Marketing Objectives:
Clearly state your marketing goals.
What did your company strive to achieve using this piece or program?Marketing objectives for the acquisition announcement surrounding AutoClerk included: • Communicating that the partnership between BWHR and AutoClerk will enable BWHR to drive unique benefits to its hotels, enhancing its competencies in an increasingly complex distribution landscape, driving benefits to its hotels with faster and more reliable connectivity; • Highlighting BWHR’s growth – particularly with technological advancements; and • Garnering trade placements specifically focused on the acquisition, attracting the interest of new, independent hotel owners, shifting perception of the brand.

Target Audience:
Who was/is the target audience?
Characterize the composition, size, and location of your target audience.The acquisition of AutoClerk, from a media standpoint, was focused on the industry, including existing BWHR owners as well as hospitality executives who own, manage, or finance hotels. A secondary target was the managers and employees of groups who oversee the operations of hotels worldwide.

Research, Planning, and Implementation:
What market research was conducted prior to planning the piece/campaign?Communicating the new relationship between BWHR and AutoClerk was a top priority for BWHR’s Communications and PR team. To maximize the results of the acquisition announcement, the team aligned the timing of a launch with an embargoed interview, slating the resulting article to go live at the time BWHR issued their press release over the wire. The PR agency researched and vetted a highly targeted list of trade media outlets and it was determined that Hospitality Technology, reaching 400K+ UMVs within the hotel and lodging industries, would be the perfect vehicle to create excitement around the company’s unique business venture. The agency identified Hospitality Technology Editor-in-Chief, Dorothy Creamer, who covers the hotel industry with a concentrated focus on AI, VR, IoT and other emerging technologies affecting hospitality. The agency secured an interview with her ahead of the announcement on an exclusive basis.

Message:
What is the key message intended for the piece/campaign?
What differentiates your piece/campaign in the marketplace?Key messages surrounding the acquisition of AutoClerk included: • Best Western Hotels & Resorts has announced a major step forward in its broad distribution strategy with the acquisition of AutoClerk, Inc., a premier hotel property management system company. • The products and solutions offered by AutoClerk will now grow stronger with BWHR’s backing. • AutoClerk is joining a vibrant and growing global hospitality powerhouse represented by one of the travel industry’s most recognizable brands.

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.BWHR’s acquisition of AutoClerk achieved much buzz, hitting our objectives in a big way. The announcement reached 62+M UMVs across 175 placements, including 10 earned placements in leading trade media outlets including the exclusive story on HospitalityTech.com & a feature on HotelManagement.net, among others. Additional highlights included: secured interview with Skift and BWHR’s CEO; feature in Hotel Business as the lead story of the day; Hospitality Technology circulated the news on social media, including LinkedIn. Even more impressively, in addition to the exclusive feature, the PR team secured a 2nd piece with Hospitality Technology – a full print cover story featuring BWHR & taking a deeper dive into their tech strategy, which is slated to run in the Dec. ‘19 print issue. That story will reach 16K+ with an advertising value of over $7K. As a result, AutoClerk received more requests for demos on the day of the announcement than the company typically received in 1 entire month.

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 TitleAutoClerk acquisition

DivisionPublic Relations

Sub-categoryPR Campaign

CategoryNEW OPENING/LAUNCH

Classification