restaurants

Buffalo Wild Wings Serves Up Sports Competition

Buffalo Wild Wings has long positioned itself as the ultimate place for sports fans to gather, watch the game and grab a bite. Starting this football season, the brand is launching a competitive gaming platform, GameBreak, to fans to interact with the brand from anywhere.

“Buffalo Wild Wings is constantly working to create authentic and immersive sports experiences in its restaurants as part of our strategy of becoming the ‘Ultimate Sports Experience,’” Eric Strey, director of sports programs for Buffalo Wild Wing, tells Marketing Daily. “GameBreak supports that strategy and helps extend the BWW experience beyond restaurants to further differentiate ourselves in the marketplace and to strengthen guest loyalty.”

advertisement

advertisement

Through the dedicated Web site (www.bdubsgamebreak.com), consumers can set up a single profile to access the games from any device, anywhere. (GameBreak can be accessed via mobile app or through table-side tablets) At launch, they’ll have access to three games (further games will arrive as different sports begin their seasons) to compete for both weekly and full-season prizes. Games include an in-restaurant trivia contest, a fantasy-football-style weekly game, and a traditional pick-the-winner of weekly NFL games. 

“We want our guests to have an opportunity to continuously engage through fantasy sports and competitive games in a way that’s easy for them, which is why a single sign-on experience is so important,” Strey says. “We’ve offered competitive sports games in the past, but for each, guests had to create separate usernames and passwords. We have been very purposeful with making sure that all guest interaction with GameBreak is a seamlessly integrated experience.”

Prizes include restaurant gift cards, combination prize packs (for season-long winners) and a $10,000 “Ultimate VIP Season Ticket Experience,” which will grant one winner two premium season tickets to the home games of their NFL football team of choice, as well as gift cards and other in-restaurant perks.

“We know that our guests have a strong affinity for sports and competition,” Strey says. “GameBreak facilitates guest brand interaction in new ways, and extends the Buffalo Wild Wings experience beyond our restaurants while at the same time creating a more interactive, immersive sports experience for those guests who are in-restaurant.”

The entire GameBreak experience — including posting leaderboard names and players in the restaurants as games are going on — is designed to make the guests “the stars of the restaurants,” Strey says. GameBreak will be the primary focus of the chain in-restaurant marketing materials and will also be supported by digital advertising and social media, he says.

Next story loading loading..