Best Independent Marketing Campaign

Newsletters, loyalty cards, local advertising and a catchy slogan were all part of the ammunition used by last year's winner of the Best Independent Marketing Campaign Catey.

With a budget of just £16,000 Kit Chapman applied these initiatives to marketing his new "brasserie-bar-café", Brazz, in Taunton, Somerset. His ambition was, he says, to make Brazz a unique venture and an alternative to pubs and restaurants in the Somerset area. He did this by targeting a market ranging from families to professionals and local business people.

It was money well spent. Using the small pot of cash and applying skills from his previous life in advertising, Chapman conducted an intensive campaign in the local press, posted mailings to local businesses and launched a quarterly newsletter called The Buzz, which includes recipes as well as wine recommendations. Reward cards were also used to build up loyalty and repeat business: for every £10 spent at the restaurant customers would receive a stamp; when the card was full, diners would get £10 to spend in Brazz on a future visit.

Within months Chapman's new project lived up to its slogan heralding it as the place "where you'll want to be". The 150-seat eaterie, attached to its famous sister business, the Castle, had peak sales in December 1998 of £104,350 - only six months after opening. Chapman has already calculated that figures for the same month last year will be up by 22%.

Judges, who included Bob Cotton, then tourism adviser to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and now chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, and Frank Whittaker, group sales and marketing director, Granada Food Services, described Chapman's efforts as "a class act" and a model for any individuals running their own business. The judges concluded: "The campaign has been done with enthusiasm and the density of coverage shows they achieved what they set out to do."

For Kit Chapman, receiving this Catey was just the start of the story. The success of the Taunton-based Brazz has spurred him on to rolling the name out as a chain. Over the next five years Chapman, with his newly launched English Brasserie Company, hopes to set up as many as 10 eateries across southern England. This starts in March this year when a 200-seat second Brazz will open in Exeter.

Chapman says a similar type of marketing campaign will be put in force for the new branch. "The Exeter strategy, like all campaigns, depends on the market and location, but it will be along the same lines with the likes of print advertising and direct mail," he says. Innovation, as ever, will be key to the success of future campaigns. "We like to bring a maverick quality to all we do," he says. If this all works out, Chapman's next step on the marketing strategy ladder could be to go for the Group Marketing award.

Deadline for the marketing awards is Friday 31 March. Entry forms are available from Sarah Sutton on 020 8652 8349. Judging will take place at the Dorchester hotel in London on Wednesday 19 April.