Fantasy Football draft season is upon us. For restaurants and bars, it's a golden opportunity. A single draft party brings in 10-14 people for several hours—a guaranteed revenue boost on an otherwise slow afternoon. The competition to attract these parties is fierce, which is why a recent email I received from a major chain restaurant was so baffling.
They made a cardinal marketing mistake: They buried the lede. They focused on the cost of their offer instead of the incredible value that would have made booking a no-brainer.
The Initial Pitch: The $150 Bundle
Please Note: To prevent embarrassment, we've removed identifying details from the original email. This image shows only the main promotional offer.
As you can see in the ad above, the headline is all about the "ULTIMATE $150 DRAFT PARTY BUNDLE." It looks like a decent-enough spread. For your money, you get a substantial amount of food and drinks:
- 20 Sliders (10 Crispy Chicken & 10 Smash Burger)
- 60 Boneless Bites (tossed in your choice of 2 sauces)
- 3 Pounds of Crispy Fries
- 3 Buckets of Coors Light or Miller Lite
For a group of 10-12, this isn't a bad deal. It works out to about $12-$15 per person for a solid amount of food and a beer. It’s convenient. It’s fine. But is it compelling enough to make you stop scrolling and book immediately? Probably not. You might shop around. You might see if another bar has a better deal or a bigger screen.
The ad presents a transaction: "Give us $150, and we'll give you this food." But I almost deleted the email until my eyes caught the tiny text at the very bottom.
The Buried Treasure: The Real Reason to Book
Here’s what the small print said:
PLUS, if you order your bundle in-house for a fantasy football draft party, everyone in your party gets a $10 bonus card for a future visit!*
This completely changes the equation.
Let’s do the math. The minimum fantasy league size is typically 10 people.
$10 bonus card/person × 10 people = $100 in total value
For a 12-person league, that's $120. This promotion's actual value proposition isn't the food; it's the massive kickback. The net cost of the party bundle is suddenly slashed from $150 to a perceived cost of just $50.
Why This is a Marketing Catastrophe
- Leading with Cost Creates a Barrier: The first thing a potential customer sees is "$150." This immediately puts them in a "cost-benefit analysis" mindset.
- Hiding the Hook: The most compelling part of this offer—the free $100+ your league gets—is hidden where most people will never see it.
- Misunderstanding the Customer's Motivation: A fantasy commissioner is looking for the best experience and the best deal. An offer that gives every single person a free $10 makes the commissioner look like a hero.
How They Should Have Done It
Imagine if the ad's headline was flipped. The focus should be on the overwhelming value, not the initial cost.
New Headline Example 1
"Host Your Fantasy Draft Here & We'll Give Your League $100!"
New Headline Example 2
"Get PAID to Host Your Fantasy Draft With Us! Every Player Gets a $10 Bonus Card."
By leading with the benefit, the $150 bundle is no longer a cost barrier; it's the convenient, turn-key solution that makes the incredible value proposition possible.
The lesson here is simple: Don't make your customers do the work. Identify your single most compelling value proposition and put it front and center. In this case, the restaurant had a game-winning offer but fumbled on the one-yard line by burying it in the fine print.