COLLABORATED WITH
BACKGROUND
For the first time in 11 consecutive years, Best Western Hotels & Resorts’ strategic partnership with Disney ABC was extended to The Walt Disney Studios through a high-profile alignment with Disney/Pixar’s summer blockbuster sequel, Incredibles 2. The partnership aimed to increase Best Western’s awareness among Disney ABC’s audience of families and to drive participation in Best Western’s summer promotion for Best Western Rewards (BWR) members, which offered members a $20 gift card after their first stay.
Best Western and Disney ABC launched an integrated marketing campaign to promote the partnership. The campaign leveraged TV commercials, social media, digital advertising, direct marketing and in-hotel promotional materials to effectively reach travelers at every touch point and drive increased awareness of Best Western’s summer promotion. The campaign utilized strategic media buys and native placements to further optimize the campaign, resulting in increased bookings.
OBJECTIVES
Primary marketing objectives and goals for Best Western’s 2018 summer partnership with Disney ABC and Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 were to:
Direct Mailer and In-Property Table Tent
RESEARCH
After 11 consecutive years of developing family-focused campaigns with Disney, Best Western has ample data on the best tactics to engage its target audiences. The integrated marketing campaign was developed to promote the theatrical release of Incredibles 2 and the Best Western summer promotion. Through research, the brand focused on delivering dynamic, custom co-branded executions in cross-platform environments to better engage the target audience of kids and families on vacation.
The campaign’s key co-branded elements featured Incredibles 2 characters and included:
Message
The campaign’s creative strategically promoted Best Western’s summer $20 gift card offer via co-branded elements, which included Incredibles 2 branding and character imagery. Key messages enticed audiences to book with Best Western for an “Incredibly Rewarding Summer,” underscoring value messaging for travelers with clever tie-ins to the movie. Calls to action encouraged consumers to see the movie and the book directly at bestwestern.com.
Pairing recognizable Incredibles 2 characters with Best Western messaging positioned the brand as a modern travel partner for families. The campaign communicated that “even heroes need a vacation” and that Best Western could help “stretch your summer travel budget,” offer “incredibly strong summer savings” or provide “surprisingly powerful rewards benefits” to play on themes from the movie. The campaign used highly-curated creative storytelling to appeal to its audience in a playful way across integrated elements.
Digital Banners
RESULTS
The 2018 campaign resulted in the highest engagement rates in the 11-year partnership, achieving every goal and objective. Results for the integrated campaign include:
209%
more efficient than other Best Western display initiatives on average
10.1M+
paid and organic social impressions across Disney ABC and Best Western’s channels
26M+
impressions co-branded digital and video media impressions
2,100+
North American hotels displayed in-property assets prominently in lobbies
1M+
direct mailers delivered to Best Western Rewards members and non-members
6.9M+
emails delivered to people with a 19.4% open rate
$182.7M
total during the Incredibles 2 opening weekend, setting the record for best debut for an animated film, the highest box office opening for a PG film and is the highest domestic grossing PG film of all time
Emails and Social Media
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