Some rituals are comfortable daily patterns we perform between dawn and dusk.  Other rituals are infrequent, possible social events that we look forward to.  For many Americans the fall is football time and time for many rituals from the wave, to dumping Gatorade on the winning coach, to tailgating before the game.  Also, football is a ritual one can celebrate alone, with friends, and as a community.   From high school games on Friday, to college Saturday, to pro games on Sunday, we discuss the nuances of the game.  We celebrate the victories.  We commiserate the losses.  Win or lose we look forward to the next game, the next tailgate, the next ritual.

Earlier this week I received an email from Buffalo Wild Wings.  While the email was about a contest, my attention focused on the word “Tablegating”.   I like the concept.  Most fans tailgate at home games, and are left to find ways to socialize for away games.  Why not “Tablegate” at a nearby restaurant like Buffalo Wild Wings.

By hijacking tailgating with Tablegating BWW could build a ritual around the place to go when your team is out of town.  While Tablegating is a nice hook, the current idea or contest doesn’t fully take advantage of the tailgating ritual.  The Tablegating Challenge (by Coke Zero) is okay, but it is still only a contest.  In my perspective, a contest (or sweepstakes) is like frosting on a cake — if the cake does not taste good, the frosting will have little or no effect.

Buffalo Wild Wings should spend more time exploring the “Ultimate Tablegating Experience”.  The concept has potential, but it has to be more than reserving a table to watch the game with your buddies or a contest.  This experience has the potential of hijacking the tailgating ritual for away games.   To highjack a ritual, you need to take the essence of the ritual and make it yours.  For example:

• Team Spirit:  Normally the school or team colors fly everywhere.  Logos abound.  How can people add spirit to their table?  Can they bring in their team flags?  Or are there special flags one could adorn the table (similar to those afixed to car windows only bigger)?
• My Tailgate:  People get to the game early to secure “their spot”.  As with all rituals, many people have a preferred space to tailgate.  Some people tailgate at the same spot for years.  Is there a way to configure the restaurant to create unique areas?  Is there a way to configure the tables to create more socialization for larger groups?
• Tablegate Streaming:  The big game is a reason for friends from out of town to come in, however, I would doubt someone would commute for Tablegating.  So, what about merging the physical and virtual worlds through a screen at the table — allowing people at the restaurant to text back and forth with friends anywhere.
• League Smack:  Fantasy leagues abound, and one of the main activities is to talk trash.  Building on the previous streaming idea, what about combining the streaming fantasy league scoring with Tablegate streaming.
• Pre-Game Games:  Sure there is drinking, but there is also activities like bean bag toss, washer toss, or ladder golf.  Can one of these games be used/adapted or is there another game here.  Of course there is paper football, but thinking a little bigger — a little more special.
• Contest: Okay, now add a contest to bring it all together.

Buffalo Wild Wings has an opportunity to create a go to experience, a go to ritual, on game day.  This is a logical and emotive extension from their current marketing.  There are very few national restaurant chains that can own Tablegating (maybe Hooters).  So the true ultimate challenge is how to take a contest idea and transform it into a ritual.

Bud Light adopted the infomercial formula for their latest campaign: Tailgate Approved.  The campaign premise is selling many obscure, fun tailgating gear that is “Tailgate Approved” Bud Light.  Available gear includes items like the Foozie (a foam finger beer coozie combo), a Speaker Box (a ipod enabled Bud Light beer case), and the Grooler (a combination grill and cooler).  The  kicker is these items aren’t just part of the campaign, but als0 available for purchase.  For example, the Foozie is $9.99 and the Grooler is $125 (note at the time of this post the Grooler was sold out, but was available on eBay in some cases priced over $200).

The web site also includes links to a facebook presence, commercials, a fantasy football namerator, and a fun grill game where user actually grill burgers and serve beer. 

Bud Light’s integration into tailgating is well done.  The integrated media campaign uses traditional media to hook into online and POS experiences.  The fact people can buy the Tailgate Approved products brings a novelty and word-of-mouth aspect to the campaign.  The fact they are sold out of the Grooler also tells you the campaign is working, especially with a 75% mark-up on eBay.

In a recent blog (It’s National Tailgate Week), I discussed an opportunity Kingsford had to own tailgating.  Kingsford leveraged an integrated media a opportunity on ESPN to create tailgate week, but that is where it ended.  Through the ESPN Sponsorship there was a lot of media rhetoric honoring the week, but not a lot of substance for people to get involved.  There was no incentive to  bring the campaign home, or better yet to the stadium parking lot.  In contrast Bud Light uses their branded products to become relevant to tailgators. 

Looking to the future, I wonder if this is a one-time campaign, or something they can build into a bigger idea — owning tailgating over an extended period of time.  I like the batch of products this year, and would be fun to increase the Tailgate Approved items in upcoming years.  Better yet, get tailgators involved to submit their own ideas for Tailgate Approved equipment.

Marketers are all over football.  Signage at the stadium. Sponsoring pregames, quarters, halftime, or the field goal net.  Embedding  their logos in the football analysts table.  Sponsoring play of the game, week, or season.  So much to sponsor, so few marketing dollars (or not).

I do realize sponsorships can work, but I prefer to find a deeper link between the brand and passion point.  Linking the brand to a tribal ritual or popular trend within the passion point. Something that is unique and ownable.  To this end, I think Kingsford is onto something.

Kingsford through a sponsorship on ESPN has created National Tailgate Week (September 20 through 26).  Ironically, the idea of Tailgate Week is a just footnote on the ESPN Tailgate at Home promotional site with Mike and Mike in the Morning.  The primary objective of the site is a sweepstakes to win a trip for four to the Super Bowl.  Also on the site people will find recipes, grilling tips, coupons, and a live radio feed. 

Tailgating is big and no brand really owns it.  Many marketers reference tailgating in their ads in an attempt to be relevant to football (or NASCAR).  Toyota includes the History of Tailgating in their commercials.  Marketers like Coleman offer products to equip the tailgator.  Food brands like Bob Evans and Tobasco have many recipe ideas –of course all the recipes contain their product. 

For Kingsford to own tailgating they need to do several things.  First is to broaden their scope beyond an ESPN promotion and include it in all marketing efforts: web, television, magazine, and events.  Own Tailgating Week in the media. 

Another thought is to  broaden the time frame from a week to the month of September.  The timing works well with the beginning of college and pro football seasons and coincides with NASCAR’s Race for the Cup.

Also, engage the fan passion for tailgating.  Being an avid tailgator, I am impressed with the extravagance of some tailgating.  There is a fame play here. Fame can be recognized by having people submit their tailgate ideas of photos for a contest, or Kingsford has a mobile event traveling the the country capturing the revelry and ingenuity.

Finally tailgating is an obvious brand fit for Kingsford.  Since grilling is the de facto activity for most tailgators, Kingsford supplies an essential product.  Also, with Kingsford Competition Briquets the company is expanding their product line for niche grillers.  So why not Tailgating Briquets?

Could Kingsford become to tailgating to what Butterball is to Thanksgiving?  I don’t know, but it may be worth a try.  While Thanksgiving comes but once a year, tailgating occurs minimally for thirteen weeks out of the year.