Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

Rohit is one of the founding members of the 360 Digital Influence practice at Ogilvy Public Relations and has served as lead strategist on projects for many of Ogilvy’s largest accounts, including Intel, Ford, Lenovo, Sunglass Hut, and multiple Unilever brands. He publishes an award winning personal blog about marketing called Influential Marketing (www.influentialmarketingblog.com) and has been featured in media worldwide including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, The Globe & Mail (Canada), Marketing China (China) and AdWeek (Australia).

Rohit is also the author of the recently release book, Personality Not Included, which is published by McGraw-Hill. A guide for companies on how personality and authenticity is the new standard that brands need live up to in the social media era — the book has received significant early praise, strong reviews, and features a forward by bestselling author and entrepreneur, Guy Kawasaki.

He is also a guest columnist and writer for multiple industry publications, including Digital Media Wire and WebProNews. In addition to his writing, Rohit is also a popular speaker on marketing and social media topics, serving as a frequent keynote speaker at marketing and social media events, and participating in many industry trade seminars and conferences as a featured speaker (including recent sessions from Ad:Tech, Wharton, American Marketing Association, and Word of Mouth Marketing Association).

Prior to joining Ogilvy PR, Rohit led the interactive team at Leo Burnett Worldwide based on Sydney, Australia. As Executive Producer of the interactive group, he managed a team of producers, designers and developers to deliver interactive advertising campaigns for clients such as Foxtel, Malaysia Airlines, Subaru, Nestle and Kelloggs. He has worked internationally in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, India and South Africa.

Rohit recieved his BBA in International Marketing from the Roberto C. Goizueta Business School at Emory University and also holds an MA in Professional Writing from George Mason University. He is married and lives in Washington DC with his wife and two young sons.

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WOMM-U: Day Two Case Study: Houlihan’s Restaurant

The final session of the conference featured a case study on Houlihan’s Restaurants, presented by Jen Gulvik, VP Marketing, Houlihan’s Restaurants, Inc.

In the past few years Houlihan’s has undergone a tremendous transformation. Spreading the word about this has been an interesting challenge. They’re not a national advertiser. While they are in some major markets, they don’t have the budget that many of their competitors do.

The task was to see if they could turn their customers into a marketing force. In the past many of their restaurants had established e-mail lists, it was one-way only. However they do receive a large amount of customer feedback, and this is increasing. She thinks this matches the trend of customers taking control of their brand experiences.

At a WOMMA event a year ago, Jen realized that they’re in an industry (food & beverage) that is heavily talked about. Why not take advantage of that?

First step was to determine who their brand lovers were. They created and sent out a survey. Some quick metrics: 114,949 sent, 18,695 received. From there they began to build out a program, an advisory group. This group would advise them on menu choices and other brand assets. They also developed a program for the HouliFAN’s.

The primary communication channel with the advisory group is the HQ, a password protected site that allows Houlihan’s to provide information to the fans. It also allows them to participate in coversations and get feedback.

One of the first things they did was ask the advisory group, what would you do? Early on they saw an issue related to the removal of fajitas from the menu, or as Jen said, a fajita-freakout.

Once the site was established with the advisory group, it expanded to the entire fan-base, the HouliFANs.

Soon afterwards they rolled out a new menu and used their fans and the site to spread the word. They found that 35% of the fans had spread WOM about the menu.

The program is still new and growing but they’ve been thrilled with the response and feedback they’ve received.

Rohit Bhargava of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

On the agenda

WOMM-U: Day Two Case Study: Houlihan’s Restaurant

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