Bar Launch Party: Manahatta Nottingham 

There’s a shiny new bar in Nottingham and Tank launched it with a bang on Friday 8th November. Sparklers, silver stilts, disco balls – the night made a big first impression. Having previously worked with Arc Inspirations, the bar group behind Manahatta Nottingham and BOX, we were excited to launch a new brand and bar location for them this time round. 

What is Manahatta? Launching Nottingham’s New NYC Spot

The first launch we did for Arc Inspirations was BOX last November. One year on, the team were excited to make sure Manahatta Nottingham opened with all the same enthusiasm and energy. The objective? Introduce the Glam Night-Outers of Nottingham to Manahatta’s big city buzz! We needed to work with the Manahatta team to create a vibrant, magnetic and iconic launch campaign that captured the essence of everyday escapism.

To really understand the target audience and get a feel for the vibe Manahatta stood for, Bex Knight and Maisie Bamford who took lead on the project, doubled up to do research at its Sheffield location – one of three Manahatta venues UK wide. Testing out the cocktail menu and food is not just a perk of the job but a chance to get to really understand the brand and how it will work in a new location.

How to Plan A Launch to Remember

When you’re planning a venue launch, it’s not simply a case of popping up and expecting the people to come. We worked with Manahatta on a series of soft launch events to let the people on the scene here get to know the place and encourage word of mouth marketing within their networks. The press got a “first look” and we arranged soft launches in the form of lunch and dinners filled with influencers, press and local stakeholders. Plus, an all singing and dancing launch party to round off the week of events. The soft launch events not only ensured high-quality, daylight picture and video content before the party took place but also encouraged social media content before the big night.

The influencer strategy was key for Manahatta as they wanted to get as much social exposure as possible, especially from their target audience of women in their 20s. It was the perfect chance to work with some of Nottingham’s influencer talent and reach their audiences – so we needed to get it right.

Inviting and Securing An Enthusiastic Network

The team created a guest list of influencers, press and people who live and work in the city that fit the target demographic for Manahatta. For select press and influencer invites we collaborated with Studio Chocolate, a local independent chocolatier, to create a bespoke box of “NYC” inspired chocolates. This set the tone for the accompanying invite as well as made a good first impression.

We also put together a list of local businesses and offices for the Manahatta team to run a two-day “cocktail drop”. Delivering cocktails and doughnuts served as a high-impact way to deliver physical invites. We collaborated with local brand Doughnotts on this to create a NY-inspired box, which went down a treat! When you bring local businesses on board with a new venue launch, you not only reach a wider network, but establish yourself among the bar and gastro community which can support long-term success in the challenging industry.

The press activity definitely created a buzz too. Press and public relations is in our blood at Tank and we have strong relationships with the local press. We issued a press release with a mock-up illustration of what the new bar was going to look like to encourage coverage. We invited Lynette Pinchess at the Nottingham Post for an exclusive first look at the bar the Tuesday before it opened – a chance to try the menu and interview spokespeople from the business for a pre-launch article. We also sent out another press release once we had the official photos of the venue which secured further pieces of coverage. 

Ask Them, They Will Come… Right? The Logistics

People can be fickle, it’s human nature. So we set a high capacity of 1,000 invitees to account for last-minute dropouts and the venue staggered arrival times to ensure a consistently good crowd all night. Once inside, a welcome drink of prosecco or beer as well as drinks vouchers for throughout the night made sure no hand went empty and people were comfortable. One of each set of vouchers was specifically for a Manahatta cocktail. Cocktails always photograph well for social media and make the customer feel the glamour of the night. Even the design of the vouchers themselves would impact the feel of the night, so these were uniquely made to look like flashy New York dollars. 

For entertainment, a DJ was hired to bring a party atmosphere as well as adapt the mix depending on the crowd’s reaction. To break up the night and keep bar-goers engaged, different performers appeared at key intervals including a saxophonist, drummer and band accompanied by dancers, stilt walkers and confetti cannon to really deliver big, bold New York style entertainment. 

Manahatta has a large and curated menu for this Nottingham venue. While food was not the focus of the night, they still wanted to showcase it to some extent. Trays of canapes were sent around throughout the night to give visitors a taste – as well as keep the mood up!

Launch Success: Party People and PR 

Of the 1000+ guestlist, we had approximately 750 people through the door in total on the night. The bar was consistently packed for all core hours and people were having a fantastic time – from enjoying the cocktails to taking photos in the free photobooth at the venue. The area on the raised level remained exclusive for VIP guests through to the end, with the Tank influencer team making sure influencers and VIPs were comfortable. 

We received excellent press coverage for this project, with 21 pieces of coverage including national, regional and business press. The results from the influencer work were also a driving force in making this launch so successful, particularly due to the work we did with channels such as Notts Happening, Meeko the Foodie, Holy Grub, The Nottingham Bucket List and Married at First Sight star, Shona Manderson. These are all outlets that would reach the target clientele, locally and UK wide. Both the Tank and Manahatta accounts were tagged in multiple instagram stories on the night as well as over 20 follow-up posts.

Looking forward 

It always feels like a huge win when we run a successful, even standout, launch for a client. The buzz runs through the office and we’re looking forward to working with Arc Inspirations, on future launches and supporting it with the continued growth and success of its Nottingham sites.

All photos credit of Joe Vozza, @VZAVZ