The Gunmakers – a proper London Pub in the heart of Marleybone – packs character and charm but it was time to translate this charming venue into a brand so that the managers could promote and attract more clientele into the restaurant and attached hotel.
Cloudsdale stepped in to create a brand, website and introduce business-changing promotions that have truly put this side street venue on the map.
Logo & brand inception
Gunmakers needed a website in order to promote their venue and offers but first things first, we’d need a brand to tie this online space to the in person experience.
Inspired by the old lettering on the existing windows of the vintage pub, Cloudsdale created a logo for the venue that would be instantly recognisable across digital and print.
To enhance the brand character beyond their logo, we sourced an old painting of a gunmaker, one you’d expect to see in a pub with this heritage, and from that the black and white clean image that can be seen across their site and print today was born.
We introduced a muted colour pallet to expand the branding past black and white and used traditional fonts that worked well alongside each other to call out important messaging.
The Gunmakers website ties classic design with business growth initiatives
Cloudsdale brought the Gunmakers brand to life through their website which speaks to their unique experience, restaurant offering, promotions and hotel rooms.
Patrons can view what’s on the menu, discover Gunmakers for the first time through promotions, find the venue with ease and even view what each room has to offer should they be looking for a place to stay in London.
To help them sell more hotel rooms, we set up the venue with SITEMINDER. A service which handles hotel bookings across multiple channels such as Airbnb, Booking.com, Google and Expedia, in addition to allowing customers to book directly from the hotel.
For restaurant bookings, Gunmakers didn’t want to use a costly booking system, instead we set them up with a contact form enabling customers to give the relevant information for their bookings.
What started as a branding exercise became a commercial opportunity for Gunmakers
As part of the pub’s branding exercise, we designed and arranged printing of staff t-shirts. These proved to be so popular with loyal regulars that these are now sold in the pub.
Cloudsdale brought forward industry marketing experience and created profitable promotions
Gunmakers opened on a side street away from heavy footfall in central London and it was important for them to draw attention to themselves if they were to thrive.
Cloudsdale provides more than websites, we used our hospitality marketing experience, photography and graphic design to help them run profitable promotions.
We decided to lead with two strong lunchtime promotions to really put Gunmakers on The Map and attract people who work and study in nearby offices, the local university and hospital. We suggested a strong deal for Fish, Chips and Wine on a Friday for just £12. In addition to a Thursday burger deal which featured a pint and a burger for £12.
Cloudsdale provided great photos and graphics of the promotions, created landing pages on the website, made the promotions prominent on the homepage, made A-boards for outside the venue and posters for inside. We even managed Google, Facebook and Instagram adverts for 3 months.
The result?
The pub has been packed for lunch on those days ever since.
Gunmakers also recognise that this led to more returning visits and regular customers. With that knowledge, we stopped running paid adverts quickly. The promotions which we began in early 2021 are still live and are a cornerstone of the pubs offering.
