Holey Moley Golf Club raises the par with humour-led campaign

Amid a period of massive growth, hospitality-led entertainment group Funlab has launched a new humour-led advertising campaign with its creative agency partner, Dentsu Creative.

A still from a new advertising campaign for Holey Moley Golf Club

Australians may be feeling the bite of inflation, however for some, the cost-of-living crisis has not diminished their appetite for fun.

Consumer demand for the opportunity to socialise in-person is driving growth within hospitality-led entertainment group Funlab, which owns popular venues Holey Moley Golf Club and Strike Bowling. This demand is fuelling growth across the business, including Funlab’s expansion into the US, which it announced in May. Funlab is a Melbourne-based company and was acquired by TPG Capital for $250m in 2020.

Last week Funlab opened its 49th venue in Moorabbin, Victoria, and its 50th venue in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall. Two additional venues are set to open in Australia in early 2024.

As part of this growth, it has launched an advertising campaign for mini golf venue Holey Moley, which came via its creative agency partner, Dentsu Creative.

Funlab’s relationship with the Dentsu business has also expanded in recent years. Over the past four years, Funlab has also been investing in its digital transformation with Merkle, a customer experience management business, which has been working with Funlab to digitise its booking and loyalty programs. It also recently started working with media agency Carat. Both companies are part of Dentsu.

Holey Moley, the focus of the new advertising campaign, is seven years old. Funlab’s chief marketing officer Oonagh Flanagan said that the mini golf destination “took Australia by storm” when it was launched, and is the cornerstone of Funlab’s scale and expansion into the US.

Oonagh Flanagan, chief marketing officer, Funlab

For that reason, cultivating a strong brand in recent years has been integral in its upward – and outbound – growth trajectory.

“We wanted to make sure that we had thought about the brand and its longevity, starting to build that emotional connection with brand in preparation,” Ms Flanagan said of the company’s expansion into the US.

Other activities have included a recently re-launched brand purpose that covers each of Funlab’s brands; “The world is better when we fun together”, a message that communicates both the light-hearted spirit guests can expect when visiting any Funlab venue, and the social connections it aims to offer.

The inflation-induced cost-of-living crisis has seen discretionary spending tighten for many Australians in recent years. Consumers have been increasingly asking for value for money when it comes to entertainment-led experiences, according to Ms Flanagan.

This trend is also behind a series of its first-ever Black Friday promotions and a trial of new value-driven offers that have been launched ahead of Christmas and the summer holidays. The recent November offers were highly successful, Ms Flanagan said.

“We’ve had people buy in the thousands. It’s really hard to give a comparison, because it’s the first time that we’ve actually engaged with the Black Friday campaign. But it’s fair to say that it changed the shape of our week compared to last week, and also to the same period last year.”

“What our guests are asking us for is the ability to do more activities for a saving. They want to see promotions, they want to see good value and they want to make sure that the experience that they’re paying for is worth the investment as well,” Ms Flanagan said.

So what does “fun” look like in a cost-of-living crisis?

It’s about embracing the simple joys of in-person social connection and healthy competition among friends.

Graham Alvarez-Jarratt is strategy partner at Denstu Creative

Dentsu Creative strategy partner Graham Alvarez-Jarrett said: “What I love about the Funlab business is there’s something super disruptive, in 2023, about putting your phones away and getting together with friends, which is such a bonkers thought.

“But there is something about just being in the same physical place with friends that I think is food for the soul.”

For the new campaign, Dentsu produced a series of 15-second humour-led videos, which are currently being aired on screens, and out-of-home posters for the Holey Moley brand. The ads also appear on billboards and transport ad placements across the country.

The campaign has been structured around the idea that Holey Moley is “a fun way to test friendships”. The clips offer windows to the world of the friendly – and often funny – competition that comes with a round of mini golf.

Each ad spot zooms in on highly relatable and funny moments shared between friends, acquaintances on first dates, as well as colleagues socialising.

In the “colleagues” clip, a voice-over reveals a woman’s inner monologue that describes her true thoughts about her work bestie Stu, who is gloating about his mini golf win with seriously questionable and exaggerated dance moves. “He was kind of shy at first … I think I prefer him that way”, the woman says.

Mr Alvarez-Jarrett explained: “All the work that we serve up from a creative perspective should serve as that emotional free sample of what it is that you actually get at a Holey Moley, or any of the other (Funlab) venues.”

Ms Flanagan said Holey Moley is a highly popular date night location, and also attracts corporate crowds, the latter of which also represents a growth opportunity for the business.

Funlab has seen an increase of per-person investments from corporates for Christmas functions, up nearly 10 per cent year-on-year. Funlab also did not increase the price of its corporate packages this year.

In the business of creativity, humour as a device to engage audiences is also attracting more attention globally.

The prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – the Oscars of the advertising industry – will introduce humour as a category in its 2024 awards, which will recognise campaigns for “wit and satire to provide amusement”.

“Humour is a real driver of commercial returns. And we seem to have forgotten that for whatever reason,” Mr Alvarez-Jarratt explained.

“The idea of humour is enduring, but I think humour is coming back into creativity as well.

“There is a return to ‘Remember when we used to make people laugh?’ And I understand the sensitivities around the cost-of-living crisis and all that’s going on in the world right now. And without diminishing or dismissing any of those things, I think there is value in just making people laugh.

“Because we need that more and more in our lives.”