#7 10 years to become an overnight success

August 26, 2009 0

John Travolta once said “it’s taken me 10 years to become an overnight success”

For years the Ivy arguably the most successful restaurant in London was unsuccessful – we spoke to one of the old managers there and found out how they turned it around.

Introduction – Restaurants should have WOM right, right? Wrong?

Restaurants are one of the ultimate Word of Mouth case studies – chefs and owners often pride themselves on their food being so good that they don’t have to advertise. Well Gordon Ramsey, among others have shown that beneath the facade of bright lights and smooth wooden surfaces lie not only profit challenges but a hit and miss approach to word of mouth.

The Manager of the Falls Restaurant (itself a fusion of informal formality with stunning food) gave us the inside track:

Alan Parry told us a story of the Ivy’s original owners, Chris Corban and Jeremy King, and their first famous venture, Le Caprice. Now the official History of the Ivy and Le Caprice can be read on their website – it does not read like the true story…and it isn’t) of this piece but the unofficial story holds the gems:

The owners refused to advertise for years, they wanted to rely on Word of Mouth – which it expected to ‘just happen’ because the food was good
For years it remained quiet
You see if you rely totally on your regular customers to ‘expose’(the first step of our model) ie make people aware of your products and don’t treat them as team players, they won’t help you
If you have no other ‘exposure’ tools – any form of PR, communication etc – well you are doubly exposed as you can’t do the basic model – Comms – makes people aware and Referrers convert to customers
Referrers won’t help you if they don’t feel that you need your help – too many companies are afraid to ask or do it in the wrong way with ‘get us a friend’ models
Generally speaking – 9/10 you can get the vibe if someone is a fan of you or not – they will be only too glad to ‘expose’ your product but they need to know you need it or they assume you are ok
Le Caprice wallowed for 2 years and nearly went under – it’s ‘the food speaks for itself’ thing was a gamble – it could have worked but it didn’t
They had no Referral Marketing Plan in place and they weren’t asking for ‘help’ in the right way
A lame example of this is the sign “if you think we are good tell others” – why would I tell others if you haven’t made me feel important or enrolled, it’s just a sign
In TVS terms –Chris and Jeremy refused to expose itself using our model and especially through it’s Top Referrers – it had nothing in place to do that
Furthermore like most ‘jazzy’ restaurants – they focus on the famous as opposed to ordinary fans – and the famous are fickle…luckily however
One day Mick Jagger’s PA rang up and said to the owner – Mick wants a pumping restaurant is that you?
The owner pluckily said yes she’s heaving. Sweating he put down the phone, rang all his mates and in a panic said get here I’ll give you food for free
When Mick and his entourage the restaurant was pumping with his ‘team players’ his mates and Mick was happy
They never looked back. Soon they started The Ivy then a few years later J. Sheekeys. All three were in Zagat’s 10 most popular restaurants. – it has been a success
You can’t book a table in The Ivy – there are too many Tom Cruises, Madonna’s, Guy Ritchies (thought not at the same time) and Paris before you

Our Conclusion – use ‘Buzz’ with TVS system’s superconductors

In reality a lot of what gets called PR – is buzz, a superficial intense burst of activity with influencers followed by nothing

The mistake is to assume celebrities are the only influencers in the world – they only influence other celebrities – the trick is to use ‘superconductors’ and celebrities. Think of celebrities as ‘awareness’ and superconductors as ‘converters’ of the aspirational people. A superconductor is one of those people who has a wide network in many different worlds. They aren’t just the ‘connectors’ but the ‘connectors’ of the ‘connectors’.

You can only get to superconductors if you map your Top Referrers Social Networks….more of that in Wordvine 2.

Here is an example of a superconductor with his name changed:

Lavoir is a French DJ who lives in NZ but tours in Europe and Tahiti. He is multi talented – he is highly respected in the DJ world by other DJ but his music is far from mainstream. He has a unique mixture of skills and started working in digital TV in the UK right at the start where he learned TV production and how to use design in the right way to pull in audiences. He is a superconductor because he connects: