2015 winner: Wagamama, Marketing on a Shoestring - case study

“Good food should satisfy all the senses, it should open mouths and open minds”

The Way of the Noodle

Having once been seen as one of the most innovative and cool restaurants on the UK high street, by late 2013 Wagamama’s star had dimmed. Why? It had become a victim of its own success. So enamoured by the “tried and tested” top three Wagamama dishes were the UK public that they had stopped ordering anything else. Which meant that they visited less often. After all, you can only eat so much Chicken Katsu Curry, right?

This is the story of how Wagamama stimulated the senses of the British public on a shoestring, and opened their mouths and minds to a tasty selection of new dishes, using every sense other than taste. Wagamama's approach has had a long term impact on the variety of dishes ordered at Wagamama and has both brought more people through Wagamama’s doors and got them to visit more often, delivering a £3.86 return on investment for every £1 spent. And they have a rather unlikely hero in this story: the humble paper placemat.

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(Please note: parts of this case study may have been redacted for confidentiality purposes.)