Situational Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the initiative and the nature of the issue you were trying to impact.
With COVID 19 closing down hospitality and travel businesses along with stay at home orders being issued, we moved quickly to activate a campaign that would provide an empathetic message to our local community as well as ensuring that we had continued visibility with potential visitors. We activated Destination of Hope and created a .30 video utilizing a voice that our locals recognized to give them hope and comfort along with letting them know we felt brighter days were ahead. Our potential visitors receiving the same message, felt the warmth and compassion that we wanted everyone to feel, experiencing the challenges COVID 19 presented. We targeted consumers with a prior intent to travel, retargeted our previous website visitors along with geo-targeting Niagara County and larger drive markets including New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Columbus. Our flight dates were April 1 – April 22, 2020. Our channels included: programmatic connected TV video, promoted video on Facebook and Googly Display Network.
Goals: Clearly state your goals. What did you strive to achieve with this initiative?
Our goals were to:
• Ensure that Niagara Falls USA stayed top of mind during this crisis.
• Our locals had a quick and easy resource to find updated information as it was changing rapidly.
• Communicating to our potential visitors that we would be ready for them to visit when the time was right.
Our digital strategy included the following:
• Delivered video and display ads with a focus on reaching a travel-intent audience. The social and Connected TV video delivered an upbeat message about hope and local support.
• Leveraged the beauty of the Falls in the display and video imagery to highlight the appeal of the destination and to convey a message of hope for users looking forward to traveling again soon.
• Deployed an email to our full subscriber list to reinforce the message and drive visits to the “Destination of Hope” landing page.
• Our email and paid digital efforts pointed viewers to a dedicated campaign landing page that reinforced the message of hope and promoted additional resources for locals, visitors and future travelers.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the initiative?
Based on the following metrics, we hit our goals including impressions, clicks video views and email opens. All of these metrics, including website conversions, provides us with an intent to visit along with a high level of engagement from the people that interacted with our media.
Local Campaign:
Part of our efforts included a Google Display geofencing campaign targeting Niagara County.
Impressions in Niagara County: 1,648,958
Total clicks: 6,689
Average CTR: 0.40% (Average Industry Benchmark: 0.39%)
Overall Campaign Results:
Total impressions: 2,119,665
Total clicks: 8,483 (top clicks were Google Display in Niagara County)
Total video views: 106,470
Connected TV avg. video completion rate: 74%
Facebook avg. video view: 13 seconds
Emails opened: 18,827
Website conversions:
• 1:30+ time on-site: 2,703
• Travel guide downloads: 96
• Email Opt-ins: 72
Top Markets by FB Video Views:
• Philadelphia
• Chicago
• Boston
• Connected TV Video Views:
• New York
• Chicago
• Philadelphia
Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals and audience. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
With COVID 19 closing down hospitality and travel businesses along with stay at home orders being issued, we moved quickly to activate a campaign that would provide an empathetic message to our local community as well as ensuring that we had continued visibility with potential visitors. We activated Destination of Hope and created a .30 video utilizing a voice that our locals recognized to give them hope and comfort along with letting them know we felt brighter days were ahead. Our potential visitors receiving the same message, felt the warmth and compassion that we wanted everyone to feel, experiencing the challenges COVID 19 presented. We targeted consumers with a prior intent to travel, retargeted our previous website visitors along with geo-targeting Niagara County and larger drive markets including New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Columbus. Our flight dates were April 1 – April 22, 2020. Our channels included: programmatic connected TV video, promoted video on Facebook and Googly Display Network.
Our goals were:
• Ensure that Niagara Falls USA stayed top of mind during this crisis.
• Our locals had a quick and easy resource to find updated information as it was changing rapidly.
• Communicating to our potential visitors that we would be ready for them to visit when the time was right.
Our digital strategy included the following:
• Delivered video and display ads with a focus on reaching a travel-intent audience. The social and Connected TV video delivered an upbeat message about hope and local support.
• Leveraged the beauty of the Falls in the display and video imagery to highlight the appeal of the destination and to convey a message of hope for users looking forward to traveling again soon.
• Deployed an email to our full subscriber list to reinforce the message and drive visits to the “Destination of Hope” landing page.
• Our email and paid digital efforts pointed viewers to a dedicated campaign landing page that reinforced the message of
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)
Based on the following metrics, we hit our goals including impressions, clicks video views and email opens. All of these metrics, including website conversions, provides us with an intent to visit along with a high level of engagement from the people that interacted with our media.
Local Campaign:
Part of our efforts included a Google Display geofencing campaign targeting Niagara County.
Impressions in Niagara County: 1,648,958
Total clicks: 6,689
Average CTR: 0.40% (Average Industry Benchmark: 0.39%)
Overall Campaign Results:
Total impressions: 2,119,665
Total clicks: 8,483 (top clicks were Google Display in Niagara County)
Total video views: 106,470
Connected TV avg. video completion rate: 74%
Facebook avg. video view: 13 seconds
Emails opened: 18,827
Website conversions:
• 1:30+ time on-site: 2,703
• Travel guide downloads: 96
• Email Opt-ins: 72
Top Markets by Video Views:
FB Video Views:
• Philadelphia
• Chicago
• Boston
• Connected TV Video Views:
• New York
• Chicago
• Philadelphia
Division
Crisis Communications/Management - Crisis Communications/Management
Category
Crisis Communications/Management