Case study · Origin story
Hard Rock Cafe International
The first Hard Rock website, a global sweepstakes, two magazines and a Telly.
Hard Rock Cafe International raised in-store traffic 15% year over year with the Mystery Tour, a global sweepstakes Chris Rubin conceived, produced, launched and managed from inside the company, whose music video won a Telly Award.
- Client
- Hard Rock Cafe International
- Sector
- Hospitality, music and entertainment
- Work
- The first Hard Rock website, the Mystery Tour sweepstakes, <i>The Hard Rocker</i> and <i>Rock Hard News</i>
- Role
- In-house: ran a department at international headquarters for several years
Where it started
Hard Rock Cafe International was a key account at my first agency job, until Hard Rock hired me away. For several years I ran a department at the international headquarters, before the pitch rooms, before CRC, before any of the rest.
The job was the whole brand at once. Hard Rock's audience was global and loud, and the brand needed to speak to it in one voice across dozens of countries and every channel it had.
What I built
The first Hard Rock Cafe International website, produced and launched from inside the company: HardRock.com.
The Hard Rock Mystery Tour: a global sweepstakes promotion I conceived, produced, launched and managed, with a music video at its center that played in every restaurant.
The Hard Rocker, the full-color international newsletter, which I edited, designed and directed, and then Rock Hard News, a smaller magazine launched alongside it. Both went out in 30 languages to more than 65 countries.
Rock Hard News.
The magazine I launched and edited, photographed from the copies I kept: covers, the letters, the contents, the music mix, the map.
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The Hard Rocker.
The full-color international newsletter, in thirty languages to more than sixty-five countries: covers, the anniversary spread, the mission statement, the memorabilia column, the reports from the cafes.
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Mystery Tour, online.
The sweepstakes on hardrock.com, as the Internet Archive kept it: six rounds, six mystery destinations, a grand-prize trip for two each time, and the clues.
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Hard Rock Online.
The early hardrock.com, as the Internet Archive kept it: the Feed Your Head mark, the lightning-bolt pins and guitar pins made for the launch and sold on the site. We also developed and launched the online music store called Hard Rock Records, and a full online store of brand-new merch.
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What changed
The statue sits on Chris's bookshelf.
In-store traffic rose 15% against the same period the previous year. The music video won a Telly Award.
More durably, it set the pattern for everything since: find the truest, most resonant story a brand has, then build it into every channel it uses.
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