Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
When AC Hotel Bethesda opened in August 2022, we were tasked with generating positive PR around the launch of its on-site F&B venue in order to cultivate a loyal, local clientele.
Corella Café & Lounge (named for the hometown of Antonio Catalán, founder of the AC Hotels brand) is spread across 11,360 square feet on the hotel’s lobby level. That’s a LOT of F&B space for a 220-room property, with ample seating at inside tables, at the bar, and out on an expansive patio. To meet ambitious revenue goals, Corella needs many of those seats to be consistently filled with local patrons in addition to hotel guests.
So we wanted to raise awareness within the DMV community about Corella’s creative cocktail program and a dinner menu that’s on par with Bethesda’s finer eateries. To spread the word, we hosted a tasting event for a group of eight micro-influencers whose popular Instagram pages are hyper-focused on DMV-area F&B and lifestyle. Our goal was to have them share Corella’s dishes, drinks, and design with their many local followers, and we hoped to increase our own social media following as well.
The tasting event menu showcased three cocktails, three appetizers, three entrees, and a specialty dessert; the chef brought out full portions for photos and videos, and tasting portions for consumption. Good food and drink foster camaraderie, of course, and gathering these micro-influencers ‘round the table allowed us to foster positive relationships ripe for future collaborations.
In sum, our goals were to:
• Introduce Corella Café & Lounge to locals
• Create brand awareness
• Gain followers on a newly created Instagram channel
• Support Corella’s revenue goals
• Connect face-to-face with popular micro-influencers to establish positive relationships for future collaborations
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
The eight attendees all posted a reel – each one showcasing Corella’s dishes, drinks, and design in surprisingly unique ways considering they were all sitting at the same table – and their creativity helped us achieve our goals of introducing Corella to locals, raising brand awareness, and gaining new followers. In total, the micro-influencers’ tasting event reels generated the following metrics YTD:
• Instagram plays: 232,114
• Likes: 9,314
• Saves: 5,499
• Shares: 6,548
• Accounts reached: 211,706
Within 24 hours of the event – just from the micro-influencers’ Instagram stories, before they posted any reels – @corellacafeandlounge gained 284 new followers.
In the week following the event – when some but not all micro-influencers had posted their reels – @corellacafeandlounge noted the following metrics:
• Profile impressions: 33,702
• Profile engagement: 614
• Website clicks from link in bio: 164
In the three months following the event, @corellacafeandlounge gained 1,238 more followers.
Our tasting event cascaded into yet more coverage. When other local foodies saw posts from the gathering, they began reaching out to collaborate, thus creating a steady stream of exposure. Our attendees also continued to share about Corella. One of them came back a month later for a staycation, for example, and created a new reel featuring AC Hotel Bethesda and another showcasing Corella’s breakfast.
Another attendee included Corella in a follow-up reel highlighting her Favorite DMV Date Night Spots. That roundup reel alone garnered:
• Instagram & Facebook plays: 124,211
• Instagram & Facebook likes: 6,709
• Saves: 5,614
• Shares: 3,765
• Accounts reached: 116,509
• TikTok plays: 9.1k
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
This influencer marketing/tasting event was organized and hosted by our in-house F&B marketing and public relations teams, so we didn’t incur any agency expenses; we didn’t provide any monetary compensation to the influencers. To host the event, we spent $300 for food and $175 for beverage (actual costs) plus $250 for staff. We also spent $250 on branded cocktail glasses and ingredients to create boxed Gin & Tonic “kits” as thank-you gifts for attendees.
So for a total spend just shy of $1,000 we hosted an event that generated eight Instagram reels promoting Corella Café & Lounge – plus a follow-up reel that featured Corella in a date night roundup – that have been viewed a collective 365,425 times.
That’s about a half-cent for every set of eyes, an incredible ROI for an influencer campaign designed to raise awareness and generate positive publicity around a new restaurant launch.
Entry Title
Influencing an Effective Launch
Division
Public Relations/Communications - Influencer Marketing
Category
Public Relations/Communications