DoubleTree by Hilton set off on a mission to ask travelers what “little things" would make their travel more enjoyable. Based on 5,000 responses through social media, the brand created a year-round, pop-up event tour to surprise and delight travelers with those “little things" they said they wanted - from exclusive deals in the cities they are visiting, free Wi-Fi, charging stations, and free chocolate chip cookies. The team created “Swarm Cars" in select cities to deliver real-time “little things" requests that the brand received on Twitter. The Little Things Project became an invaluable Listening Tour, with thousands of consumers providing DoubleTree with ideas for what would make their travel experience better via iPad, Twitter and magnets. In addition to aggressive traditional and online media outreach, DoubleTree and its agencies supported the tour with social media engagement, online sweepstakes and contests, targeted email communications and in-market street teams.The DoubleTree by Hilton Little Things Project campaign set the following goals when they launched the nationwide tour and were able to achieve the following results: Goal 1: Drive social media impressions 10K new Facebook fans, 2K new Twitter followers, 10K sweepstakes entries RESULT: Achieved 41M Twitter Impressions, Facebook page is reaching more than 47M people during promotional period and over 650,000 sweepstakes entries. We have gained over 7,000 new Twitter followers, 20% increase. 4,900 mentions, 1,949 Retweets, 2,685 tweets sent. Over 24,500 new fans (16% growth) on Facebook and the Little Things Project Facebook app had over 28,000 tab views. Goal 2: Reinforce alignment with Hilton HHonors and drive enrollments 3K Hilton HHonors sign-ups RESULT: By requiring the sweepstakes entrants to be Hilton HHonors members it encouraged enrollments to the loyalty program and we received almost 9,000 new Hilton HHonors memberships. Goal 3: Generate Traditional Media Impressions 100M impressions; 1 national print; 1 national morning show RESULT: 3.2media impressions, via 700 placements in print, broadcast, radio and online outlets. On launch day, the team successfully ambushed NBC Today Show on launch day with three appearances at Rockefeller plaza and gave away “little things" to hosts Matt Lauer and Anne Curry. Additionally, DoubleTree by Hilton executives held a media tour on launch day with the Associated Press, New York Post, Travel + Leisure, TheStreet.com, Wall Street Journal. Also, DoubleTree by Hilton executives appeared on FOX News to promote the Little Things Project in two separate interviews. Additional coverage included Good Morning America Photo of the Day (Swarm Car), Fortune, PR Week, local NY media and numerous local print and broadcast outlets such as Boston Globe, Boston Herald, LA Times, Washington Examiner, San Francisco Chronicle and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Goal 4: Drive Foot Traffic to Little Things Project 2,500 average visitors to the Tell-Me-Tree in top 20 markets RESULT: Met or exceeded goals in all markets, with an average of 3,000 “little things" being distributed per market. Goal 5: Collect Listening Tour Responses 250 consumer responses per market explaining what would make travel brighter RESULT: Received more than 40,000 responses via magnets and iPads at the events as well as Twitter and Facebook — over 800 responses per event.
