The Firkin Group of Pubs is celebrating its 25th anniversary by promoting the rollout of its redesigned locations.

Starting with four locations in the GTA, the rebrand was two years in the making, with the Firkin working with Toronto-based Cundari on research to find out how the pub fits into Canadian culture today, Larry Isaacs, director of marketing, Firkin Group of Pubs, tells MiC.

After an 18-month research process, the company gathered insights on its target audience, which it now pinpoints as a younger crowd of fun-loving extroverts aged 25 to 45, says Isaacs.

To shed the locations of their association with “man caves” and bring in the homey feel the research indicated patrons are looking for, the Firkin worked with design team  Mackay Wong to open up the space, brighten up the colouring and incorporate lounge areas, he says. The team has refined the renovation process and will be rolling it into its other locations with its “Firkin makeover” seven day turnaround in the coming months.

“Before the traditional English pub style was synonymous with the man cave and now we have opened it up as we really want people to understand that the pub is a comfortable environment for everyone, much more open and less manly,” says Issacs.

To promote the changes, the Firkin Group has launched a transit and OOH campaign running in downtown Toronto, with media and creative from Cundari.

“The campaign is a little bit edgy, not old British, and funked up,” he says. “We went with OOH because we wanted to reach a direct audience, wanted to reach the broader public. We want people to know we are making a move.”