Inside the Launch of River North Icehouse: Strategies That Sparked Success

Nestled between the Historic Pearl and downtown San Antonio, River North Icehouse is the latest addition to the River North District’s vibrant bar and restaurant scene. This summer, Noisy Trumpet partnered with AREA Real Estate and TKW Hospitality Group to successfully launch the River North’s official icehouse and music venue. Our agency was entrusted with generating awareness and driving traffic to the revitalized warehouse venue through strategic marketing efforts, including, website design & development, social media content creation and management, public relations, and influencer marketing.

Website Design & Development

To begin the campaign and start building the icehouse’s digital footprint, our team designed and built a custom splash page with the goal of putting the bar on the map and teasing what was to come. Once the splash page was launched, our UX/UI designers and web development teams collaborated to craft a custom-built permanent WordPress website that showcased the bar’s atmosphere, live music lineup & menu offerings. With much competition in the space, compelling design was crucial to attract a large audience As a nod to the iconic South Texas icehouse that inspired the bar’s concept, we incorporated vintage-inspired custom illustrations of the building exterior and drinks. To modernize the brand, the design was flushed out with custom photography, branded graphics, a refined brand logo, and playful yet compelling copywriting. Following the full site launch, we generated over 175,042 page views in 4 months, significantly boosting the brand’s digital presence.

Social Media Content Creation

We enhanced River North Icehouse’s brand visibility and engagement by establishing their social media presence from channel construction to brand launch. Our comprehensive approach included a social media campaign strategy to establish the personality and perception of River North Icehouse on social media as well as, content creation across Instagram, Facebook & TikTok. While the building was under construction, we designed and shared an Instagram grid that teased the general vibe of the bar. From there, we focused on sharing engaging, trendy videos and high-quality photography that showcased the bar’s points of difference – great service, drinks, and plenty of indoor-outdoor seating. In addition to our organic social media strategy, we combined paid ads to broaden the reach and engage new users. This campaign delivered impressive results, with 3,848 new followers, 976,968 impressions, and 87,636 engagements.

Public Relations

To ensure awareness across channels, our marketing strategy also put an emphasis on media and influencer coverage that built credibility and generated buzz around River North Icehouse’s grand opening. Our efforts included the development of a unique PR strategy, brand positioning, and key messaging that supported our media and influencer outreach and drove attendance and coverage of the bar’s influencer and press preview night, along with the official ribbon-cutting grand opening. As a result, we secured coverage in top-tier media outlets including the San Antonio Express-News, KENS, and KSAT, resulting in over 19.3 million impressions. Our influencer marketing efforts also resulted in 9 influencers posting about the opening with 84,127 total impressions and 4,605 total engagements.

In total, our efforts resulted in over 20 million impressions across channels. This raised awareness has continued to generate foot traffic and business for our client. If you are preparing for a major launch event and interested in learning how we can best support your business through marketing and public relations, contact us today!