Working together for almost five years, Accor and Sojern shifted their marketing focus in July 2020 to a COVID-19 recovery campaign. Targeting a regional audience across MEA, they used Sojern’s data to inform campaign decisions, resulting in a positive ROI of 1.16X and a 20% increase in direct booking revenue.
Sojern has become one of our closest partners when it comes to performance. I don't think we have a single campaign where Sojern is not the key partner. If it's not broke, don't fix it.
Boasting one of the industry’s most diverse and fully-integrated hospitality ecosystems, Accor's luxury and premium brands, midscale and economy offerings, unique lifestyle concepts, entertainment and nightlife venues, restaurants and bars, branded private residences, shared accommodation properties, concierge services, and co-working spaces span over 5,000 properties and 10,000 F&B venues worldwide.
Boasting one of the industry’s most diverse and fully-integrated hospitality ecosystems, Accor's luxury and premium brands, midscale and economy offerings, unique lifestyle concepts, entertainment and nightlife venues, restaurants and bars, branded private residences, shared accommodation properties, concierge services, and co-working spaces span over 5,000 properties and 10,000 F&B venues worldwide.
Due to travel restrictions during the last few months of 2020, Accor needed to exclusively target regional travellers across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco. Restrictions meant that travellers from key markets such as the UK, France, and Germany were not able to visit their MEA properties. With fewer leisure travellers, cabin crew, and business travellers, the focus had to shift to those looking for staycations and places to self isolate. This introduced the need for a more flexible and dynamic weekly strategy.
Accor adapted and took advantage of every small opportunity. Optimising on the go became the key to success. “Our very close relationship with Sojern allows us to respond to the data, and set up campaigns at short notice,” says Branislav Ilic. “Sojern’s insights and webinars helped inform our strategy.” In response to domestic travel demands, Accor shifted to a city approach in their messaging. Gaurav Vijh, Director Digital & Distribution, Accor MEA said “We had multiple landing pages testing for the same product, being mindful of spend, and if we were attracting the right customer.” The Accor Live Limitless loyalty programme was also a key part of Accor’s strategy during the peak of COVID-19 and helped keep travellers engaged, especially on social media.
By being so adaptable and creative, Accor managed to refocus their resources to attract those regional travellers. Through well-timed competitions and inventive business diversification ideas like turning bedrooms and meeting facilities into ‘office spaces’, Accor successfully increased demand. On top of this, their flexible approach utilising Sojern’s insights and expertise to continually shift focus to new audiences resulted in an ROI of 1.16X, and drove a 20% increase in direct booking revenue. “In the few months of the campaign, I would say that Sojern is leading the way in terms of the booking numbers that we're getting,” said Branislav.