Best Associations Email Message Campaign

The Annual Historic Hotels Annual Conference draws owners and general managers from member properties to a new venue every fall for a three-day meeting. It’s the most prestigious event in the industry. In 2016, organizers felt concern about having fewer conference attendees because the venue was planned for Honolulu, Hawaii, which added more distance and expense than previous years when it had been within the continental U.S. To encourage more sign-ups, earlier, an email strategy was devised to introduce the high-quality content and create the impression that this year would be a can’t-miss event. To accurately tailor the message to the audience, we split the database into two distinct groups, owners and on-property staff, then changed the copy in the emails to speak to the needs and benefits of attending for each group. Over the course of three months prior to the registration deadline, emails were sent to announce speakers, deliver a video invitation and encourage room booking. The creative vision was to capture the essence of vintage Hawai’i that Waikiki Beach is known for. The use of archival images personifies the Historic Hotels brand by showing that these legendary hotels have intrinsic and iconic value. More than just promoting the event, the emails serve as destination inspiration for the exotic destination. The email campaign was successful in meeting attendance goals for the 2016 Annual Conference.

Contributors:

Executive Director, Historic Hotels of America:	Larry Horwitz
Director, Marketing and Partnerships :	Erin Ross
Account Director, Miles:	Carrie Tomlinson
Art Director:	Evelyn Esperanca

MILES

Website: www.milespartnership.com

Location: USA

About the Agency:

Miles Partnership markets destinations and hospitality businesses by working with state tourism offices, convention & visitors bureaus, hotels and other organizations in the tourism industry to create forward-thinking digital and print content marketing solutions.