Marketing Objectives:
Clearly state your marketing goals.
What did your company strive to achieve using this piece or program?
Primary objectives were to:
• Garner trade placements specifically focused on BWHR’s growth and expanded portfolio, explaining the company’s development strategy while attracting the interest of new, independent hotel owners and shifting perception of the brand;
• Demonstrate the evolution of BWHR’s global hotel portfolio, which today includes a variety of unique accommodations across every possible segment of the hotel industry which has led them to be the hospitality powerhouse they are today.
• Set the stage for the WorldHotels acquisition announcement, seeding growing scale as a major company objective.
Target Audience:
Who was/is the target audience?
Characterize the composition, size, and location of your target audience.
The target audience for this particular initiative was comprised of hotel owners, investors, and operators as well as hotel industry professionals (focused on educating them about BWHR’ evolving portfolio and diverse options).
Research, Planning, and Implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign?
BWHR’s PR agency identified HotelsWorld as the perfect place in time to start seeding out some very important topics, setting the stage for what would be BWHR’s biggest news announcement to date.
Talking points lending to the announcement that BWHR would eventually acquire upper-upscale and luxury hotel company, WorldHotels, were weaved into Kong’s panel discussions and brought up throughout the conference.
The BWHR PR team researched the demographics of key hotel trade media outlets, ultimately identifying HotelNewsNow.com, a leading outlet in the hotel and lodging industry, as the ideal target outlet to cover Kong’s involvement in the event.
It was determined that this outlet, reaching 134,650 UMVs within the hospitality industry, would be the perfect avenue to create enthusiasm around the company’s growth and development plans, driving home key terms like “expansion through acquisitions” to seed the upcoming WorldHotels acquisition that took place just six months later.
Message:
What is the key message intended for the piece/campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?
• Best Western® Hotels & Resorts continues to look for ways to increase its global scale, putting technology and innovation at the forefront.
• As travelers evolve their expectations, brands need to embrace change and grow scale in order to meet them.
• Best Western® Hotels & Resorts and Best Western International is committed to innovation and continually evolving to meet the needs of today’s travelers.
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.
The resulting feature ran online in August 2018, quoting BWHR President and CEO, David Kong. Key message pull-through was a success, setting the stage for the later WorldHotels acquisition by stating, “Kong said Best Western is looking for expansion through organic growth and potential mergers or acquisitions, but adding more brands remains a goal for the Phoenix-based company.”
Further, the article drives home the fact that in order to meet the needs and demands of today’s travelers, brands must grow scale and give travelers more choices.
The story reached 134,650 UMVs – 100% of whom are in the target audience, the global hospitality industry – with an ad value of $1,249.
Entry Title
HotelNewsNow.com - Kong: Best Western Must Add More Brands to Grow Scale
Category
FEATURE PLACEMENT ONLINE - Trade Media