Winner

Best Western International

Ideas Collide Marketing Communications

Best Western’s marketing strategy continues to evolve and in the past year, they have made a large impact in the digital space. Social media is a key strategy and channel for Best Western to further relationships between the brand, its hoteliers, their guests and the general public who share a joy of travel. The importance and success of Best Western social media efforts are best highlighted in these accomplishments:

• Best Western was the first major international hotel chain to allow travelers to book hotel rooms directly on their Facebook page
• Since its launch, Best Western’s Facebook page has maintained a Positive Sentiment rating of 98.5% or higher.
• Best Western’s Facebook page has attracted over 800,000 fans, leading the category in followers on the social media platform with followership up over 60% from just last year.
• Social media campaigns like Vacation Citation, a Facebook initiative that helped give permission to those in need of taking a hard-earned vacation through “Vacation Citations”, generated high results. Vacation Citation ranks as the brand’s most successful social media campaign to date, generating impressive results, including a 28% increase in Facebook “Likes” and a 20% year-over-year increase over the previous year’s promotion.

As mobile usage continues to change consumer behavior and interactions, Best Western focused on new and exciting ways to better reach and engage consumers with an innovative promotion never done before in the travel industry. Best Western created an in-property experience that combined their summer promotion with Disney Media Sales and Marketing using an augmented reality technology platform from Aurasma, a world leader in augmented reality. The solution was the custom developed Best Western Alive! app that promoted interactive engagement with the brand, and was met with great results:

• The app received over 43,500 downloads
• Photos taken with the app were shared 4,000+ times on Facebook
• Through social sharing, the promotion reached over 1.5 million people

In 2013, the Best Western to Go mobile app was re-developed with many of the same great features of the original app, including integration with TripIt app features, allowing users to store and access their travel itineraries directly in the Best Western app. The app also incorporates new and enhanced features, such as:

• Simplified navigation and design across app functions
• Improved access to a user’s Best Western Rewards account
• Enhanced map interactions with points of interest as well as the ability to define and store locations
• Ability to store user preferences for quicker access and navigation

The redesigned app launched on iOS and Android devices early June 2013. Since its redesign, the Best Western to Go app has been updated nearly 350,000 times. The Best Western to Go iPad app was recently redesigned and launched as well, in November 2013, and has already seen great reviews and feedback

From targeted email campaigns, inventive mobile apps and management of one of the most active and rewarding social media communities in the industry, Best Western is always incorporating a robust digital marketing approach to not only drive more revenue to its member hotels, but to build long-term relationships with its guests. Best Western’s innovative leadership is evident in 2013, and the industry is taking notice:

• L2 ranks Best Western as #1 on their 2013 Digital IQ Index®
• TravelClick, a leading provider of hospitality industry solutions, recently named Best Western as the 2013 eMarketer of the Year.

http://www.bestwestern.com

Winner

Arnie Kuenn

Vertical Measures

Arnie Kuenn is the founder and leader of Vertical Measures, a search, social, and content marketing agency in Phoenix. He recently ascended to the role of CEO and continues to lead forward our vision to get our clients more traffic, more leads, and more business. Arnie is a frequent speaker at numerous conferences like SMX, PubCon, and Content Marketing World (to name a few). Arnie also travels around the country, teaching the power of content marketing in workshops and training sessions. Arnie Kuenn is a thoughtful and passionate thought leader both internally at VM and within the greater internet marketing community.

http://www.verticalmeasures.com/arnie-kuenn-speaker-bio