Die Struck Coins Drive Traffic and Sales
By: Audrey Sellers, Associate Editor
Issue: February 2010, PromoConsultant
A Florida bar uses promotional coins as mementos and to drive traffic to its gift shop.
It’s not the lively atmosphere, tasty beach bites or umbrella-laden drinks that has made Pineapple Willy’s a Florida hotspot since 1984—it’s the fact that this restaurant and bar happens to be the only one with a pier in the Florida Panhandle. It’s also home to a $3 million gift shop, complete with souvenirs of all kinds and a line of t-shirts printed in-house. It’s enough to make any Spring Breaker raise a mojito in celebration.
Pineapple Willy’s is packed from Spring Break through the summer season, and Dan Baird, general manager, wanted those crowds to return year after year. “We’re very selective about our advertising,” he says. “Everybody does coupons—nothing memorable there.”
Preferring non-traditional promotional tactics, Baird opted to use custom coins minted with the bar’s logo.
“We give out the coins to potential customers to see the business and check out the gift shop,” Baird says. “Some people keep them as good-luck charms or mementos. This is great because we’re getting advertising value every time they show it to someone. How often does that happen with paper coupons?”
Whether patrons plunk down their coin at the bar for a free cold one or the gift shop for a discount on merchandise, Baird trained his staff to treat the coins as cash. “We’ve given away 500 so far and we’re getting a good return rate,” says Baird.
Patrons could pick up two types of coins—one good for a free drink and the other for $5 worth of food or merchandise.
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