Hooters: A Great Place for the Whole Family

In the "what were they thinking" department, Hooters, the puerile purveyor of titillation as a condiment, targeting the forever-adolescent has announced that it is remodeling its restaurants with an eye to developing the family market.  Really.  Here's the story.  Now, I have nothing against puerile purveyors of titillation.  They've clearly developed a brand and segmented the market to appeal to the forever-adolescent.  But, if they think they can expand the brand to capture the family market I think they're going to, uh, go flat.

Some brands can be extended.  Dove soap can extend to moisturizers, because that's related to Dove's core brand.  Hawaii can extend its vacation brand to the honeymoon market, because they're related, too.  It's much harder for Hawaii to extend its brand to attract business meetings because the imagery for business is clearly separate from the brand imagery of a Polynesian paradise.  And Dove may run into trouble as they've tried to stretch the brand into the men's moisturizing market.

When you name a chain of restaurants "Hooters" and you are known for your scantily clad waitresses, you've pretty much cast the die.  Changing Hooters is a little like Harley Davidson saying "you meet the nicest people on a Harley."

If Hooters proceeds with this, they'll face two big problems.  First, families are not going to have Hooters top-of-mind when it comes to a family night out.  That's one.  Second, if they are successful in attracting families, they're going to turn off their core, testosterone-drenched customer base.  It's a lose-lose.

There's another adult brand that famously attempted to extend the brand into the family market:  Las Vegas.  The brand of showgirls and casinos decided to go after the family market for a brief period.  I was talking to one of the Vegas marketers about their initiative and why they abandoned it.  He said, succinctly, "we consider family to be the "f" word now."  Clearly, what goes in Vegas is adult fantasy, not family entertainment.