Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2014 | Page 20

Grow Market Lead

ANATOMY OF A BRAND

BY DAVID CALLAHAN

Putt-Putt:
Revamping a 60-Year-Old Brand
New model preserves the best, adds new attractions

W

hen I purchased PuttPutt in 2004, I realized
the primary challenges
associated with a 50-yearold brand would be 1) to experience
continued growth, and 2) to reinvigorate
the brand to appeal to a younger consumer base by delivering more value to
our customers.
Since its founding in 1954, Putt-Putt
flourished and experienced significant
growth throughout the 1950s, ’60s, and
’70s with its golf-only concept. In the ’80s
and ’90s, the brand continued to grow
with the addition of arcade games and
other attractions. The recent efforts to
rebrand have evolved over the past 10
years, developing into a modern, costeffective concept to revitalize the brand
in ways that will result in future growth.
The redesign and rebranding of our
Putt-Putt franchise model into the newand-improved Fun Center concept was
based on the idea to build on the best of
the Putt-Putt brand, which is its triedand-true game of skill, its iconic status,

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and its ability to become part of a town’s
community life. We also knew that PuttPutt Golf alone would not attract the
volume of kids and families we needed
to continue to succeed, so we evaluated
existing and new attractions and identi-

fied the key elements needed to make our
new prototype attractive to consumers
and provide the financial success necessary to our franchisees.
Every element of the new Putt-Putt
Fun Center concept was measured against
our vision to offer families a safe, wholesome entertainment option and provide
investors with a proven, profitable model.
Parents welcome the opportunity to
have a facility for their kids where there
is a clean, wholesome environment that
has multiple outdoor attractions and is
less expensive than the larger amusement parks.
Within the Fun Center concept, we
tried to develop a model that required
less land than the larger family entertainment centers and that incorporates
the lead product, Putt-Putt Golf, into
that mix. The new model incorporates
all the attractions on approximately 3
acres of land. We believe the Fun Center concept will result in an increase of
our franchise sales.
The redesign of the Putt-Putt fran-