Problem Statement:

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Husker fans from out-of-state are choosing hotels that are downtown such as the Marriott and Embassy Suites more frequently than The Graduate Lincoln hotel. This is because The Graduate has not had eye-catching campaigns or made enough efforts to promote its unique features. Over the past several years, there has been much talk about the potential for the success of major brands such as Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt succeeding with their boutique soft brands. (Manning et al., 2018). This is a threat to the Graduate, which is already classified as a casual boutique hotel. Furthermore, many consumers are instead choosing to stay in Airbnb lodging because of the variety of options, uniqueness, and low cost. Airbnb’s growth in 2016 continued to surpass that of any existing hotel franchise model (Manning et al., 2018). Furthermore, The Graduate is not attracting fully engaged guests, it is attracting indifferent guests. Fully engaged guests have a strong emotional attachment to a hotel brand. They are willing to promote it among friends, family, and colleagues and go out of their way to stay there. Indifferent guests have no strong feelings toward a brand and may switch between different brands on a dime. In the hospitality industry, about one in five customers on average are fully engaged. Among Generation X, only 22% are fully engaged. (Timmerman & Yu, 2014). This low percentage indicates that The Graduate has the potential to greatly boost their business by doing more to create a meaningful connection with guests, particularly Gen Xers. They are waiting to be won over.

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Target Audience:

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Our target audience is Generation X people aged 35-54. They are upper class and have an average household income level of $186,000. Generation X is willing to make more purchases due to higher disposable income and more free time (Lissitsa, Kol, 2016). This audience most likely has kids between the ages of 10-25. They value family first (Williams, 2011). They have at least a college level education and work upper management and professional jobs. (Claritas) The majority of their time is spent balancing family, life, and work (Williams, 2011). In general, they are highly educated individuals who value individualism and self-reliance. They are skeptical and are very questioning of conventionality. (Lissitsa, Kol, 2016).

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Our ideal avatar is Sarah Smith. She is a 40-year-old alumnus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is from Kansas City and has two children aged 14 and 18. Her husband and their children have season tickets and come to all the Husker home games. Sarah has a management job in her advertising company and their household income is $192,000.

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Consumer & Research Insights:

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Gen Xers are showing greater willingness to go on leisure vacations with their families (Timmerman & Yu, 2014). They are attracted to boutique hotels that are casual, relaxed, stylish, and unique to a particular urban location. These individuals are less brand loyal, less likely to call a travel agent, and less likely to plan far in advance. They're more likely to book online and pay for eye-catching extras (Lollis). Price, convenient location, and quality of the facility are the top three factors all guests consider when repeatedly booking a hotel (Timmerman & Yu, 2014).They read more reviews and visit more opinion sites than any other generation (Lissitsa, Kol, 2016). Gen Xers hate corporate speak (Beirne, 2005). When it comes to booking hotels, they want a good deal in both quality and price. Although they seek success, they are less materialistic: they price experiences, not acquisition (Williams, 2011).

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Communication and Marketing Objectives:

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We want to increase awareness of Graduate Lincoln hotel and hotel promotions to Generation X. We want to increase social media following by 5%, from August until the end of November of 2019. We want to stimulate a desire to book a room at The Graduate during the football season. The Graduate should be at the front of consumers’ minds when they make plans for Husker games, not other nearby hotels. Generation X wants customer convenience and community relations (Lissitsa, Kol, 2016). However, this generation can sometimes be difficult to communicate with (Solheim, 2012). Being concise and clear is a great way to get across this target audience. Because we know that Gen Xers have an attitude of risk avoidance and a low capacity for risk, we want to frame The Graduate Hotel as the most logical and beneficial hotel option for gameday. Gen Xers have a habit of being incredibly disloyal to brands and companies, and we want to change this (Lissitsa, Kol, 2016). A goal is to switch the majority of Gen Xers from being indifferent to fully engaged (Timmerman & Yu, 2014). We will entice these individuals to continuously book a stay with The Graduate. We want to increase hotel bookings by 20%, from August until the end of November 2019.

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Strategy:

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Entertainment is a critical part of a boutique hotel that can be delivered through a variety of means including hip restaurants, lounges and bars, a unique theme, or spectacular visual decorations (Manning et al., 2018). The Graduate provides all of this. Therefore, we have chosen to promote these particular aspects of the hotel that also relate to gameday entertainment. These enticing features such as the tiki bar and tailgate package will be promoted through a radio advertisement, sponsored Facebook advertisements, and a billboard. The Facebook advertisements will all feature a “book now” button in the bottom right hand corner to aid convenience in the booking process. We chose to include Facebook advertisements because we found that Gen Xers are less likely than other generations to use Instagram and more likely to use Facebook. Furthermore, unlike other generations, they still frequently listen to the radio (Pew Research Center, 2014). The billboard will attract Husker fans from out-of-state who are traveling to Nebraska. Our research revealed that boutique hotels have the potential to be highly profitable due to a high repeat guest factor (Manning et al., 2018). Gen Xers demand trust and want to be treated like family (Williams, 2011). Because of these factors, we have decided to also release a promotion card as part of a brand loyalty program that alumni can use when they repeatedly book stays at The Graduate Lincoln Hotel. This will be communicated through an email newsletter. We chose to utilize email as a method of communication because while Generation X is not always easy to reach, they do respond to direct mail (Pew Research Center, 2014). The campaign overall must use short bites to keep the audience’s attention. Gen Xers prefer an informal communication style and are skeptical of modern advertising (Williams, 2011). Therefore, we must use language that is direct and non-threatening.

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Brand personality: Casual, unique, family-friendly, touristy

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Tone: Welcoming, peppy, conversational

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Positioning statement: The Graduate Lincoln Hotel is the lodging company that offers the most unique experience and best deals in the downtown area for out-of-state Husker fans.

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Big Idea (The Proposition/Selling Idea):  "Spend your gameday The Graduate way!"

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Media & Brand Imperatives:

Time-sensitive deadlines will focus on the Nebraska Husker Football schedule. The campaign will begin to run shortly before the Husker football season begins in August and will continue until the end of November. We will advertise the Graduate logo clearly on every execution to extend the target’s brand loyalty past a maximum 6-8 months. This helps us focus retainment of brand loyalty past the August-November campaign. (Reisenwitz 2009.) Because Generation X appreciates experiences that ‘engage individuals in a personal way,’ the campaign will include familiar and recognizable visuals of local features such as notable objects from downtown and images of the stadium. (Mcintosh 2005.) The generation relies on well-educated companies and decides brand loyalty wisely. (Littrell 2018). All campaign executions will include the Graduate logo and the URL to the company’s website when necessary.

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Evaluation:

We will know the campaign has been successful by the measurement of sales increases, social media followers, bookings with alumni discount, and rewards cardholder members. We can also track online reviews following the campaign as well as the number of engagements with the Facebook advertisements. The increase of these measurements will demonstrate that our campaign has effectively reached the intended target and influenced their thoughts regarding The Graduate hotel.

 

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Executions:

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Billboard

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Facebook Ads

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Email Newsletter

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Husker Alumn,

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For years you were dedicated Husker fans attending every seasonal home game; why stop the tradition? As the Nebraska Husker Football season approaches, don’t miss out on the opportunity to experience the best tailgating season yet by spending your gameday The Graduate way!

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The Graduate of Lincoln invites you to travel back to the beloved Cornhusker college town and celebrate gamedays the way you did in college. The Graduate is presenting to all Nebraska Alumni, the Rewards Member Husker Card. To continue its gameday package and 70’s style, the Graduate is now partnering with local restaurants, bars, and shops to give you money back on your game day stays. The card rewards discounts when multiple-night stays are booked at the Graduate of Lincoln.

 

The Graduate also offers a tiki bar, tailgate packages, and a half-mile walking proximity to the Husker stadium. We offer information on the best tailgate locations, bars, and restaurants to spend the weekend around town. We have a long appreciation for the Husker alumni so we are offering a 10% discount to all alumni during the gameday campaign. To receive the discount please apply the code HUSKERALUMN at checkout.

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For more information, please visit https://www.graduatehotels.com/lincoln/.

 

As always, Go Big Red!

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Radio Ad

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Client/Sponsor: The Graduate Lincoln

Length: 30 seconds

Air Dates: August 1st - December 1st

Music: Husker theme song (partnering with Huskers)

ANNOUNCER:

Husker fans, It’s that time of the year: football Season! Come celebrate football games at the Graduate Hotel in Lincoln.

SFX: Crowd cheers (Establish, then under)

ANNOUNCER:

The Graduate Hotel offers an exclusive, in building tiki bar! John J’s tiki bar is open for Husker fans staying at The Graduate Hotel. Come stay at The Graduate here in Lincoln and experience that unique Husker atmosphere. Book two nights in a row and your first drink is on us! The Graduate Hotel is located at 141 N 9th Street in Lincoln. That is 141 N 9th Street. Spend your gameday The Graduate way!

MUSIC:

(Fade, out at :29)

Link to radio ad:

https://youtu.be/dpDZhopT7RM

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