Marketing Objectives:
Clearly state your marketing goals.
What did your company strive to achieve using this piece or program?The new BW Travel Zone refreshed Best Western’s online presence, and made way for new marketing objectives, which included: - Develop a comprehensive content hub to house all external brand messaging through a cohesive, unique and distinct story - Develop long-term strategy for core content sections to build longevity into the site’s planning - Revitalize the execution of travel inspiration content to be modern, engaging and directly support the brand’s communication pillars - Focusing priorities on innovation, cultivating loyalty and fostering a vibrant dialogue between Best Western and its guests - Establish the brand as a digital leader and curator of relevant and entertaining travel content - Foster positive brand association with strong storytelling, differentiating Best Western from the competitive set - Position Best Western as an innovator in the digital space and travel industry - Engage key audiences and create new brand loyalists

Target Audience:
Who was/is the target audience?
Characterize the composition, size, and location of your target audience.BW Travel Zone targets the following audiences: - Best Western Rewards’ (BWR) more than 30 million members and Best Western brand loyalists - Travelers who are active on social media and curate travel content while engaging in relevant conversations online - Leisure travelers who are the primary decision-makers about travel in their household who are early in the planning process - Millennial travelers seeking inspiration for their next trip - Niche audiences, like family and business travelers, driven to the site to explore influencer content

Research, Planning, and Implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign?Best Western researched travel industry blogs and competitor content platforms to better understand what users and customers would find inspiring and engaging. What became clear was the many opportunities to elevate the quality of the brand’s existing efforts and create a more modern and engaging experience for the user that builds and nourishes a richer, long-term conversation between consumers and Best Western. Key features that were incorporated into the reimagination of the site: - Clean, mindful layouts with defined hierarchy - Image-heavy design, including photo galleries in lieu of articles - Thoughtful and relevant content categories to simplify search - Seamless integration of social platforms and featured social content - Distinct and unique brand voice across all collateral BW Travel Zone was introduced to the public through a social media takeover including paid and organic content across Best Western’s social channels over three months with a total reach of 1.7M.

Message:
What is the key message intended for the piece/campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?The site foregrounds aspirational visuals, promotions and campaigns as well as seamless, integrated social content and advice from travel experts. One crucial improvement was building in a roadmap for future development that can easily be incorporated into the existing design. The Travel Inspiration section of the site has become a repository for more robust content for BW Travel Zone, with an eye to supporting customers at every phase of their journey – from dreaming to planning and finally to booking. Influencer and contributor written posts round out content by maximizing reach and engagement while building brand awareness across distinct travel audiences, like family travelers and millennials. Additional content categories on the site include #BWsmiles, designed to educated users on the campaign, humanize the brand, and tie smiles to Best Western Rewards, and Today’s Best Western, which serves as the key news center for Best Western brand news, events and updates.

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. Understandably, maintenance is another major part of CSR. If you have continued to actively and consistently work on your CSR process; please add those actions to your results description.

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.BW Travel Zone is still relatively new, but is surpassing stated objectives and has garnered impressive results since its launch including: • BW Travel Zone has garnered 79,350 site visits since its launch. • Increase in homepage views of 281% on Best Western Travel Zone Launch to Date over You Must Be Trippin’ Launch to Date. • 28% increase in site users • 45.5% increase in pageviews from YMBT to BW Travel Zone • Traffic from social channels has increased 835% - an enormous improvement.

Research, Planning and Implementation
What research was conducted prior to planning the initiative? Describe the step by step efforts to plan and implement the initiative in a way that would allow others to be able to duplicate your efforts. Were their individuals or teams that offered leadership to ensure effectiveness?

Message and Communication
What were your key messages? How did you differentiate your messages? What was the purpose of the communications? How did you communicate your actions to the target audience? What other stakeholders or media did you approach for assistance?

Results and Impact
What results had the greatest impact on your target audience? What results were directly tied to the HSMAI Foundation Mission? Which of your original goals was achieved? Please comment on the process and the outcomes. What measures were used to determine success? How was the data collected? What is the status of the initiative now – will it continue? Was it effective? Will it be used continuously? Will you help others use the initiative to help the industry meet its needs for exceptional talent? How?

Message:
What is the key messages intended for the piece/ campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?
What helped you breakthrough on mobile?

Results:
What original goals did you achieve and how?
How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign?
Entrants should provide quantifiable metrics tied to real business results (eg brand lift, leads, or bookings generated).

Project Analysis:
Please provide a brief background on the project and your efforts to preserve the destination’s natural, cultural and historic heritage.

Objectives and Goals:
What did organization set out to achieve in undertaking this project?

Creativity and Innovation:
What new and innovative ideas did you incorporate in either your method of outreach or in the implementation of the project that you think could inspire others committed to sustainability in the tourism and travel industry?

Communication:
How did you communicate your actions to the public, the media and other key stakeholders and what was the aim of the message?
How did you generate publicity in order to build awareness of, or support corporate values on your sustainability initiatives.

Results:
How did you measure the effectiveness of your efforts and what direct and tangible results did you achieve?

Leadership:
Please list the individual in a leadership role responsible for the project and how would you characterize their commitment to promoting preservation and sustainability best practices in the travel and tourism industry?

Entry TitleBest Western's Launch of BW Travel Zone

DivisionDigital Marketing

Sub-categoryDigital Single Item

CategoryBlog

Classification