2013 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

The objective of this campaign as to increase occupancy rates at Shangri La’s Al Husn Hotel in Muscat, Oman. The traditional target audience has always been “wealthy couples” – but we decided to try and target professional sports teams, who would relish the chance to have a mid-winter break somewhere sunny and relaxing, with 6-star amenities. The strategy was to approach Premier League Managers through innovative Direct Mail packs. These are incredibly busy men, so our creative execution had to be personalized and relevant.

Creative Execution

It’s not everyday you receive a personalized robe from a 6-star hotel in Muscat, Oman! By sending something so original, we knew that we would get past the gatekeepers and the Managers would see the pack. The letter is deliberately lengthy with the entire first page is about football – a subject that our audience is passionate (to the point of being obsessive) about. A DM pack like this will not be forgotten quickly, and when the subject of the mid-winter does come up the Manager will surely consider All Husn as an option.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

The creative solution was to send the managers a Shangri-La bathrobe, with their initials embroidered onto the chest - in the same way that Managers where their initials on their sports jackets. This was accompanied by a 2-page letter that explained the performance of Wigan Athletic after they spent a weekend at Al Husn, and a brochure. With only 20 packs being sent, our goal was to get a single team to come for a weekend. The immediate revenue from the extended squad, managers, trainers, etc, is substantial, as well as helping us to attract more teams - from different sports - in the future.

Results

The results are highly confidential given the nature of the target audience, and the required discretion of the client. 20 packs were created and each pack cost under 300AED to produce and send. A standard room at the hotel is 1350AED a night. A single football squad spending a weekend at the hotel would generate a ROI of well over 1000%