Ron Blaauw is one of the most famous chefs in the Netherlands. He owns four restaurants. Three of the four restaurants are so-called “Gastrobars”. The Gastrobar concept is: dining in a Michelin star restaurant, in a casual setting. Each restaurant has their own signature kitchen and their own website.

The fourth restaurant, Nacarat, was a very different concept then the ‘Gastrobars’. But this concept has not had the anticipated results. That’s why Ron decided to turn Nacarat also in to a ‘Gastrobars’. Ron asked vandenbusken to come up with a new name for a new Gastrobar in the city centre of Amsterdam.  vandenbusken came up with the new name Ron Gastrobars Indonesia Downtown. ‘Downtown’, because of the location and to create a naughty ambiance.

Just like Ron’s other Gastrobar, Ron Gastrobar Indonesia, the signature kitchen from Downtown is Indonesian food. Downtown offers an extravagant mix of Indonesian fine dining and street food, sensational cocktails and live entertainment in a unique location overlooking the city centre of Amsterdam.

vandenbusken created the concept and logo of Downtown inspired by the Indonesian God and widow “Rangda”. When the evening falls and the music and entertainment become more dynamic, Rangda, with her flaming tongue, sharp claws and demonic rolling eyes, gets more and more trouble to preserve the peace and harmony in the Urban Jungle. Downtown is much naughtier then the other Indonesian Gastrobar.  

The logo was the starting point for all the other deliverable for Downtown, starting with the branding (corporate identity). vandenbusken created a brand guide, including a new font, logo & color usage and different elements. We worked together with an artist, Selwyn Senatori. He made some cool so-called ‘brand stamps’ for the brand guide. One of his creations is Hari Mau (see photo). The three X’s in the Hari Mau brand stamp refer to the official flag of Amsterdam (the location of the restaurant). With the brand guide in mind vandenbusken made also the designs for the menu and website.

To create awareness for the new restaurant vandenbusken created a marketing plan with a social media campaign and a concept for the alley (that leads you to the main entrance). For social media, vandenbusken created a launch campaign to introduce the new Gastrobar. This launch campaign was distributed through Facebook and Instagram. From November till the opening (in January) vandenbusken posted content regarding the new concept. In the beginning it was just teasing about the new concept and later on it was focused on getting reservations.

One of the posts vandenbusken created, was a Facebook Instant Experience (see video). We used this format to create an interactive way which gave people the ability to get a sneak peak in the new restaurant. This sneak peak started outside the restaurant in the alley. By finding their way through the Instant Experience, the Facebook followers were getting a first impression of the new restaurant. The Instant Experience was a big success. The average time, people spent in the Instant Experience, was about 40 seconds.

Besides that, we ran an Instagram Story quiz. We used the Instagram sticker, poll and “ask me a question” functionality to give people the possibility to respond to questions. With this quiz, people could win a diner for two. The quiz consists of 5 questions. Each day we revealed a new question. So, people were interacting with the brand for several days. Besides the increase of brand awareness, the number of followers of the Instagram brand page increased from 500 to 1.500.

The campaign launch had great results, because the newly opened restaurant is already fully booked for the upcoming months.

Facebook Instant Experience