers (Perner 2005). Taking this into consideration, all of our work and

suggestions were made based on the idea of creating a good environment in which

customers would have a great experience, create a connection with the place somehow

and because of that, return to it and tell their family and friends about it. When people

attach their feelings to a particular thing, in this case the venue Long Mile Inn, most

likely they will put it as their priority during their leisure time (Rossiter & Bellman 2012).

Whether it is because of a charity event, a movie night, a match transmission, a pool

game with their friends, a good coffee or great customer service, if they feel happier and

better than the moment they came in, results will be achieved and the profitability of the

pub will definitely be increased.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

A Christmas charity night event:

People are always happy to take part in charity events, especially at local

establishments; which gives them a great sense of community. Once they are

connected in a certain way with a place, most likely they will come back. Also, the idea

of doing something for charity matches with the peoples Christmas spirit.

This event should be advertised everywhere and as much as possible for example

Social networks, door to door, flyers, in the local supermarket and attaching posters in

the area. If there is time and enough resources, popular pages like Lovin Dublin should

be contacted so they could write an article to promote the event.

It’s essential that the pub would be decorated for the Christmas season with lights at the

outside and at least a nice Christmas tree inside. When we first visited the pub, a week

before Halloween, there was no decoration related to the time of the year which wasn’t

making the place cosy and attractive in our opinion.

Every person who attends The Long Mile Inn that night which should be an evening in

the middle of December is advised to bring a Christmas present for charity as an

entrance fee. Presents should be placed under the Christmas tree and they should be

all donated to the Children’s Hospital located in the area in the following week (or

another institution in case this one turns out to be inaccessible). A video with the staff of

Long Mile Inn bringing the presents to the hospital should be made and posted on social

network in attempt to advertise the venue and get people’s attention.

Furthermore, management should study the possibility of giving around 10% of the profit

made that night to a charity.

Activities during the night should be developed like bingo, quizzes, karaoke and maybe

the idea of bringing someone dressed up as Santa Claus to the venue. Pictures should

be taken and all should be posted on their social media as well.

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Other recommendations to the Long Mile Inn:

1. Have a good social media presentation. At the moment there is nothing happening on

social media and customers’ queries seem to be almost completely ignored.

2. Make Facebook competitions i.e. guys from Candyland - Galway. They have a

different one every Tuesday which results in an ever-growing number of followers for

them: https://www.facebook.com/CandylandGalway/

3. Make a Website! An easy to navigate self-made website will do.

4. Bringing a pool table to the pub. Board games should also be brought to the venue.

5. The pub should be always decorated according to the time of the year.

6. Management should develop a strategy to motivate staff. Focus groups with the staff

are advised to develop ideas together and increase the quality of customer service.

7. All staff is advised to take HACCP training and BARISTA/COCKTAIL training which

would decrease the number of complaints based on quality of food and service that

were found in the reviews at the Facebook page. A well trained and well-motivated

workforce always works better and produces better results.

8. A proper BARISTA coffee machine should be bought (or rented by month - around

400 euros per month usually) to increase the quality of coffees especially because the

demand is huge during winter time and the habit of drinking coffee is becoming more

and more popular.

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9. A Christmas Menu based on coffees with special aromas, ginger bread, salads with

nuts and cranberries and all the other festive food/drinks should be added to the menu

in December and should be advertised locally.

10. A movie night could be introduced once every month using the big screen in the

lounge.

11. A strategy should be developed to bring live musicians (including traditional irish

music) to play in the lounge at least on Friday and Saturday evenings as a good majority

of the interviewees said they consider it as an important factor when choosing which

place to go.

12. A Board should be installed at the door to show the place is open and with the

special attraction of the week. Here is an example from another business in Dublin:

13. Lights in the Hall should be installed as it looks very dark.

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REFERENCES

Perner, L., 2005. Introduction to Marketing. Available at: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/marketing_introduction.html [Accessed November 27, 2016].

CSO, 2016. Home - CSO - Central Statistics Office. Available at: http://www.cso.ie/en/index.html [Accessed November 27, 2016].

Department of Tourism, M.E., 2012. Market research methods. Available at: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/starting/market-customer-research/market-research-basics/market-research-methods [Accessed November 27, 2016].

Rossiter, J. & Bellman, S., 2012. Emotional Branding Pays Off. Journal of Advertising Research, 52(3), pp.291–296.

Tiernan, S., Morley, M. & Foley, E., 2013. Modern management: theory and practice for students in Ireland,

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APPENDIX

Questionnaire of satisfaction for the Long Mile Inn

1. Gender:

o Maleo Female

2. Age:

o 18-25o 26-35o 36-45o 46-55o More than 55

3. Marital status:

o Marriedo Singleo Widowedo Divorced

4. Do you usually go into a pub in your free time?

o Yeso No

4a. If you said no, why?

4b. If yes, please specify which pub: _______________________________________

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5. In your opinion, what would you consider the most important things for a good pub to

have?

o Live Musico Locationo Priceo Quality of staffo Quality of drinkso Foodo Live sport on TV o Other, please specify: _______________________________

6. Have you ever been to the Long Mile Inn?

o Yeso Noo Never heard of it

6a. If yes, how many times?

o Onceo 2-5 timeso 5-10o More than 10

6b. What do you like about the Long Mile Inn?

6c. What do you dislike about the Long Mile Inn?

7.What is missing in the Long Mile Inn to make it more interesting?

8. Would you recommend to a friend/family member and why?

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o Yes, because_________________________________________________o No, because__________________________________________________

Thank you

Your help is much appreciated!

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