Walkabout revamps digital and CRM

The company behind the Australian-themed Walkabout bar chain is overhauling its digital strategy and implementing a major CRM programme, as part of an expansion push.
Walkabout owner Intertain has appointed Spinnaker and Alchemetrics to spearhead the activity.
The company runs 35 bars which specialise in offering food, sport, live music and late-night partying, with the key audience being 18- to 35-year-olds.
Spinnaker’s first task will be to overhaul the Walkabout website, due to go live by the end of October. It will also devise social media, email, search and mobile activities.
A key tenet of the brief is the development of a new customer relationship marketing programme by creating a single customer view database. Software provider Alchemetrics has been hired to help with this process.
Over the past three years, Walkabout has carried out the complete refurbishment of 13 of its venues, creating hundreds of jobs. The Spinnaker appointment comes as Walkabout plans further investment that will see more refurbishments over the next two to three years, and in due course, the acquisition of new Walkabout venues.
Intertain chief operating officer Simon Kaye said: “Spinnaker impressed us from the start, and we are delighted to be working with them on a digital strategy which we believe will deliver powerful ROI for our business.”
Spinnaker managing partner Robert Goldsmith commented: “Walkabout is a great brand and the ambitions for a new and far reaching digital programme offers huge potential to engage the current audience and reach out to new prospects.”