Interview with Bodie Czeladka from Secret Society
We were recently given the pleasure of capturing a few minutes of time from Bodie Czeladka, director of one of Melbourne’s most prestigious promotional companies, Secret Society.
Here is what he had to say:
Q: Secret Society is a well-developed brand with much success under its belt in the Melbourne scene. Can you summarise what few points you think helped you achieve the success in exposing your brand?
BC: We injected a lot of cash and time into the branding early with a lot of support and loyalty from our venues. We still do to this day, to show gratitude by showing a lot of loyalty to them for that initial support and faith in our business. We also realise the value in building brand strength and using strong branding on all appropriate mediums.
Q: What do you think is the most effective way that bars, clubs and restaurants can communicate and involve their target market?
BC: I think it’s a triangle of interaction. If you lose one corner your branding and business will suffer. We find that it is a combination of:
1) Supplying your patrons with a good product when they come to the venue (and value for money).
2) Create and maintain a good online following, somewhere that patrons can easily source content, enter competition and be eligible for giveaways.
3) The most important is old school marketing techniques, not just online. Human interaction and word of mouth creates the best branding for any business.
Q:What is the one or two most important pieces of advice you would give to anybody thinking of running a venue or promoting it?
BC:Don’t try to do too much. I have seen so many promoters over the years build up a great following and then blow it all by watering down their product and trying to put their fingers in too many pies. Try not to be a jack of all trades master of none. Constantly try to reinvent your self and your branding, and keeping things fresh, is the best way to stay on top.
Q:What is one “No-No” of the hospitality industry that always cringes you and you wish could be fixed or not done any more?
BC: Bulk text messages and spamming with no valuable content to the consumer and no opt outs in emails and texts.
Q:Naturally everybody promotes on well known public holidays and days in the year, but is there a secret little part of the year that you think works wonders and perhaps one that venues or promotional crew don’t particular take too much notice of?
BC: Unfortunately no I don’t, but if I did this wouldn’t be the forum I would be sharing it in as then it wouldn’t be a secret 
Q: Do you think Online Social Media is a must for all hospitality venues and what do you think is the best way to use it?
BC: Definitely but it has to be complimented with a solid product. You can have the best marketing campaign in the world but if your product is rubbish it won’t give you a client base. It is dependant on the particular product, for us it has always been as a portal to direct people back to our website.
We think of social media like we do dating or a night club it is a place to meet new people and after interacting with them for a bit you invite them back to you place (Website). THAT is where true relationships, trust and loyalty is built and a product can be sold.
Q:Do you feel like Facebook may be getting a little overrun by promoters and venues all pushing their brand out to people. How can this be combated?
BC:It can’t be, all we can do as a promotions company is lead by example and upcoming promoters follow suit. Our rule is in regards to events or club nights if you don’t have anything to say, a point to make or something to give patrons don’t say anything at all.
Q:Have you used MyGuestlist and if so, what kind of positive help (if any) has it contributed to your marketing campaigns or admin procedures?
BC: Our main goal over the past 3 years has been to focus on building a strong database, and since joining Myguestlist we have never felt in more control our our database. We have gained knowledge about what our subscribers like and don’t like through the use of myguestlist back end statistics and gained new concepts and ideas for extra ways to increase our subscribe rate and reduce our opt out. We never would have been able to if not for this fantastic product.
Not to mention the 7 days a week 24 hr support we receive from this ever so helpful team.
Q:How do you see the relationship between the Internet, patrons and the hospitality industry evolving over the next decade or so?
We can only speak in the short term as a decade from now, anything could be possible. But..
I believe newspapers and a lot of other forms of non-targeted advertising and marketing will become null and void. There are a number of high traffic bloggers that will be probably be identified and recognized for doing better research with better reporting and less bias than the traditional media. So blogging will increase and be a place where reviews and opinions on venue’s and nightclubs will really hold weight so it isn’t just about advertising online, it’s about maintaining credibility and helping promote the goodwill of your product/brand/venue.
Whilst Facebook and it’s successor will grow and no doubt surpass google, unless google join the race with a solid product.. and dependence on services like google ad words and analytics will increase and become an integral part of ALL businesses, rather than primarily web focussed businesses like it is currently.
I believe Facebook and other social mediums will find away to counter the overuse and spamming problem and true business with true content will survive and continue to grow whilst time wasting content will hopefully fade into the background.
Q:Any regrets? Do anything different?
BC: No regrets, but obviously there will always be things we could or can do better but the key is not to dwell, just keep your eye on the prize and keep moving forward.
Q:What’s upcoming in the world of Secret Society?
BC:A lot more fun and a continual improvement in our product and service. We hope we to get into a lot more one off events this year which will give us a chance to branch out of not only our comfort zones but our venues.
Our business is people so we will be making it our number one goal to find not necessarily a large number of people , but the RIGHT people to join the team, working for Secret Society has a lot of perks but we are also very selective with our team, people who work for Secret Society don’t see it as a job, but as a lifestyle.
What are you waiting for http://secretsociety.tv
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Thank you……
Great work.Really appreciable!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thanks a lot….