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The Tender Room
Brand strategy, Website, Campaigns & events, Performance ads, Social & content
A second speakeasy with its own occasion, sold before the doors open.
Market research, positioning, a phased pre-launch plan, teaser ads, website and menus for a heritage-spirits bar in Piața Amzei.
The challenge
The owners of Sous Sol were opening a second bar in Piața Amzei, and two speakeasies under one owner can easily blur into each other. The Tender Room needed its own occasion, a launch that builds curiosity before the doors open, and a place online to collect the first guests. Its identity was designed by Picktwo Studio; our job was everything around it.
The insight
Two speakeasies under one owner work only if each owns a different occasion: Sous Sol is discovery, The Tender Room is heritage spirits and slow conversation.
The approach
Our strategists tested the hypotheses before writing a single post: whether the city can carry two premium speakeasies from one owner, and how the two neighbourhoods change behaviour. The answer shaped a slow, invite-first launch plan. The calendar reveals the room in four phases, the teaser ads sell access rather than a bar, and the website asks for one thing only: an early-access sign-up.
The project
Market research, positioning, a phased pre-launch plan, teaser ads, website and menus for a heritage-spirits bar in Piața Amzei.
What we delivered
- Strategy and research, shared with Sous Sol
- Positioning
- Phased pre-launch content calendar
- Pre-launch website with early-access form
- Teaser ad campaign: Keyhole, Matchbook, Receipt, in every feed and search format
- Route 66 signature cocktail map menu, food and expanded menus
- Print preparation for the interior posters
Discover — Hypotheses first
A shared study for both bars: market snapshot, local and international benchmarks, and four working hypotheses checked against the evidence.
Strategy and research, March 2026
Define — A different occasion
The positioning gave the room its own job: Bucharest's most refined social room for heritage spirits and guided conversation, planned invite-first, with slower calibration and controlled visibility.
Positioning statement
Deliver — Reveal it in four phases
Identity, Ritual Introduction, People and Presence, Tender Room Introduction. In week one the audience should not yet know the full room or how it works.
Pre-launch content calendar in four phases
Grow — Sell access, not a bar
Three teasers: a keyhole ('Stop looking. Start Belonging.'), a matchbook ('Strike for the signal.') and a receipt that adds up to one unforgettable night, each pointing to early access.
Keyhole, Matchbook, Receipt, April 2026
Results
What it added up to.
thetenderroom.com is live as a pre-launch site with an early-access form, signed by FA Studios. The teaser campaign, the print-ready menus and the interior posters are delivered, so when the room opens, its occasion, its voice and its first guest list are already in place.
The outcome
What the work changed.
thetenderroom.com is live as a pre-launch site with an early-access form, signed by FA Studios. The teaser campaign, the print-ready menus and the interior posters are delivered, so when the room opens, its occasion, its voice and its first guest list are already in place.
A note from Alex
Alex Codreanu
Founder and design lead
What the client said
Credits
FA Studios: research, positioning, launch calendar, teaser campaign, website, menus, print production. Brand identity: Picktwo Studio.
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