Client: Buffalo Wings & Rings

About our Work

When Buffalo Wings & Rings started with No Limit Agency in December of 2013, it was at a stalemate. Not only did the brand end the year with zero franchises sold, it also had a limited number of leads and an overworked franchise development marketing budget. It knew that if it was going to succeed on the national level, it needed to make a major change.

NLA didn’t waste any time getting to work. Right off the bat, members of the media relations team hit the phones to tell the story of Buffalo Wings & Rings’ club-level dining experience and family-friendly sports restaurant concept to both local and national outlets. 1851 Franchise content producers also crafted articles geared towards the brand’s ideal franchisees to spark interest among potential owners, while No Limit Agency’s digital team designed an entirely new franchise development website for the brand. That unique combination created a new narrative surrounding the Buffalo Wings & Rings brand, and it was clear that people were catching on.

But Buffalo Wings & Rings wanted to take the success of its new development strategy and amplify it. So in order to capitalize on its strong momentum, the brand decided to engage NLA’s AMPD program. The proprietary media buying strategy works in conjunction with 1851 Franchise, and is a blend of social, news, and PPC ad buys that drives the right target audience to a brand’s content and website.

“Using No Limit Agency’s AMPD program is like adding turbo to your car’s engine. It’s an investment that ultimately makes everything run faster, and it has been instrumental in fueling our franchise development efforts. That’s why we dedicate about a third of our development budget to targeted AMPD campaigns,” said Philip Schram, chief development officer for Buffalo Wings & Rings.

There’s no doubt that Buffalo Wings & Rings’ AMPD campaigns have seen success. At the end of 2016, for example, the brand decided to turn its development efforts towards Columbus, Ohio. After an 1851 content producer wrote and published an article on that strategic initiative, the brand ordered an AMPD campaign to push the article to potential business owners in the area. That story now has more than 18,000 reads, and has jumpstarted Buffalo Wings & Rings’ efforts to identify qualified leads in the area.

That ability to target a specific audience is what makes No Limit Agency’s AMPD technology unique. It ensures that brands like Buffalo Wings & Rings are making the most of their investment—it’s not just about the quantity of clicks an article racks up. It’s also about the quality behind those reads.

“When we apply the AMPD program to one of our 1851 articles, we know that it’s going to make the most out of our money. The strategy behind it is more effective than anything else that I’ve seen—it gets the Buffalo Wings & Rings story in front of a large number of quality leads,” Schram said. “In the world of franchise sales, it’s all about being efficient with your budget. We need to be able to reach people who are close to making the decision to invest in a franchise, and No Limit Agency’s AMPD program consistently makes that possible.”

There’s no limit to how specific an AMPD campaign can be—from targeting a group as generic as millennials to an audience as specific as sports fans between the ages of 30 and 55 who are making at least $750,000 a year, the tool allows brands to customize their target audience every time they create a new campaign.

That’s a feature that Buffalo Wings & Rings has taken advantage of. Beyond the brand’s Columbus expansion, Buffalo Wings & Rings has also used AMPD campaigns to inform prospective owners of its opportunity in Tennessee as well as update potential candidates of the brand’s impressive quarterly revenue increases and franchise growth.

Buffalo Wings & Rings has also experienced success using AMPD technology to capitalize on meaningful media placements secured by No Limit Agency’s PR team. Six months after the brand’s appearance on CBS’ hit show “Undercover Boss,” which was coordinated by NLA, the brand ran an AMPD campaign that placed an 1851 article on how Buffalo Wings & Rings is still seeing positive impacts from the show across its system in front of nearly 3,000 people and counting.

By adding AMPD to its unique blend of services provided by NLA, Buffalo Wings & Rings has elevated its presence not just in the franchising industry, but among consumers as well. The brand has become a household name—between its “Undercover Boss” appearance and interviews with major media outlets like MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, the brand is no longer under the radar.

From a franchise development perspective, on the other hand, Buffalo Wings & Rings’ performance has done a complete 180 since engaging both NLA and its AMPD strategy. The brand had 600 leads and 17 new signed franchise agreements by the end of 2014 alone, which was the first year it teamed up with No Limit Agency. The brand then celebrated another 11 signed franchise deals the following year. And with seven new restaurant openings and 12 more signed franchise agreements in 2016, Buffalo Wings & Rings’ momentum is still going strong.

“Buffalo Wings & Rings has figured out how to use NLA’s one of a kind resources to its advantage. 1851 Franchise gives the brand the opportunity to tell its story, and not just from a traditional PR perspective. We give them a platform and tool to narrate their entire development process. And our AMPD tool takes those efforts to the next level,” said Sean Fitzgerald, No Limit Agency’s chief development strategist. “There’s nothing else like AMPD in the franchise sales cycle. This tool ensures that critical information about your business opportunity ends up in front of qualified leads. By using 1851 and AMPD, brands like Buffalo Wings & Rings aren’t just telling their stories—they’re engaging their ideal target audience. At the end of the day, that’s what sells franchises and keeps brands on the path to future growth and success.”