3 Little Ideas
Easy Summer Promotions for The Months When Everyone’s Laid Back

are just unfolding, and with these easy events, it is not too late to add a few extra pounds to your promotional line-up.
    Each of these involves minor monetary investment, minimal set up and cleanup and tons of potential to make your patrons apt to leave comments on your MySpace page about the killer time they had in your bar last night.

Hamburger Bar
    Fire up your grill in your kitchen, but give your line cook a break on Fridays during the summer months by setting up a hamburger bar.
    Have a buffet table full of anything and everything one might want on a burger, and you should remember that being esoteric in your offerings really pays off in word-of-mouth advertising and hand-to-mouth patronage. For instance, in New Zealand it is not uncommon to find a hamburger with Brie cheese, beets and carrots listed as the condiments. Offer up a large selection of exotic pickles, mustards and breads for your patrons.
    Also, don’t forget to offer a vegetarian burger to ensure those sales as well. Have placement cards on the table for customers to fill out on what arrangement of condiments they put on their burgers that tasted best and post the most unusual, yet edible, on a board as a suggestion for the next week.

Design Our New Logo
    If you aren’t set on your existing logo, or maybe it is just time for an update, this month long promotion is a great way to increase patronage during a summer month. Advertise in the local paper, at city art galleries and on your MySpace page that the artist who enters the best “new” or “re-designed” logo for your venue will be rewarded at an unveiling party for the fresh design with a party for the artist and 25 of his or her closest friends on the last day of the month. Pass out free T-shirts with the new logo the night of the party for each attendee and make sure to have stickers available as well.

Bar Olympics
    This 3-part promotion can be hosted over an entire weekend or crammed into one crazy night. Have contestants sign up to participate in pairs of two. Doing this inspires more people to join in the fun, since most people are willing to do just about anything if they have their best friend by their side.

1st Event: Tent Races
Contact a local camping store for sponsorship and have the reward for winning this heat be free camping gear or climbing lessons at the store. Have the paired-off team members race to see who can set up a camping tent the fastest in your parking lot. The catch is, one member cannot touch the tent in any way, and the other member must do all of the assembly blindfolded.

2nd Event: Beer Knowledge
    In this event, the pair of participants will work together to determine which beer is which in a blind taste test of 12 brews. Make sure to have the classic domestics and imports as well as a few local, well-known craft brews in your unmarked cups. Give each team a list of the possible beers and have them mark their decisions by the corresponding number on each cup. The take-home prizes might include a trip for two to a nearby brewery or a 6-pack of each of the sponsoring beers tested.

3rd Event: Child of the 80s
    Have your DJ play eight seconds of a song from the ‘80s. Each team is then required to write down the name of the song, the band who performed it and one other piece of information they might know, such as when it was released or to whom the lead singer was married.
    Award three points for correct song titles, two points for the correct band name and one point for a good piece of gossip about either the band or the song. The team with the most points at the end of the contest should be rewarded with prizes such as concert tickets or an acoustic guitar from a local music shop. Hand out ‘80s compilation CDs to the losers so that they can brush up for next year.                      NCB