East Coast Pub Crawls: Works Hard So You Can Party Hard

MissBiz Journal Article, "East Coast Pub Crawls: Works Hard So You Can Party Hard"

By MissBiz aka Jacqueline Howatt
Published and Copyright September 20, 2006
Saint Mary's University, The Journal

Do you like socializing, partying, or drinking? If you answered, “yes!” to any one of these, then chances are that you have been (or will be) on a pub-crawl. Now, imagine enjoying pub-crawls so much that you decide to start a business dedicated to organizing them and other social events. For Brad Steeves, a fellow Marketing major here at SMU, he did exactly that. I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Steeves, the founder of East Coast Pub Crawls, and discuss his unique business idea, the unexpected demand for his services, and the excitement of being an entrepreneur.

“I worked for Molson for 2 years as a campus rep, but because I couldn’t advertise on campus, I organized pub crawls to promote them. After a while students came to me to organize their own pub-crawls and other events, so I started this business last January and from there, it just took off”. East Coast Pub Crawls operates in both Moncton and Halifax, but is expanding to the Fredericton market within the next few months.

It may seem intimidating for a University student to get involved with (what seems like) such a competitive market, but when I asked what differentiates East Coast Pub Crawls from other businesses Mr. Steeves responds, “You know, I don’t have that much competition”. As a result of this, his business has gained a word-of-mouth buzz, and he has organized events for students as SMU, Acadia, Dalhousie, and for innumerable businesses, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals who want to celebrate a special day with their friends. He’s even organized events for Sobeys, Superstore, and Law firms.

A common thread found in most entrepreneurial stories is that the entrepreneur knew from a very young age that they did not want to work for anyone else. When asked why he decided to become an entrepreneur, Mr. Steeves responds, “It’s in my blood. When I was little, probably around 6 years old, I took some pots from my garage and I dug up my mothers plants and sold them to our neighbors”.

Like any successful entrepreneur, Mr. Steeves prepared thoroughly before officially launching his business. “I had the name registered, and put together a marketing plan with cash flows to see what my costs were”. Now that he is actively implementing his marketing plan, he describes the key tactics that are working for him, “On every pub- crawl shirt I put the URL address of the company – anyone who goes on the pub crawl will see it and the participants keep the shirts [so it serves as both a souvenir and advertising]”. Other effective ways he advertises is through, “search engines, tossing out shirts at bars, radio ads, banner ads on local Halifax bar websites, and adverts in The Coast”. The East Coast Pub Crawls website alone accumulates over 1,000 unique hits every month!

East Coast Pub Crawls is a full-service business that organizes every last detail for their clients. “All a client has to tell me is how many shirts they want and the sizes. I can pretty much go from there. I can design and print the shirts, organize a chartered bus if needed, I call the bars of your choice and get you drink specials where I can, and best of all - there are no cover charges or line-ups”. An East Coast Pub Crawl event is reasonably priced and extremely affordable. A student event is generally only $15.00 per person! “For fundraising events it is a lot less, since I can arrange sponsors for these events”.

The next East Coast Pub Crawls event is “Uni-Fest” which is a huge pub-crawl that includes 200 people from SMU, 200 people from Dal, and 100 people from Acadia on September 29th, 2006. There are still spots left, so get your friends together and join! Check out http://www.eastcoastpubcrawls.com/ or call Brad Steeves at (902) 444-9167.

East Coast Pub Crawls: The Best Night You’ll Never Remember!