Whitbread

Whitbread

Nationwide interactive mobile promotion developed by 2ergo

Nationwide interactive mobile promotion developed by 2ergo

2ergo delivered a national interactive messaging promotion for Whitbread’s flagship brands Table Table and Beefeater

The Challenge

Whitbread is the UK’s largest hotel and restaurant company, operating market-leading brands across the budget hotel and restaurant sector. Whitbread PLC employs over 33,000 people and serves 9 million customers every month in the 1800 outlets it operates across the UK. Its brands include Premier Inn, Beefeater, Table Table, Brewers Fayre, Taybarns and Costa Coffee.

Whitbread wanted to drive table covers in a period characterised by declining sales across the hospitality industry. Pubs in particular were suffering from the effects of the recession, with over 20 pubs around the country closing every week. Restaurants from high street chains to boutique celebrity outlets were turning to online deals and vouchers to drive foot traffic into their outlets. As an organisation that distinguishes itself by its ability to turn an everyday experience into a special one, Whitbread wanted to deliver on its promise to be the most customer-focused hospitality company in the world by offering customers fantastic deals and offers while visiting their establishments.

The Solution

In order to expand customer reach in its Table Table and Beefeater operations, 2ergo created a promotional text campaign designed to drive covers to outlets through a simple call-to-action via mobile. The campaign was also intended to capture data that could be used for future mobile and email CRM campaigns.

2ergo implemented its innovative Campaign Manager - a highly interactive, web-based messaging service that allows organisations to create and send personalised messages via SMS, MMS and email from one source - to execute both the Table Table and Beefeater campaigns. 2ergo first developed a bespoke text promotion to target one million potential Table Table customers with the opportunity to text in and win £1,000 in high street shopping vouchers. This promotion was supported by a direct mail door drop to encourage recipients to respond via mobile.

The Results
 
Table Table received 3,000 responses to its SMS promotion and Beefeater received responses from just under 2,500 people. The campaigns provided both brands with invaluable data capture results.

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