Restaurant chain Nando’s has been been around for a long time – since 1992 in fact. But it’s only in the last 4 or 5 years that it has transformed into a national brand. Today it has around 220 outlets, appealing to everyone from teens to families to celebrities… yes celebrities. As Miranda Sawyer pointed out in The Guardian last year, the Portuguese-themed chicken restaurant has proved to be a big hit with urban pop stars like Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal, N-Dubz, JLS and Taio Cruz. Just how much must that be worth in terms of PR AVEs (advertising value equivalents)?
Word-of-mouth
Having that kind of fan-base is a godsend for a brand that doesn’t have much to spend on above the line advertising. Check out Nando’s Facebook page and it has around 641,000 likes. Compare that with Pizza Express’s 82,000 likes and you can see that word-of-mouth and social media is a big strength for Nando’s, presumably because of its urban celeb status.
Playing to strengths
With that in mind, it’s no surprise to see Nando’s latest marketing campaign plays to its strengths in music and social media. Created by agency Farm, the new wave of activity invites consumers ‘to make some noise’.
Here’s how it works. A platform called Nandosnoise.com has been set up to let consumers upload noises and mix them with other people’s to create tracks they can share via Facebook and Twitter. The campaign is fronted by US comedian and musician Reggie Watts, who is providing beats of his own to get things started.
Andrew Rayner, Nando’s Marketing Director, says, “Often when fans talk about Nando’s, they can’t help but make a noise. It could be an ‘oooo’ or an ‘ahhhh’ or even a ‘hubba-hubba’. Nandosnoise.com allows Nando’s fans to get creative with their noises.”
Radio and Sponsorship
The campaign is being supported by a six-month national radio and digital advertising campaign, planned by MPG Media Contacts. At the heart of this strand is a partnership with Global Radio that will see Nando’s sponsoring Choice FM’s Drivetime show and Comedy Nights, as well as Xfm’s Mix Master Mike show on Saturday nights. The deal will involve credits and live mentions on air. Nando’s will also be running ads on the Global Radio stations, as well as on Spotify, directing consumers to the nandosnoise.com site. Other activity includes digital display ads and in-restaurant material.
Entertainment Brand
As a spin-off of the campaign, Reggie Watts will be introduced to a wider UK audience. As well as his appearances on the Nando microsite (built by Blonde) and radio ads, he will be showing off his live mixing skills in a 30 second pre-roll video for C4 on Demand, with a longer version on Youtube.
Picking up on this, Owen Lee, Creative Chairman at Farm, says: “We don't look at Nando's as a restaurant brand, it's an entertainment brand. Our role is to produce content that can be shared by Nando's fan-base rather than traditional ads. Nandosnoise.com introduces fans to Reggie Watts and allows them to play with the brand rather than having it pushed at them.”
It’s an interesting line, though it has to be stressed that this kind of approach only works if Nando’s stays true to its commercial ethos. Great food and good customer service are what pump the Nando’s personality.