Frawley | Branding and Marketing Agency

Positioning Limerick’s Friendliest Foodie Corner

Thinking about How to Grow your Business?

Two heads are better than one!

Client Testimonial

Robert Byrne, Director, Bobby Byrnes

“Tony and his company Frawley did great work rebranding our 50-year-old family business. He focused us on where we wanted to go with the business and helped us define our brand and take us to the next level. Our sales continue to grow and we have Tony and the team at Frawley to thank for this.”

The Background

Bobby Byrne’s, also known as “Bobby’s”, is located on the corner of O’Connell Avenue and Wolfe Tone Street in the heart of Limerick City. Established since 1963, the popular gastropub is steeped in tradition and full of character. Bobby’s has acquired many food awards and writer recommendations over the past number of years and is known for its friendly staff, cosy open fire, slate floor and homely atmosphere.

Brand Challenges

1. Bobby Byrnes was being perceived as a pub or a shop, it is much more than this.

2. The brand wasn’t effectively communicating the value of its welcoming staff and friendly customer service.

The Brief

Our primary objective was to understand how customer’s perceived Bobby Byrnes and use these insights to position the business correctly within the Limerick City area. The following steps taken overcame the brand challenges:

1. Using market research methods, compile customer data and extract insights.

2. Develop a brand strategy report to include brand positioning recommendations.

3. Design a brand identity that will connect with identified customer segments.

4. Devise a brand communications strategy to successfully activate the brand across relevant brand touchpoints.

Brand Research & Insights

Customer research methods revealed a number of key insights:

1. Traditionally recognised and renowned as a pub more than anything else.

2. Bobby’s pub was perceived to have an excellent reputation for quality food. This perception also carried over to the business’ food corner store and catering arm.

3. Known for its friendly and welcoming staff who deliver superb customer service.

Brand Strategy

Positioning Message

Limerick’s Friendliest Foodie Corner

Having successfully introduced food in recent years, which had become a core focus for the business, the proprietors wanted to leverage the food angle to drive more business through their doors. By building on an already established excellent reputation for quality food, in addition to having a food corner store and a catering arm to their business, it made perfect sense to develop a strategy using food within the positioning message ‘Limerick’s Friendliest Foodie Corner’ for continued growth. We also recommended the business recategorised it’s offering as a ‘gastropub’ rather than being perceived as just a ‘pub’.

Brand Identity Design

The new brand identity design drew inspiration from the Byrne family crest. The two elements on either side of the crest were inspired by carvings etched on Bobby’s bar.