Sonny’s BBQ Marketing

As a restaurant branding expert, Push was tasked with completely overhauling this multi-unit restaurant’s positioning, its brand identity and overall marketing strategy. Using consumer insights, Push developed a contemporary interpretation of the iconic Pitmaster showcasing the brand’s mastery of the art of BBQ. We shifted the focus from price and product to the men and women who spend hours perfecting their craft and showcasing their accomplishments both in the smoker and on the plate. The local Pitmaster became an iconic figure for the new Sonny’s restaurant brand and the hero for new restaurant marketing.

With the new brand strategy, Push undertook a complete restaurant rebrand of all design and marketing materials affecting every consumer touchpoint from back-of-house to front. New restaurant uniforms for every team member. New restaurant logo designs on all buildings and collateral. New restaurant menu designs. New restaurant merchandising that leveraged what was great in ’68 as well as today. And more.

For all restaurant remodels and new restaurant store designs, we made the smoker the focal point of our new restaurant design and worked closely with the restaurant architect to ensure the brand lived authentically throughout. To further support the brand story, we developed a complete restaurant clutter package that featured the Pitmasters and the food they perfected.

We spent an incredible amount of time crafting both messaging and imagery used in TV commercials, OOH, menu design, digital media, social media and email marketing. And as over 65% of digital users are using SonnysBBQ.com through a mobile device, we built a mobile-first platform as the foundation for the restaurant’s digital strategy.