• by Karl Greenberg , October 8, 2015

As bowling alleys dispense with the double-knit shirts, third hand shoes and bad pizza, the sport is returning faster than vinyl records and manual coffee grinders. The largest global bowling operator Bowlmor AMF is riding that wave with record profits, renovations and new marketing tactics. It's all about converting what used to be just alleys into entertainment destinations, and supporting those renovations with new marketing. And converting Millennials.

The company, which acquired Brunswick bowling centers a year ago, is launching a new effort aimed at younger consumers that features top bowler Jason Belmonte, known for trick shots and an unorthodox, two-handed style. In the new ad campaign, a fancy French restaurant, a crowded bar and noisy hipster nightclub serve as trick-shot foils, as they are set up on a bowling lane. Belmonte does surgical shots that manage to clinically defenestrate each venue. At the end of each shot the audience yells “Crushes it!”

The campaign, via NY-based Concept Farm, includes variants for TV for cable stations like ESPN and Bravo, and digital executions on Hulu and YouTube set to run through the fall. Besides 60-second and 30-second units, there are social media and PR elements. The campaign directs consumers to the revamped BowlSaturdayNight.com, which hosts behind-the-scenes footage and comical Q&A style videos featuring Belmonte. It also has a new meet-up type tool where you can set up a night of bowling.

“Jason Belmonte is redefining the bowling landscape with his talent, charisma and energy. His unique style is bringing worldwide attention back to the sport and engaging a young, vibrant audience. It was only natural for us to partner with Jason for our new campaign,” said Tom Shannon, CEO, chairman and president of Bowlmor AMF, in a statement. 

The company reports that over the past three years it has seen revenue increase over 1,300%, including a 42% in the last fiscal year. In fiscal 2014 it invested $50 million in retail center improvements and conversions, and plans to spend $60 million in FY 2016, as part of the effort to create an upscale, industrial-chic feel to its lanes. 

Shannon recently said that the company plans to convert 80 of its properties to new concepts by 2020, with the brand's first upscale conversion in New Jersey, set to open later this month.

Bowlmor AMF, which has more than 300 domestic locations, 8 locations in Mexico, and 3 locations in Canada, got back into the national marketing swing last year with “Bowling Makes Saturday Night More Fun,” the first national advertising campaign for a bowling center brand in over 40 years. That campaign, also by Concept Farm, focused on real people who get a Saturday night makeover: they plan on going to the movies, the mall or a nightclub, until human-sized bowling pins and a ball inveigle them into a party limo. They are dropped off at the local bowling alley.