HUNGRY? MIDDLE EAST RESTAURANT GETS BACK TO ITS ROOTS & SPICES

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS LIMITED TIME OFFER PLEASE VISIT MIDEASTOFFERS.COM, BEFORE IT EXPIRES ON NOV-11-2011.  OTHERWISE READ ON

How to Launch an Email Campaign to Mobilize Menu Sales with Setravision

Located in the heart of Central Square, the name of the Middle East Restaurant has become synonymous with Rock n' Roll in Boston.  Owned and operated by the Sater family  since 1974 and run by the magic brothers Joseph & Nabil Sater, the Middle East Restaurant began with it's humble roots as a small business on the corner of 472 Mass Ave, initially (and primarily) serving Middle Eastern foods at a time when it was relatively unknown. 

The phenomenon that is the Middle East Restaurant & Club today began with a claim to fame in music and Rock n' Roll going as far back to it's humble beginnings. Such cuisine as houmous, tabouley and falafels have now become common household terms.  However, when Joseph & Nabil started the corner in 1974, these foods were relatively unknown to the American public at large.  Appetites seemed to flourish when the brothers invited a Middle Eastern band along with Belly Dancers to perform regularly.  Right around this time, local American musicians got excited with the prospect of having a new venu and when they approached the brothers, they were welcomed warmly to perform.  The rest, you can say, is history.  From that point forward the Middle East Restaurant became known, amongst local musicians, as the "IT" place to be booked at, if you are up and coming in the music and Rock n' Roll scene in the East Coast.  Unfortunately, with all the buzz and excitement, what became forgotten after all these years, is what got the venu going in the first place:  THE DELICIOUS FOOD.

Frustrated at the prospect that the food has been slightly forgotten and lagging in sales, Khalil Sater (Nabil's son), reached out to Yelp! to check out the latest reviews on local Cambridge graphic designers, for ideas on how to get food sales on the go.  Thanks to all our reviews, Setravision has earned a 5 star rating for graphic design and instruction on Yelp, so as a result, we showed up on the first page!

Initial Concept & Consultation

Initially, Khalil Sater had a great idea that he roughly sketched on paper. The idea was to create a campaign offering a generous coupon for 33% off the entire menu at the Middle East Restaurant and Zuzu.

I must admit that having such a precise diagram from a client is rare.  Eventhough we specialize in creating graphics from scratch, the cost for such an undertaking can really add up.  So having this concept was immensely helpful in reducing not only the cost but the time it took to get the campaign launched and on it's way.

During our consultation, I interviewed Khalil for likes and dislikes relating to color palettes, design style and the final media that he would prefer:

• What media type would the final artwork end up on when it goes to the printing press?
• Will it be a postcard?
• Will the postcard be the coupon itself?
• Will it be mentioned and promoted on the company website?
• Does it need to be larger? Resizable? Digital? Print or web friendly?

There were more questions and even more suggestions and we also went through some design styles that Setravision has rendered in the past to see which ones he warmed up to the most, in representing this campaign.  Khalil took instant notice of Johara's Snake Dance Productions website at joharasnakedance.com.  He loved the arabesque frame in gold.  Having had notice the repetative theme of arabesque gates that are the entrance of the mid restaurant.  I rendered a quick sketch on paper.

Once the sketch was approved, the artwork was scanned and traced in Photoshop.  A purple back drop for the wall matched the exterior color of the Middle East Restaurant.

Referencing the original sketch that Khalil made, I added the sun shining through the gates.  The idea of a scroll transfixed to the gates then turned into a red carpet invitation highligting the specialty dishes and their vegetarian/vegan nature.  The proposal was instantly approved.  The only thing missing on the poster was the most important of all:  the Dishes!  Next, I randomly downloaded low res versions and proposed to photograph the dishes so as to integrate them on the posters.

Photography of the Food!

This part of the job was lots of fun, not to mention salivating! When I mentioned that we should photograph food, I was surprised to see Khalil usher a selection of dishes to roll out of the kitchen ready and poising the onlooker with an invitation to appetite.  I maticulously photographed the dishes, compensating for light and aperature accordingly on manual settings. Here are a few fun shots:

After the photography, I had the pleasure of sampling all the dishes, but there was so much left over, that I was invited to share it with the Youth Production team at CCTV, who were very grateful and finished the whole lot in record time!

After the photoshoot, we thoroughly auditioned all the dishes that were photographed and maticulously selected the ones that stood out.  Once the top four winners were selected, they were further tweaked for lighting and using Setravision secrets in Photoshop, they were removed from their environment to be seamlessly integrated in the final campaign poster.

To the Print House

At Setravision we pride ourselves in providing our clients with custom designed campaigns in various multimedia formats, but this also extends in seeing it through when it comes to the final product.  In this case the Middle East was so pleased with the overall look of the campaign, that they ordered it rendered as print on variously sized media as follows:

• 4in x 6in Postcards Acting as Giveaways to customers and table top invitations.
• 11in x 17in Posters to be plastered everywhere as needed.
• 20in x 30in Sticky Backs
• 2ft x 3ft. Window Cling
• Custom 18in x 48in Window Cling

Once all the media was prepared Setravision offered consultation on which vendor to use for printing with the most competitive rates.

Creating an Email List for Customer Appreciation

Email Campaigns and join-in email offer lists have now become common place.  But processing a huge email list with a large volume will mean that you can't simply use your Outlook or Gmail or email equivilant on your server.  In comes services that provide custom email delivery for a monthly fee and additional data fees for larger volumes. However, there are many scripts that Setravision's specialists can customize for you for only a one time fee for the setup.  Training fee are included when you comission this service with Setravision.

The Middle East Restaurant already had a website dedicated to showcasing the numerous shows that go on a regular basis at mideastclub.com, so the next thing was to set up an exclusive website to process Middle East Restaurant Offers and the Customer Appreciation list. 

For this project, Setravision consulted with the branding of the domain name and seeked competitve rates for the hosting server.  Later, an email script was customized and the script was embeded in a custom made web page.  The user can opt to recieve emails by joining the list, or choosing to unsubscribe if need be. On the client end, you get an interface that tracks the users as they sign up.

If you'd like to join the campaign and save some money the next time you visit the Middle East Restaurant, go ahead and visit the offer at www.mideastoffers.com that is up and LIVE now.  Bon Apetit.

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONSULT US AT ANYTIME FOR YOUR OWN PROJECTS THAT MAY INVOLVE ANY OF THE ABOVE SERVICES. WE OFFER COMPETITIVE RATES AND HAVE EXCELLENT CREDENTIALS TO RENDER THE BEST IN CUSTOMIZED MULTIMEDIA. CALL TODAY 617-858-6422