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Case stu dy Hard Rock Cafe

Not only rock'n'rollHard Rock Cafe has bu ilt a glob al hospita lity brand based on the roci

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Hard Rock Cafe Case shidy

"We have a larger goal, which is to be the ultimater w | rock'n'ro ll store. We feel we have permission to bemore than simple branded Hard Rock gear."Sean Dee, CMO, Hard Rock Interna tional

his unsig ned Red Fender guitar. Accord-ing to legend. Pete Townshend of TheWho beard about the donation and s entone of his own guitars toHard Rock, witha cheeky note proclaiming: "Mine's asgood as his! Love Pete.""Our major differentiator is rock

'n ' roll . I t d ist inguishes us from othercompe titors," says Dee."It 's not overlaid, a theme or some-thing we think about periodically E veryHard Rocker's life should be about there la t ionsh ips wi th a r t i s t s , managers ,record labels and the m edia."Separate waysThe cafe concept expanded globally in1982, when the two business par tnersagreed to separately develop their ownchains und er the same bran d. Jeffery Har-wood, analyst at Oriel Securities, whichmonitored the brand as part of one-timeowner Rank Group, explains: "One part-ner bad tbe eastern US and Europe, whilethe other took the western U S."

Morton - tradi ng as Hard Rock Amer-ica - opened restaurants in cities such

Hard Rock history

Birth of a legend: the first ever HardRock Cafe in London. Oppo site pag e:Times Square outlet in New Yorkas Los Angeles and Houston. Tlgrett -acting as Hard Rock International - setup his versions in New York and P aris.Tigrett sold his involvement toMeccaLeisure, which later sold i t to Brit ishen ter ta inment company Rank , whi leMorton carr ied on developing restau-rants, also eventually bought by Rank in1995, He then turn ed h is attention to cre-ating the first H ard Rock hotel and casinoin Las V egas,

Morton eventually sold the rights to

the Hard Rock hotel and casino in 2006to the New-York based Morgans HotelGroup, The sam e year. Rank sold its HardRock Inter natio nal busine ss to the Semi-nole tribe of Florida for $965m {473m).Since it is now privately-held. Hard RockIntern ation al does not release its finan-cial resu lts but its last published figuresin 2006 show revenues climbed by 11%that year to $502m {251m). Operatingprofits were up 19'''o to $74.8m (38m).Hos pitality focusNow, says Dee. the brand's owners arekeen to take it beyond its roots as arest aur ant to become a "global hospital-ity brand". The first Hard Rock Park isscheduled to open this spring in SouthCarolina and has reportedly cost $400m(200m) to build. It aims to be the firstrock 'n ' roll park with different zones,rides and shows on that theme.

The park is part of the bra nd's driveto make all its venues more interactive,says Dee. He adds that the com pany hasbeen upgrading i ts restaurants, hotelsand casinos over the past couple of ^

3971 nrs t Hard Rock Cafe, created by Isaac Tigrett and PeterMo rt o n , opens its doors in Hyde Park Corner, London. It offersAmerican food with a rock'n'roll them e.^ ' Hard Rock Cafe begins to cover Its walls with mu sk-related memorabilia. Tigrett and Morton agree to developtheir own cafes in different regions of the world.

Morton (Hard Rock America) opens cafes in LosAngeles , San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston w hite Tigre tt(Hard Rock Internation al) open s his in New York City, Dallas,Boston, Wash ington DC, Orlando, Berlin and Paris, eventua llysell ing out to the Mecca Leisure busines s.

Rank Group acquires Mecca Leisure and continues toexpand the cafes while Morton expands his own versions

l a q i ; Rank purchases Morton 's cafe venues andCanadian Hard Rock units that had been deve loped byanother unaffi l iated company. Morton develops the f irstHard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for $8 om ; It Islater expanded to double Its capacity for Sioom in 1999.

Morto n sells his r ights in the Las Vegas hotel toMorg ans Hote l Group with the r igh ts to the brand westof the M ississippi River. Rank sells its Hard Rockbusiness to the Se minole Tribe of Florida for S96 5mwhich already run s two Florida-based Hard Rock hote ls.Included in the Rank deal are 124 Hard Rock Cafes, fourHard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two HardRock Live! concert venues , and stakes in threeunbranded hotels. The Hard Rock brand is controlledcentrally by Hard Rock Intern ation al, which works with

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Case study Hard Rock Cafe

Brand ot tne gia nis: nara Kock has been endorsed by such musical legends as (clockwisefrom left) Ozzy Osbou rne, Aerosmith, Willie Nelson and The Who . It also runs promotionswith more contemporary stars, such as Shakira (below ), who launched a T-shirt design

years because as new elements are intro-duced into tbe portfolio, the companylearns how to improve its other venues.Higher standardsDee says: "We have noticed that hotelguests' expectations are higher becausethey are spending more money andstaying longer Because expectations arehigher there, they are higher forthe brand in total."Standards are then raised on therestau rant side of the portfolio. So eachpar t of the business pushes the others toachieve, innovate and deliver a strongerguest experience."The interactivity extends to the HardRock website. T his is used as a portal toall its services, from p ractica l functionsto lifestyle content designed to keep cus-tomers interested in the brandbetween the ir visits. Forexample, you canbook hotel room sthrough the mainsite or simply listento a new hand showcasedby the brand.

The site also encour-ages people to give feed-back on their experiencesof Hard Rock, ideas, com-ments or anything elsethey choose. Dee says it

guests telling the organisation what theythink: "You can see that this is a modelfor us to create not only a reactive hut avery pro-active and interactive relation-ship with our guests."The w ebsite also gives H ard Rock afacility through which to organise andenhance its membership schemes. Just asbands have fan clubs, tbe brand has devel-oped a scheme called 'All Access', whichgives participants discounts, priorityseating and new sletters.The h istoric H ard Rock 'pin c lub', forcollectors of branded pins for clothing(usually modelled on the Hard Rockbadge or memorabilia items), also has anew home online. Dee hopes to build ontbe example of social networks such asFacebook to keep the enthusi-

asts - termed 'pinatics' - chat-ting to each other online ina members-only section.He claims to be keenon the other newmarketing channelsavailable to brandsthrough the inter-net: "If you goto YouTube orMyspace, you'llsee Hard Rock isactive there. Alot of people haveHard Rock tattoos

the world and post them on theirMyspace pages. We even have a 'Masterof Rock' programme on YouTube, wherepeople who have gone to one of our eventcan upload the shows."The brand claims to try not to controtoo heavily what consumers post or dis-cuss about Hard Rock online. Dee sayslie is very aware of the dangers of beingseen to 'over-manage' social media and iwouldn't fit witb the b rand's ethos.

"We're in tbe rock'n'ro ll space, whichis irreve rent, so we have to be open tofeedback that's not always published byus. But we're OK with that. We can learto do things be tter We actively manageour brand but user-generated contentshould be just that," he argues.Musical diversityAlong with the new media and marketingchannels it is exploring. Hard Rock iskeen to update its positioning in themu sic scene. While it ha s always beenassociated with classic rock, it is keen tocreate an association with current andemerging music.

This is a wise move, says BrandAmp'Brunini, He observes that recentresearch from Millward Brown showsthat 36% of people claim m usic plays animportant part in the atmosphere in arestau rant. Seventeen per cent say theywould stay longer somewhere if theyliked the music. Being up-to-date w ithconsumer tastes is vital.

Each year, the brand produces its'annual' magazine, distributed withRolling Stone, Blender and Q magazinwhich highlights newer acts, such asToby Lightman and Limbeck, and directreaders to the website, where they canlisten to music, read some thoughts fromthe new band, hear an interview and seepictures. The emerging artists are alsoshowcased on video in resta uran ts.

Despite its heritage, the brand bas noplans to move into the role of record company or distributor, in the manner of cof-fee brand Starbucks, "We're not lookingto sell music," says Dee. "We have a versmall number of units compared withStarbucks, so as a sales distribution system w e're probably not as effective."Instead, the brand intends to concentrate on tbe experiential elements of its

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Hard Rock Cafe Case study

don this summer.The line-up comprisesiconic acts such as The Police and EricClapton alongside newer names, such asKT TunstaU. Dee says these gigs supportthe brand's equity without taking thefocus off the core hospitality business.Hugh Robertson, managing partnerat experiential agency RPM, which cre-ates musical and the atrical events forcompanies such as Smirnoff, agrees:"The fact that Hard Rock has continuedto develop its association with musicmemorabilia into live events is key"

But Cake's Mathieson thinks thebrand needs to develop its live series out-side the US: "It doesn't work very hardfor me. We try to get our brands to startfrom grassroots, as with Carling orCoors. WeU sponsor buskers on the Lon-don Underground, then have festivalsand also get involved in the broadcast.It's about a rounded package of involve-men t... Hard Rock gets involved - andtben disappears again."Fashion linesOne way to keep the brand in consumers'minds is merchandise. Hard Rock claimsit wants to expand its lines from gar-ments carrying the famous logo to morefashion influenced products. While it iskeen to keep producing its well-knownwhite T-shirts bearing the Hard Rockname, it also wants to take its rock'n'rollheritage into more areas,

"We have a larger goal, which is to betheultimate rock and roll store," revealsDee. "We feel we have permission to bemore than simple branded H ard Rockgear. We have pushed hard to develop acore fashion line rooted in rock and roll.It's irreverent, like the brand, and tiedto a range of global artists, such asSpringsteen. Bono and Shakira,"

Scott Barnett, president of fellowthemed restaurant chain Bubba GumpShrimp, believes Hard Rock is right togive its revamped m erchandise a mar-keting boost. "It allows you to projectyour brand internationally," he says."Merchandise, in a way. is a personal rec-ommendation [from consumers]."The Hard Rock range now includes

such items as a line designed by Bonofeaturing fish surrounded by stars. Youcan even buy a B arbie doll in a military

Treasure trove: rock mem orabilia has longbeen central to Hard Rock's id entity.Below: Melissa Etheridge raised aw arenessof breast cancer alongside th e brand

Tbe brand also ties in its more mod-ern, celebrity-collaboration merchandisewith its corporate social responsibilityprogramme. This takes multiple forms,from issuing charity CDs to donating per-centages of m erchandise sales to goodcauses. It also tries to make its CSR proj-ects translate across different divisionsof the organisation.In October 2007, when singer and can-cer-survivor Melissa Ethe ridge's newalbum. The Awakening, was launched,the whole Hard Rock business aimed toraise awareness of breast cancer. Theorganisation held pin sales, auctions andfundraisers to support Etheridge, whichhelped to keep "the brand, artist andcharity all tied together", says Dee.

Hard Rock is keen to getinvolved with more socialresponsibility projects andbelieves choosingcauses associatedwith artists istbe most con-vincing way todo this. Deepoints outthat it alsohelps to buildstronger directre la t ionshipswith artists whenthe brand responds

for the future of the brand is to buildstronger community relationships inareas where its restaurants are based.Often, because Hard Rocks are based inbusy tourist areas, such as Hyde ParkCorner and Times Square, it seen as abrand for people to visit on holiday or asa special treat. Can the restauran t devel-op a loyal fanbase among local residents?

Dee admits: "Our brand balance needsto make sure that it's attractive not justto a visitor marketplace but locals too."But Cake's Mathieson believes thisremains a distant dream: "Hard Rock hasbeen trying to do that for 20 years. If youwalk past the one in Hyde Park, you'llsee a queue of tour ists... it's not some-thing in your mind-map as a Londonerto 'go for a burger at the Hard Rock'."Leveraging iieritageThis challenge brings the brand back tothe age-old issue of creating a m emor-able experience and delivering a brand-ed service that is unmistakably 'HardRock'. How can it use its he ritage in away that fits with modern consumers?Bubba Gump Shrim p's B arnett ad-vises: "The name brings people in butit's the food, experience and everythingaround it that keeps them coming back."RPM's Robertson adds: "The brandhas a challenge around the name interm s of it being 'rock', because musi-cal genres come in and go out. It's tryingto move that on by having differentartists playing nights that are broaderthan just rock music, but potentially onlya rebrand could be a solution."

Hard Rock's Dee, however, tbinksmoving into newexperiential areas, suchas theme parks, more hotels and sup-porting new artists, will overcome theissue. He does agree, however, that thebrand needs to work continually on itsbusiness to remain globally consistentand relevant.

As Dee reflects:^^^^^^ . "We have been' ' ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ around for 36 yearsand we're in 47 coun-tries, soclearly we have a for-'^ ^- imila that works. But we still win

'* ^ and lose very day based on ourguests' experiences. We can't livesolely by the brand so we are going

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