Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program? Aitken Spence Hotels, part of one of Sri Lanka’s largest conglomerates comprises of many hotels & resorts in Sri Lanka, India, Oman and the Maldives under five brands Aitken Spence, Heritance, Adaaran, Oman Hotels & Turyaa. Aitken Spence has been using PPC as a medium for revenue generation since 2013 by running campaigns for Aitken Spence & Heritance brands with consistent investments on channels such as Google, Facebook, Instagram etc. However, the company faced the most difficult time it has experienced in the recent past with international and local travel coming to a complete pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. While many travel destinations around the world experienced the impact of COVID-19 heavily, Sri Lanka managed to control the situation with a 3-month long full lockdown after the initial wave hit the country during March 2020. This had a strong negative impact on all hotels with huge losses in revenue. Therefore, after coming out of the lockdown and hotels looking at reopening for business again, the primary objectives for Aitken Spence Hotels were to: - Increase awareness on the reopening of hotels within the local / domestic market. A target of 1M ad impressions were set for local market - Highlight the safety features and measures taken by Aitken Spence Hotels to ensure guest safety during the pandemic - Drive bookings and revenue with the limited investments available for PPC advertising - Generate ROAS of over 12:1 The campaign managed to generate following results during the period: - Over 3.7 million ad impressions in the local market on multiple channels - 1400+ bookings within the short period of time only from PPC and Social Media advertising traffic - Revenue of over USD 320,000. - Outperform the expected goal and achieve a ROAS of 26:1. from click through booking alone

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)Aitken Spence Hotels needed to introduce a strong brand message and offering in order to capture the local market after the lockdown was lifted. While the domestic market was deprived of any travel even within the country, there was still a slight element of risk in traveling which meant that Aitken Spence needed to communicate their hygiene and safety standards while offering great value for money for the stay. With this in mind, Aitken Spence Hotels and eMarketingEye worked together in launching a campaign by the name “Worth the Wait” dedicated to the domestic market. Driving revenue being a key focus, the campaign consisted of a full funnel strategy with higher emphasis on the lower funnel to ensure maximum returns on the adspend. Ads were run on Google search, Display Network, Facebook and Instagram channels to maximize reach for potential customers. Additional focus was on Facebook and Instagram as it was seen that usage of these surged during the stay at home period. The messaging had to be precise and attractive in order to capture the audience. The creatives focused on communicating the discounted room rates, extra health and safety measures and other benefits for local guests. Search ads were created with all ad extensions highlighting these areas. Animated banners in HTML5 were run on DV360 platform to target GDN + other ad networks to maximize reach. Single image and carousal ads were run on Facebook and Instagram with specific messaging for each hotel. The success and momentum gained, enabled Aitken Spence Hotels to refresh the offering and launch the campaign “Holidays Inspired by You” with renewed messaging in creatives. • The overall campaign generated over 3.7 million ad impressions • Over 1400 click through bookings were generated from PPC and Social Media traffic • Revenue achieved was above expectation with USD 323,000 purely from advertising traffic • Achieved a ROAS of 26:1, which was far superior\ than the expected result at the beginning

Project Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the project and your company efforts to demonstrate good corporate citizenship in the areas of community involvement, environmental, or socially responsible practices.

Objectives and Goals: What did organization set out to achieve in undertaking this project in CSR? What were the goals you set to measure your success?

Results: How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve? Please be as specific as possible and share the full impact of your efforts in CSR.

Leadership: Please list the individual in a leadership role responsible for the project and how would you characterize their commitment to promoting corporate social responsibility in the travel and tourism industry?

Situational Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the initiative and the problem, challenge or issue you were seeking to address in the areas of developing emerging talent and engaging existing talent to meet the demands of your business.

Goals: What did your organization set out to achieve in undertaking this initiative? What obstacles did you encounter?

Results and Impact: What results had the greatest impact on your target audience? Please comment on the process and the outcomes. What measures were used to determine success?

Situational Analysis: Please provide a brief background on the initiative and the nature of the issue you were trying to impact.

Goals: Clearly state your goals. What did you strive to achieve with this initiative?

Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the initiative?

Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals and audience. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?

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)

Entry TitleAitken Spence Hotels Sri Lanka - Powering through the Covid-19 Pandemic using a domestic focused PPC Strategy – Worth the Wait Campaign

DivisionDigital Marketing - Search Marketing Strategy

CategoryDigital Marketing