A RIOmarkable Edinburgh restaurant launch

Objectives

Rio wanted its February 2024 arrival to Edinburgh to make a big impact in the city – looking for a partner with a deep understanding of the local market, opportunities and media scene to bring its vision to life and communicate the brand effectively.

Our objectives were to:

• Launch with a bang with an opening party bringing in the right people to create hype from day one (with a guest list target of 150 people, comprising media, influencers, city movers and shakers).
• Maintain momentum ensuring strong bookings throughout the first few months of opening, using a strategic plan for media & influencer engagement – with the target of being fully booked for the first four consecutive Saturdays after opening.
• Establish Rio as must-visit restaurant in Edinburgh, achieving a top 20 place on TripAdvisor within the first six months.

The Edinburgh / South America connection

With our own experience and insight into the Edinburgh hospitality scene, we knew only one other similar, traditional Brazilian dining venue was attracting the kind of attention (both customer and media) that we could hope for Rio.

At a slightly cheaper price point (Rio = £48.95 pp, versus its main competitor, £55 pp) we knew this would offer a point of differentiation to customers. From our own desk research, we were also able to gauge what made the competitor experience so attractive, was likely to be its quality of meat produce, as well as the ‘all you can eat’ concept.

While priced slightly lower, the Rio experience does not compromise quality, using some of the finest cuts of meat and offering special or exclusive cuts from week to week. ‘All you can eat’ tends to have slightly weaker connotations in the food space so we avoided that wording at all costs, instead opting for ‘unlimited’ or ‘continuous tableside service’.

Target audience: those seeking a distinguished, unique dining experience, not necessarily the most ‘foodie’ but can appreciate the finer things

Party central

With a hugely crowded market and so many invites flying around, we knew our launch had to bring all the best bits of the South American carnival to the Scottish capital in order to secure the guests we needed for a Rio celebration. We were involved with all levels of planning, making sure the tunes were perfect with a bespoke DJ set, the drinks flowed with the help of local gin brand, Lind & Lime, and the guests left well-fed and pulling feathers out of their hair for days to come.

Target audience: those influencers or influential people who can help to spread the word

New on the scene

Engaging in a meaningful way is important when you’re launching a brand in a new city – or in this case, a new country. We acted as Rio’s on the ground team to identify the key people and businesses to link up with in Edinburgh in a genuine and sincere way, leading to the right kind of partnerships and wider awareness in the city.

Target audience: businesses and consumers alike who are looking for an authentic brand to either work with, or spend money with

• Edinburgh Trams
• Essential Edinburgh
• Musselburgh Racecourse
• Scottish & Edinburgh rugby.

Our approach

We built the excitement with a media blast teasing the official launch, alongside pictures of the new venue and food and drink offerings. We staggered our activity before, during and after launch, so that a steady stream of coverage would help to create intrigue and drive advance website traffic – and subsequent bookings. Throughout working together, we also kept the momentum going with creative storytelling and features that showcased Rio’s credentials as a stylish, unique and family-friendly dining experience.

Launch party

We were tasked to create a glamorous and must-attend launch party, showing that the carnival spirit of South America had arrived. We needed journalists and influencers in the food and drink space, as well as lifestyle and “what’s on” writers, to experience the Rio offering, so each attendee had the full dining experience as well as cocktails and desserts, which they could share in print, online and on socials. We also wanted those influential ‘movers and shakers’ in the city could see and recommend Rio, which is why business leaders, personal assistants, hotel concierges and key partners were all invited along to party, too.

Brand partnership

We partnered with the very cool, and local, Lind & Lime gin to create bespoke cocktails for launch demonstrating the brand’s understanding of the local market and gain additional traction from the brand’s audience through posts on their channels.

Strategic partnership

Edinburgh restaurant month – also known as Eat Out Edinburgh – aligned with the restaurant’s launch, giving us an opportunity to capitalise on the publicity for the event by getting Rio involved with special promotions for visitors and securing additional press and influencer visits throughout the festival promotion.

Tram activation

Around six months after the launch, we built a marketing relationship with Edinburgh Trams to make the most of the special Rio wrapped tram. We developed a promotional video using Brazilian dancers on the tram to showcase the restaurant’s convenient location and vibrant energy, inviting people to come down to the tram stop for the chance to win incredible prizes – including a Rio ‘black card’ (free dining for a year) and spin the wheel activation for smaller giveaways, too.

Zuccardi partnership

Finally, in partnership with Brazilian wine producers Zuccardi, we created a press and influencer dinner event allowing our guests to visit and experience the venue with the added draw of paired wines and education from the brand. The event was so successful, a customer experience was added to the lineup of events for January 2025.

Results

• Booked out for 7 consecutive Saturdays following launch
• Recommended venue by both The W Hotel and The Balmoral’s Chief Concierges and visited by ‘movers and shakers’
• #17 out of over 2,000 restaurants in Edinburgh
• 750 + reviews to date higher than its main competitor restaurant in the area, showing we successfully differentiated the offering
• 100% positive feedback from media, influencers and event attendees
• 0 to 10k followers on Rio Edinburgh Instagram since launch
• 23 influencer visits
• >500k views on TikTok
• 24k+ total post engagements
• 60 items of coverage
• 1.6m views

Feedback included “best launch event I’ve ever attended”