The patio at Park Tavern in Midtown Atlanta has a new partner: Southwest Airlines.
Huh? You say. When did restaurants start getting sponsors?
In effort to beef up its brand recognition in a city dominated by competitor Delta Air Lines, Southwest on Monday put its imprint on the popular restaurant in the southeast corner of Piedmont Park. “Southwest Porch at Park Tavern” reinvigorates the eatery’s patio with 200 new outdoor chairs and 50 tables, awnings and a massive pergola.
Southwest declined to reveal how much it’s paying for the partnership.
The airline’s move is a sign of the times, experts said. In today’s overstimulated marketing environment, brands no longer get the same mileage by sponsoring parades, wrapping buses or slapping their names on sports stadiums. To grab consumers, they have to be more intimate, such as advertising in video games, on phone apps and in tweets.
Tim Calkins, a branding expert at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said Southwest has a history of doing the unexpected to make it stand out. Its ingenuity will be especially critical in Atlanta — Delta’s home territory and a market Southwest officially entered earlier this year after it acquired AirTran Airways.
“The thing that is good about this is that Delta is not likely to copy it because it is so unusual,” Calkins said of the Park Tavern deal, which also includes sponsoring the restaurant’s ice skating rink. The rink opens Thanksgiving Day.
Park Tavern owner Paul Smith described how he lured Southwest as an “organic process” but also said the restaurant has a strong social media program, which makes it attractive to businesses.
Atlanta is not the first to get a “Southwest Porch.” The airline has “porches” in New York, Denver and Dallas.
“This is actually the fourth porch that Southwest Airlines has done, and if you won’t tell the other three, I might suggest this might be the best,” Gary Kelly, Southwest’s chief executive officer, chairman and president, said at the launch to rousing applause.
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