Joe Horn’s Bayou 87 BBQ Sauce, Sausage, and Rub
We helped a former NFL All-Pro get lost in tha sauce
For a five-year period there was no wide receiver in the NFL that was more productive than Joe “Hollywood” Horn.
During his playing career, Joe Horn was an electrifying receiver who made play after play even though opposing defenses were keyed in on him week after week. To the casual NFL fan, Joe is best remembered for his cell phone endzone celebration.
On a nationally televised Sunday Night Football game, Joe scored a TD and retrieved his phone from the goal post and made a phone call. Interesting factoid: Joe actually called his son, Jaycee, who is now a starting cornerback for the Carolina Panthers.
Thanks to relentless passion and energy, “Hollywood” became a fan favorite during a career which saw him retire owning the Saints career mark in receiving touchdowns (50), make the Pro Bowl four times in five seasons, and compile the second most receptions (523) and receiving yards (7,622) in Saints history.
We began working with Joe through a personal relationship Paul had with Joe as part of his career as a sports writer and blogger.
One day Joe called Paul and said, “I’ve created my own BBQ sauce line and selling a ton of it down here in the South in stores and in-person. But I need help selling it online. Can you help me?”
And Paul said, “Hell yes, Joe Horn.”
From there we got to work building his brand online.
The first thing we did was purchase a domain and set up a splash page/landing page. Then we built a simple e-commerce site to accommodate orders as we built the site in the background.
Then, we built social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook. We worked with Joe on developing the online version of his famous warmth, tone, and voice. And we managed the accounts for him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
We implemented drastic social media targeting and growth efforts in Joe’s strongest regional and sociological demographics. And came up with three key strategic principles:
– We target people who WE KNOW will have an interest in Joe
– We do not blindly Follow
– We developed and implemented a unique targeting system with nearly a dozen layers and over 100 strategic elements
We also engaged the fans by liking/sharing/responding to EVERY @ mention we received; something most brands do not do. Based off that, we engaged fans in giveaways based on interaction, which furthered our efforts — and successes.
In a period of six months, we grew his Twitter following from zero to 15,000+, and his Facebook page from zero to 1,500+. As the accounts grew and Joe connected with thousands of fans, we carried out sales promotions via Facebook and Twitter, seeing immediate and continued e-commerce success.
Over that same period of time, we went from zero e-commerce sales via the website, to 500+ a month.
Knowing that we had “stepped in hit,” we shifted to product development strategy, product branding, and graphic design.
Bayou 87 added sausage and rub to its arsenal of products. What started out as “Bayou 87 BBQ Sauce,” evolved into “Bayou 87 Signature Products.”
We built another site and redid the logo – featuring Joe’s “signature,” of course. And developed product branding for each new product.
We developed a custom “Legends of the Dome” poster featuring Joe as a giveaway that you can still purchase to this day.
We also ended up being Joe’s de facto PR team, scheduling in-store appearances, radio/TV interviews. And handled all shipping across the United States.
Here’s what we did:
Fan submission via twitter contest:
