Mad Mex looks west to build a national vision
Mexican quick service restaurant chain Mad Mex has extended its sponsorship strategy beyond the AFL to the Hyndai A-League to help drive its brand over summer – but the company is looking west, not east to build the business.
The chain has struck a deal with the the Perth Glory to support the team at the same time that it is adding new franchises in Western Australia, but the national marketing manager of the brand, Sarah Hendry, said the initiative was about both building the brand in a local market and also extending its voice into the summer season.
Hendry: Mad Mex is “seeing enormous growth in the millennial market”
She said that the brand had already enjoyed success with its partnership with the Greater Western Sydney Giants which had given it the confidence of moving more deeply into sports with the Glory.”We have had some phenomenal success with GWS”, Hendry told Mumbrella.
“We wanted to look at a game that had national appeal and national exposure. There are three codes that do that, AFL, A-League and probably the National Basketball League.
“That is what really interested us is we could get national national brand exposure while still supporting the WA market. When we looked at the A-League as a portfolio, having the winter months covered with AFL and the summer months with A-League made sense.”
In the fast food market the brand trades off a health positioning with Mexican food and burgers seeing enormous growth in the millennial market.
“They eat out a lot and they are the target audience that is really attractive,” she said.
“Our secondary target, based on the spread of where out restaurants are, is families in the more suburban areas where we have opened up.
“The challenge overall is … (customers) under the age of 34, you need to engage with them where they are and when they want it, being there when they need you, that is our challenge.
Aside from its sponsorships, Hendry said the brand was generating success from social as a media channel.
“Our restaurants that perform really, really well are the ones that are ingrained in their communities, that are really connected to their local area.”
Perth Glory chief operations officer, Anthony Radich, said the signing was an important one for the club, which has now been successful in attracting a number of national brands.
“Having a strong, fast-growing consumer brand gives you more scope in terms of sponsorship,” Radich said.
“We like having associations with good brands – QBE we have had for 21 years, National Storage is a good brand, having another brand of that ilk is important to us in terms of leveraging but also in terms of the message it sends in being able to acquire other like brands.”
He admitted then timing of the sponsorship and the location of the club had been a good alignment.
“The stars do have to align in a way and Mad Mex are on an expansion push. The beauty about being in the A-League is it is on the cusp of further growth and you do have that nice mix of being able to activate locally but still having that national element as well.”
“It’s not about logos on shirts, it’s how we can intertwine that brand and add value to the customer’s experience; it needs to add value to their experience at the game and make them feel part of it.
“We hate cold advertising. Every sponsor we have we look at ways to integrate that message into our sports presentation. We would love to take Mad Mex to even higher levels.”
The three year deal sees the brand appearing on Perth Glory Shorts and in ground signage along with the brand being able to take part in a number of activations during the season.
