7th Street Lofts - Resident Activation Packet
Merrion Group / The Henry McCarty Irish Pub
Role: Marketing & Creative Director
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Campaign Launch: July 2026
Production Timeline: 3 Weeks
The Challenge
The Henry McCarty Irish Pub occupies the ground floor of the 7th Street Lofts, creating a unique opportunity to convert the building's residents into a consistent customer base.
The challenge was to communicate that the pub wasn't simply a bar located downstairs, but a convenient neighborhood destination offering:
Lunch and weekday dining
Happy hour specials
Late-night food
Weekend brunch
Weekly events and entertainment
Resident-focused programming
A welcoming social environment just steps from residents' doors
The campaign also needed to provide residents with a tangible reason to make an initial visit while establishing familiarity with the brand and its ongoing offerings.
Overview
When residents of the 7th Street Lofts have an Irish pub directly downstairs, the opportunity was more than simply introducing them to the business — it was about turning the pub into an extension of their home and creating a lasting relationship with a highly relevant, built-in customer base.
As Marketing & Creative Director for Merrion Group, I developed and managed a resident-focused welcome campaign designed to introduce 7th Street Lofts residents to The Henry McCarty Irish Pub, highlight the pub's food, drink specials and weekly programming, and provide an immediate incentive to make their first visit.
The campaign was conceived, designed, produced, and implemented within a three-week production window, with materials distributed to residents beginning in July 2026.
The Strategy
The resulting Resident Welcome Pack combined useful information, promotional messaging, and a first-visit incentive into a single branded experience.
Rather than relying on a single advertisement, the campaign created multiple physical touchpoints that residents could keep and interact with over time.
1. Resident Welcome Booklet / Email blast
The centerpiece of the campaign was an informational booklet and email blast introducing residents to the pub and positioning it as an extension of their neighborhood.
The booklet highlighted:
Weekday lunch
Happy hour
Late-night kitchen hours
Weekly food and drink specials
Whiskey Wednesday
Weekend brunch
Trivia nights
Resident Social Hour
Additional dining and entertainment opportunities
The messaging emphasized convenience and community, reinforcing the idea that residents could simply head downstairs rather than leave the building for food, drinks, or social occasions.
The booklet also promoted a monthly Resident Social Hour, specifically designed for 7th Street Lofts residents, providing another mechanism for turning the pub into a recurring community gathering place.
2. Fridge Magnet + QR Code
The campaign extended beyond the initial welcome moment with a branded fridge magnet designed to remain in residents' homes.
The magnet positioned the pub as an always-available neighborhood resource with the message:
"An Irish Pub now in your fridge."
A QR code provided direct access to the pub's menu, events, and table reservations, creating a simple bridge between the physical campaign and the pub's digital presence.
The magnet was intentionally designed as a long-term reminder rather than a disposable promotional piece — keeping The Henry McCarty top-of-mind whenever residents were deciding where to eat, drink, or meet friends.
3. First-Visit Gift Card
To turn awareness into action, each welcome package included a promotional gift card offering residents a complimentary pretzel on their first visit.
The offer was positioned as a personal welcome from the pub:
"This is a gift from your friends downstairs."
The offer was structured for dine-in use and remained valid through December 31, 2026, giving residents an extended window to make their first visit.
This created a straightforward conversion funnel:
Awareness → Incentive → First Visit → Repeat Customer
Results
The campaign has produced a measurable direct response from the target audience.
200+ residents have redeemed their complimentary pretzel gift cards to date.
More importantly, the campaign has demonstrated evidence of behavior beyond the initial promotion, with many participating residents returning to The Henry McCarty for repeat business frequently.
This suggests the campaign successfully moved residents beyond simple awareness and into an ongoing customer relationship.
Key Performance Indicators
200+ Resident gift cards redeemed
3 Weeks Concept-to-production timeline
July 2026 Campaign implementation
5+ Physical/digital touchpoints within the welcome experience
Ongoing Repeat visits from participating residents
The Creative Approach
The campaign was designed around a simple insight: proximity is only valuable if people know what is available to them.
Rather than treating the residents as a general audience, the campaign spoke directly to them as neighbors.
The language throughout the materials reinforced this relationship — from "Howdy neighbor" and "Nice to meet you!" to the gift card's "your friends downstairs" positioning.
This helped transform the pub's physical location from a geographic convenience into a community asset.
Impact
The 7th Street Lofts campaign demonstrates how a targeted, hyper-local campaign can turn an existing physical relationship into a repeat-customer acquisition strategy.
By combining print collateral, promotional incentives, digital access, recurring programming, and community-focused messaging, the campaign created multiple opportunities for residents to engage with The Henry McCarty.
The success of the initiative was not measured solely by the number of welcome cards distributed, but by the number of residents who ultimately walked through the pub's doors — and continued coming back.
With more than 200 residents redeeming their first-visit offer and many returning frequently, the campaign established a scalable model for turning residential proximity into sustained customer engagement.