Hasting Hotels:


A large drop in tourists visiting Northern Ireland and an increase in the number of global network hotels were creating challenging circumstances for the Hastings Hotel Group. Hastings had to re-evaluate its marketing strategy in order to compete at a local level with and find new ways to maximise the effect of their limited budget.

The Hastings Hotel Group was aware it attracted bookings from people interested in playing golf, primarily because of the close proximity to some of the provinces top golf courses. As part of their new marketing drive, an exclusive Royal Tour Package was created.

With Sky Media's help Hastings Hotels were able to put their message in front of exactly the right audience.

Objectives

The key objective was to market Hastings Hotels as the perfect golfing holiday destinations in Northern Ireland and to encourage golfers to visit more hotels, for longer. Specific aims included:

  • Drive awareness by promoting exclusive golfing package
  • To double the amount of room nights booked
  • Drive enquires through the web and phone
  • To actively promote Northern Ireland as a top golfing destination.

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The Execution

A TV schedule was created around Sky Sport's coverage of the British Seniors tour event at Royal County Down. Just 17 transmissions were placed in a mixture of live and recorded highlights broadcasts on Sky Sports One and Two across the tournament. Although the campaign was concentrated into a four-day period, the profile of Sky viewers was a perfect match.


Insights

Immediately the phones started ringing and the hits on the website rose dramtically.

  • The campaign exceeded Hastings Hotels key advertising objectives:
  • The launch of the Royal Tour package increased the number of room nights three-fold
  • The growth rate exceeded the natural market growth in visitor numbers
  • Despite the difficulties in attracting visitors to Northern Ireland, the results from the campaign indicated that they were able to achieve significant growth rates

Sky Media and Hastings have proved that single-minded use of a channel with the right targeting can produce truly effective results, even on a small budget.

"The advert promoting golfing holidays made Hastings the only Northern Ireland company to advertise during the Senior British Open."

            (Extraxt from Belfast Telegraph)

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