Case Study 3 · Freelance marketing · Local business
Driving student engagement at The Fly.
Towards the end of my first year at university, a fellow Marketing student and I were approached to help The Fly (a local pub on Hardman Street in Liverpool) encourage more consistent student engagement and midweek visits. We developed a short-term promotional approach and designed campaign materials around accessible offers and regular events.
The
Fly.
01 / The brief
A cost-conscious push for midweek visits
The core objective was to develop a cost-conscious promotional strategy to encourage student footfall, drink purchases and event attendance across Sunday to Thursday, while also communicating weekend offers and the pub’s regular events. To ensure the strategy was grounded in market realities, we conducted a thorough competitor analysis to identify what was making higher-performing local venues stand out, alongside customer focus groups and direct research to pinpoint operational gaps and discover exactly what the pub needed to work on in order to succeed. We also recommended where flyers should be distributed, including student halls and social areas.
02 / Promotional strategy
Offers, a voucher and a regular events calendar
- Mid-week draught and spirit promotions: Communicated offers including 20% off draughts, £3 pints of Heineken Silver and Inch’s Cider, two cocktails for £12, and four selected bottles for £12.
- Free-drink voucher: Designed a physical “One Free Drink” flyer intended to be brought to the bar. Requiring redemption in person provided a simple mechanism that could help the business track voucher use while giving students a direct reason to visit.
- Weekly event programming: Promoted regular activities including Wednesday and Sunday quiz nights with student prizes and Saturday live DJ sets.
- Clear promotional hierarchy: Created materials that separated midweek deals, weekend offers, special offers and events so the information was easier to scan.
03 / Creative execution
A high contrast design with an easily reusable concept
The designs use a high-contrast black background, spaced typography and neon-inspired accent colours to create a nightlife feel. The first flyer gives the free-drink offer immediate prominence, while the second groups several offers and events into a more detailed information layout. Together, they show how the same campaign can use different formats for a headline incentive and a broader overview of the venue’s offer.
04 / Measurement
How success could be evaluated
The voucher was designed to create a trackable offline action. Useful measures for a campaign like this would include the number of vouchers redeemed, visits across Sunday–Thursday, attendance at promoted events and sales of featured offers. These measures would help compare the intended outcomes with actual performance.
I have not included sales or footfall results because verified campaign performance data was not provided.
05 / Reflection
What I learned
This project gave me experience translating a business challenge into a practical short-term campaign with a fellow Marketing student. It helped me consider how audience spending habits, offer clarity, visual hierarchy and the point of redemption can work together to encourage action. It also gave me the opportunity to apply Canva-based design and marketing theory in a real local-business context early on in my degree.