DoubleTree by Hilton knows it's the little things mean everything. For more than 25 years, we've welcomed guests at more than 370 global hotels and have given out more than 300 million warm chocolate chip cookies at check-in. This gesture has become a powerful symbol of the little, bright moments in life. We leveraged this symbol to create many more happy moments - by sharing the Cookie Care!
Throughout 2014, we listened to news and pop culture trends to surprise people with cookies. Leveraging high-profile events with a series of activations, we intersected our brand with big news, putting the cookie in the middle of what matters – and delivered media (traditional and social) attention as a result.
Events took place in-person with team members handing out the cookies, and online with the social media team listening to conversations about Cookie Care, arranging in person meet-ups between consumers who engaged on social with nearby DoubleTree team members to deliver 2 Cookies, 1 to keep and 1 to share. In addition, when in-person meet-up were not logistically feasible, our social media team would arrange a Cookie shipment directly to the consumer's home or office.
The key performance indicators for this campaign included increased social growth and engagement for DoubleTree's social channels as well as traffic, sweepstakes entries, and in-person Cookie deliveries arranged via conversations held between the brand and individuals on social. DoubleTree is also the only hotel brand who has devised and executed live cookie deliveries upon request from its' fans and followers.
RESULTS:
Implementation: We generated & listened to conversations including #CookieCare. In each city, up to five people/offices were selected to arrange cookie deliveries or cookie shipments via Twitter conversations. As an example, during DoubleTree's Cookie Care event in San Francisco celebrating the iPhone 6 launch, the social media team listened for conversations where weary consumers expressed the need for a "pick-me-up," or if they directly requested a Cookie Care delivery while waiting in line. After exchanging location details and contact information, our social media team would supply the DoubleTree teams on the ground with this information so they could deliver cookies, in real time, to the consumer in 1 hour or less.
Social ad spend was allocated to amplify engagement in key markets. A Cookie Care sweepstakes was also hosted on a Facebook tab, where fans could enter by telling how they would share Cookie Care for a chance to win a 5-night vacation.
Overall Objective: Increase brand awareness, brand engagement, and leverage DoubleTree's unique position as the only hotel brand to offer a warm chocolate chip cookie not only upon welcome, but also in the streets to the public.
Social Objectives: 5.5K new Facebook fans (2% increase in fan growth overall); 1.5K new Twitter followers (2% account growth overall); 10K sweepstakes entries.
Target Audience: 54% male /46% female; Ages 25-34; 66% married; 42% with kids; 41% business travel/59% personal travel; first to try products/services; active vacationer; "my own travel agent" and love doing research; hi-tech, success-driven; current and non-enrolled Hilton HHonors Reward Program members; and specific, varying targeting dependent on each planned event (ie: targeting specific people by residence of the city where we hosted a Cookie Care event, people interested in topics or lifestyles related to the moment in time being celebrated, business and event employees at nearby headquarters, etc.).
Pre-Campaign Launch Research Included:
-DoubleTree's guest satisfaction surveys: business and leisure travelers indicated the cookie as one of the top 3 reasons they choose to stay at DoubleTree.
-Study about kindness enhancing well-being: "The Health & Science of Kindness"
Planning: We identified key moments when travelers could use extra kindness via two free DoubleTree cookies - one to keep, and one to share.
Sample Cookie Care events: the first day of spring and giveaway of the 300 Millionth DoubleTree Cookie; Chocolate Chip Cookie Day; Tax Day; Wrigley Field's 100th Anniversary; Double-Day in China; EID celebrations in Dubai; and celebrating the iPhone 6 launch.
