42% of Americans said they didn't take a single vacation day in 2014, with nearly 60% of Millennials reporting taking fewer than 5 days for the entire year. The goal of Do More Country With Your Time Off was to reach these millennials and encourage them to take a much needed break from the daily grind. To do that, we utilized a tried and true tactic for this audience: a personality quiz to determine how often they take vacation and what that may say about them. The result was win-win for Millennials who were willing to share that they're not taking enough time off, and for Country Inns & Suites who offered registrants the opportunity to win one of 300 free nights at the hotelier chain to jumpstart the vacation process.
Country Inns & Suites By Carlson is a leading upper midscale brand known for providing a caring, consistent and comfortable hospitality experience delivered with a "touch of home."
Our "Do More Country" campaign focuses on encouraging guests to do more with their time and get out and explore this country that we call home. In its second year, the campaign had several extensions that included inviting Influencers to experience some of our more interesting destinations, Twitter parties focused on getting more from your travels, and social content highlighting hotel destinations positioned to provide fantastic activities and sightseeing.
In August, Do More Country With Your Time Off turned the focus to the struggle that is vacation time- ultimately the crux of getting out and doing more. With affordable rates at over 470 locations found in both urban and suburban locations, and amenities that make every stay seamless and enjoyable (such as a complimentary hot breakfast and warm cookies at check-in), Country Inns & Suites was primed for a campaign such as this. The campaign objective was to gain awareness for the brand among Millennials who are some of the greatest offenders for lack of time away from work. The brand chooses to steer away from sarcasm and negativity, which is the positioning that many brands are using to successfully reach the Millennial. Instead, we chose to be an encouraging force, light-heartedly helping them to become self-aware of the vacation they may be missing. The ultimate goal was to develop a campaign that all Americans felt inspired to share.
And it worked. We generated nearly 20 million impressions and 386 thousand actions with the brand. Over 23 thousand people completed the quiz and over 800 shared it with their friends.
In just over 8 weeks, the campaign amassed nearly 20 million impressions and 386K actions and engagements with the brand, with only $30K in paid social media support. In a social media landscape where brand awareness and engagement are competing objectives, the brand was able to generate a substantial amount of mentions and impressions, while also successfully driving action among a new audience, even generating revenue among new guests.
