2011 Silver Best use of business to consumer direct mail

Client Best Western

What is wonderful about this work? Connecting desire (consumers want a holiday story) with brand truth (all Best Westerns have a story), we created the idea 'Where Stories Happe'. We hugely exceeded target, delivering an uplift of 463% on bookings and 293% on revenue. The ROI was 19:1, against a target of 10:1.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? We undertook a data analytics project to identify target booker groups, which highlighted three core groups for our summer campaign: school-aged families, empty nesters and settling singles/couples. We ran three interactive sessions to explore potential summer propositions. These idea-generating sessions were held in Best Western hotels, working closely with 48 customers and prospects, and inspired the theme 'Where Stories Happe'. The motivating insight was that Best Western is a brand they could explore (given the individuality of every hotel) in the way that many use short breaks to explore the country. The same cannot be said of chains with identikit hotels. So this was our springboard. The concept also draws on the insight that many of our audience associate a summer break with 'a good read', which is about relaxing, me time, adventure and enjoyment.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? We brought brand stories to life to inspire potential bookers and get them ready to capture their own holiday stories. At the heart is a collection of short stories commissioned from well-known British writers including Amanda Brookfield (author of Before I knew you) and Giles Foden (The Last King of Scotland). The short story collection 'Where Stories Happe' was mailed out to over 40,000 prospects on the enquirer and booker database. Hotels were grouped into literary categories and some earned their very own top-selling title. The call to action was fairly subtle: a bookmark carries summer bestseller offers: 15% off two-night and 20% off three-night stays. This was the same offer as 2010, so we conclude that the offer itself has not significantly increased bookings. A follow-up postcard, outbound emails, banner ads and social media activity drove further bookings to the website. The Twitter campaign got people tweeting mini sequences of a story, which will be published in the next Best Western Do Not Disturb magazine.

Results As at 7 September, we had exceeded our bookings target by 463%, with an increase in total revenue of 293% over target. The resulting ROI is 19:1 - the campaign is set to be the brand's best performing UK campaign to date.

Team Richard Sharp, Mandi Taylor, Darlene Sharp, Ian Dean, Reece Watt, Alice Buckley, Emma Marsh, Katie Holmes, Tim Wade, Gemma Dawson.

Other contributor CIDA Communications - Commissioned short stories.