What Does a PR Agency Do? A Taste of Italy at Il Palio

Il Palio, Chapel Hill’s AAA-rated Four Diamond Italian restaurant, was in the midst of a $1 million renovation, featuring a fresh look and a revamped menu by its new chef, Teddy Diggs. Il Palio turned to Clairemont Communications to create a social media strategy that would refresh the restaurant’s image and win the hearts of young diners.

Social Media Strategy

Clairemont’s “Taste of Italy” campaign leveraged the clout of food and culinary influencers to generate awareness among the target demographic – millennial diners – and increase traffic to Il Palio. Clairemont chose to harness the broad reach of social media to efficiently and rapidly boost Il Palio’s image to a large audience.

Execution

VIP dinners at Il Palio.

Customized Experiences: Il Palio hosted a “Foodie Funday” dinner where Chef Teddy selected dishes for each blogger’s preferences. Who wouldn’t want the chef’s creation customized just for you? Chef Teddy also invited a prominent blogger into the kitchen to co-create a proprietary pizza that he named after her and featured on his menu. Chef Teddy handcrafted The Perfect Date Night Dinner for another blogger and his wife. The personalized touch struck home, producing a flurry of coverage on social media and blogs, and securing reservations.

Instagram Takeovers: To reach broader audiences, Clairemont crafted Instagram takeovers to share a visual “taste” of Teddy’s cooking. Chef Teddy helmed the Instagram of StarChefs – a culinary publication with more than 30,000 followers – during his annual trip to Italy, unveiling first his inspiration abroad and then the application back at Il Palio. In preparation for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival, he creatively shared “a day in the life of a man who plays with fire,” with the festival’s Instagram followers, showcasing his wood-fired grill dishes. These partnerships increased visibility and boost Il Palio’s own social media metrics.

Il Palio’s Instagram Takeover with StarChefs.

Results

Il Palio – boosted by diner reviews – earned a Gold Medal from food critics as a “2016 Best Restaurant in the Triangle.” Clairemont met every goal, exceeded expectations in addition to the following results:

1. 10 media articles/posts, reaching a combined followership of more than 50,000 followers on Twitter alone
2. Instagram takeovers in 2016 showcased the renovated restaurant, new menu and staff personality to approximately 45,000 followers

The work Clairemont Communications conducted in partnership with Il Palio earned a Best in Category in Social Media and an Award of Excellence in Social Media from the North Carolina Public Relations Society of America. It also earned a Platinum Award in Social Media from the Raleigh Public Relations Society. We are proud that this campaign represents two of the 175 awards we’ve received since starting Clairemont in 2010.

To read more about the work we do with clients, please visit the case study section of our blog.

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