Marketing Review — Fall 2008 - (Page 14)

SUCCESS STORIES tures. We also started sending out digital images. It was all about creating a buzz about what was happening at a once-famous hotel that had grown tired.” While the press had been part of the initiative from the beginning, says Berg, “We really ramped up our public relations efforts toward the end, bringing in media and so forth. We had seeded the story with the press early on, but were not looking for early coverage. We did not want people coming before we were well along. Generally, a journalist will not come back for a second visit.” With travel agents and meeting planners, says Berg, “We were a bit more specific when it came to timelines.” THE RESULTS: From the completion of the renovation early this year, says Berg, occupancy has been at record levels. “Normally,” says Berg, “it takes a couple of years to ramp back up once a hotel has been in decline. As the new owners we wanted to revive the business quickly – and we did.” The power of the Internet to create communities is now well known. Here is how one company created a series of micro-sites to develop niche communities and create relationships with very different market segments. THE COMPANY: Embassy Suites Hotels THE SITUATION: With only so much site for business travelers and Embassy Kids, aimed specifically at children. The company also created Embassador, a community-oriented site for loyal guests. While the other sites were more expensive to launch, they were still relatively inexpensive compared to an advertising budget. “We see this as a hub and spokes approach,” says lee, “with Embasysuites. com as the hub and these micro-sites as the spokes.” THE RESULTS: Since its launch, Myomelet.com has had over one million hits and 128 million impressions through media coverage. The company has even realized $130,000 in revenues from consumers who to went first to Myomelet. com and then linked to the Embassy Suites site to book. Average time on Embassysuites.com is 5 minutes; at Myomelet.com, it’s 8 minutes. Embassador.com was launched in March and in its first six months registered 672,000 visits; 831 consumers have built personal profiles in the manner of a LinkedIn or Facebook community. Next year, Embassy Suites will set up an experiential microsite where visitors can upload videos and slide shows about their trips. And speaking of experiential, another hospitality company sought to develop a feeling of community on its site—but made online content the centerpiece of a high-profile contest. THE COMPANY: Homewood Suites, a York to see their photos on display. According to Bill Duncan, vice president-brand marketing and sales, “Our research showed that customers really like to share and tell their stories We realized this had great application for going after family travel.” THE RESULTS: The promotion took off so quickly that, says Duncan, “It became our main summer promotion. Rather than promote a rate or a deal, we did this. We had 1200 entries. We saw our family travel business go up by ten percent. We also saw higher than average growth on our Web sites and we think that means making our customers more comfortable with visiting us online.” There was tweaking to the promotion this year—including the acceptance of video and judging of the final 10 finalists by the public. But there was similar amount of entries. As for media coverage, says Duncan, “Our biggest push was in the local markets where the winners came from; all local TV stations profiled them as did newspapers. We also shot a video of the winners in Times Square and ran it on our in-room TV channel. In the end this speaks to our being in the hospitality business, which is a business of emotion. We also provided a safe, controlled online environment (www.homewood moments.com) that people could safely visit.” In an age when the phrase “flip flop” has become a pejorative, it’s always worth remembering that changing an approach—or an entire strategy—can drive significant dividends. THE DESTINATION: Maine Depart- “real estate” on its main Web site, Embassy Suites wanted to create additional places in which to tell its story. THE SOLUTION: The chain has launched three specialized Web sites to the general public and one to its most frequent customers—all geared to establishing community and a relationship with the brand. According to John Lee, vice president-brand marketing, the first site was Myomelet.com, which focused on Embassy Suites’ elaborate complimentary breakfasts. “We had a big story to tell as far as brand differentiation about our breakfast and Myomelet was aimed at enhancing the whole breakfast experience.” Following Myomelet.com, which cost only $7,000 to create, Embassy created Business Balance, an information-rich 14 chain of extended stay hotels. THE SITUATION: The company wanted to promote online communication with customers; there was also a mission to grow family travel, especially on weekends when many extended stay travelers are joined by family members. THE SOLUTION: The company launched “Simple Moments” for the summer of 2007, a promotion that had consumers submit favored vacation photos and having them posted online. The photos were judged by editors of photography magazines and three winners had their photos posted for a month on huge Times Square billboards. The winners’ families won weekend trips to New ment of Tourism THE SITUATION: Tourism to the state had been flat over a long period. When research showed that many considered Maine for a vacation but only a fraction actually visited, the state’s advertising agency, WKP-Spier, came up with a message to address obstacles to that decision. In 2003, a campaign called “It Must Be Maine,” positioned Maine as an exotic destination comparable to better known places, but closer to home. HSMAI MARKETING REVIEW • FALL 2008 http://www.Myomelet.com http://www.Embassysuites.com http://www.embassador.com http://www.Myomelet.com http://www.embassador.com http://www.www.homewood http://www.moments.com http://www.Myomelet.com http://www.Myomelet.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marketing Review — Fall 2008

Marketing Review – Fall 2008 Contents The Online Marketer Success Stories Forecasting Trends Ian Schrager: The Revolutionary Man Leaving No Stone Unturned: The Quest for Ancillary Revenue Gaga Gadgets for Execs on the Go: Functional New Portable Technology to Make Life and Work on the Road More Hospitable Effectively Weathering the Ups and Downs of the Economic Cycle Experiments in Podcasting Higher Transportation Costs and a Slowing Economy Shift Hotel Room Demand

Marketing Review — Fall 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.