switch case study emaar hospitality group - english

Case Study

Emaar Hospitality Group

Client: Emaar Hospitality Group

Communication tools: in-room maGazinE, VidEo CampaiGns, soCial CampaiGns

Frequency: QuartErly, montHly, wEEkly, daily

objectives: dirECt salEs / Brand EnGaGEmEnt / Brand adVoCaCy / GuEst loyalty

target audience: B > C

Intelligence

talktoswitch.com ~ 01 ~

Emaar Hospitality Group stands out from the crowd.

Overview

Dubai has one of the highest densities of five star hotels in the world. So it is imperative that, when in Dubai, a five star chain really stands out from the crowd. As the United Arab Emirates recovered from the financial crisis, Emaar Hospitality Group emerged as just such a player in the luxury hotel market. It has discerning, high-income guests arriving from every corner of the globe, every minute of the day, and it uses as many tools as possible to promote itself, and each of its wonderful properties.

Switch is a major part of the machinery that makes this possible. Our deep understanding of Emaar Hospitality Group’s brand story means that the amazing content we create for them, day-in, day-out, journeys across platforms. We amplify our work through print, video, digital and social, creating a real and lasting impact. And at every step of the way, we extend the customer experience, turning customers into brand advocates.

talktoswitch.com ~ 02 ~

Their magazine had to do the same.

The Challenge

Switch was tasked with revamping The Address Magazine in 2011, with the aim of turning the title into something that could sit proudly in the lobby of the Armani Hotel inside the world’s tallest building, or adorn the sumptuous suites of The Palace Downtown Dubai overlooking the world’s largest dancing fountains.

talktoswitch.com ~ 03 ~

It had to be aspirational.

The Solution

With so little to salvage from the old magazine, we decided to start from scratch. We changed the name – better to reflect the recent broadening of Emaar’s offering to include the Armani Hotel, golf courses, equine facilities, marinas and a myriad other properties and outlets owned by the group.

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We changed the magazine’s size too, giving it a full 10 centimetres more width to allow for much better use of large and visually arresting images. It is interesting to note that while magazines around the world are following the Monocle route and shrinking in size, the local Gulf market (a major piece of Emaar’s guest pie) still prefers large format, heavily visual magazines.

Then we set about re-conceptualizing a quarterly, in-room publication: a magazine divided into four distinct sections – Culture, Style, Life and Cuisine – each a key part of a guest’s stay.

talktoswitch.com ~ 04 ~

A timeless brand experience.

The Result

The result was the creation of one of the most attractive luxury lifestyle magazines in the Middle East. The photography, typography, design, editorial selection and written word create a real sense of opulence, fully in keeping with Emaar’s stated mission to become ‘the premier global provider of personal, innovative and memorable lifestyle experiences’.

It is through this mutually reinforcing relationship between the magazine, the brand and the luxury space within which the magazine’s content is consumed that great guest engagement and loyalty-building are established. Add the direct calls to action contained throughout the magazine, and Emaar has a customer title worthy of the name.

Indeed, Emaar reported sales figures in May 2013 from its The Address Hotels + Resorts brand recorded an average occupancy of 92 per cent in the first quarter 2013, considerably higher than the Dubai city average of 89.8 per cent.

At an individual property level, Emaar has described a significant uplift in visitor traffic to outlets featured in the magazine. And if the proof is in the pudding, Emaar has increased the number of copies requested by an average 7.2 per cent per edition.

talktoswitch.com ~ 05 ~

The proof is in the pudding.

Testimonial

The team at Switch is very creative and very professional. They have confidently implemented new ideas and major new design and editorial changes to tight deadlines. From the quality of writing to the selection of fonts, sourcing of images and re-design of pages, Switch has remarkable attention to detail.I would have no hesitation in recommending their services to anyone else.

Lamis AboudiIn-House Publication Manager

Emaar Hospitality Group L.L.C.

talktoswitch.com ~ 06 ~

The brand goes global.

Joining the Dots

Magazines are the perfect remedy to the fast pace of urban life, which is why in-room hotel magazines remain so successful. But they are no longer the only channel through which a brand’s information should be created and conveyed. The hospitality industry is more customer-facing than most, and that means in today’s age, it is fundamentally social.

One might consider magazine content as bedrock for the production of content (brand journalism, branded content, whatever you want to call it) and at its best, social media can take that content and amplify it in a million ways to a million people. This is a huge part of what Switch offers its clients, big and small. And Emaar has turned out to be big.

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Socialise.

Going Social

Emaar Hospitality Group’s brands had well-established presences on Facebook and Twitter that targeted the thousands of residents that eat, drink and stay at its properties as much as its international following. But the company recognised that by exploiting social media much harder, it could steal a march on its rivals, and asked us to help.

Switch has shifted the strategy towards an ‘engagement-first’ approach, better to suit the needs of both the client and its social followers.

Our content team is now physically present at Emaar properties on a daily, rolling basis. It works closely with each property’s in-house marketing team to hunt down a continuous stream of engaging stories. These are then videoed, written about, posted – and, ultimately, used to engage with Emaar’s social media followers.

talktoswitch.com ~ 08 ~

Talk of the town.

The Result

Social media strategies typically take time to bear ripe fruit, but the results of this closely-managed approach have been immediately clear.

For example, in the first four months that Switch began managing The Palace Downtown Dubai’s Facebook account (starting at the beginning of March) we added a total of 4,000 new likes. That’s 1,000 a month, and an increase of 22 per cent.

In the same period, we managed a 21 per cent increase in followers for the @Address_Hotels Twitter account.

New likes in four months on The Palace

Downtown Dubai’s Facebook account

Increase in likes (11 March, 2013 = 10,901 likes; 24 June, 2013 =

14,204 likes

Increase in Twitter followers (11 March, 2013 = 1,440

followers. 24 June, 2013 = 1,827 followers)

4,000 22% 21%

talktoswitch.com ~ 09 ~

Increase in ‘likes’ during campaign period.

In the limelight.

A Taste of Video

Switch produces video assets for Emaar Hospitality Group every month, and our first was a sensation. We created a short film for The Palace Downtown Dubai’s Facebook contribution to the Taste Of Dubai series of culinary events at: https://www.facebook.com/thepalacedowntowndubai/posts/3914282316031.

Followers watched Chef Norberto Palacios, Executive Sous Chef at The Palace Downtown Dubai, present the ingredients of his restaurant’s signature dish. They then posted their guess of what the dish was to win tickets to Taste of Dubai.

The campaign reached 52,947 users and generated 5,186 engaged users in just three days.

Snapshot

talktoswitch.com ~ 10 ~

Increase in ‘likes’ during campaign period

May 1, 2013 - May 31, 2013

Results to envy.

Sold Out

Switch invited people to tag a friend on The Palace Downtown Dubai’s Facebook page, explaining why they would like to take them for brunch. The winner received two tickets to the Argentinian National Day brunch a week later.

See http://on.fb.me/18UFOUO

The Tag to Tango campaign received 1,483 likes, 252 shares, and 340 comments during the 10 day campaign from 14-23 May, 2013.

At one stage, the Facebook page was receiving 80 new likes per day, frankly a phenomenal rate.

The event sold out.

talktoswitch.com ~ 11 ~

Increase in ‘likes’ during campaign period

March 1, 2013 - June 21, 2013

Measured results.

From our first meeting with Switch we were deeply impressed by both their knowledge and their genuine enthusiasm for what they do. Switch’s content-first approach is refreshing: the team has an innate understanding of what our audience wants to see, share and discuss, and constantly comes up with creative ways to engage with them.

Tzu Wei Wu,

Corporate eCommerce Manager,

Emaar Hospitality Group L.L.C.

Testimonial

talktoswitch.com ~ 12 ~

To infinity & beyond.

Planning for the Future

Now the Switch team is ‘embedded’ with the client, its journalists, social specialists, photographers, videographers and designers are fully in tune with Emaar Hospitality Group’s individual brand stories and audiences. This means we can implement communication strategies that keep up with the group’s ambitious expansion plans, and allows us to quickly create clever tactical campaigns, websites and guides to further that goal.

The focus of the Content Strategy now is to use all of that firepower across platforms to turn Emaar Hospitality Group’s brands into the destination for information about hospitality in Dubai. We are telling visitors where to go, what to do, and why they should be doing it – engaging new audiences, championing influencers, showcasing user-generated content – and filling rooms, conference halls, restaurants and bars as we go.

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In Numbers

world-ClaSS in-room magazine

ComprehenSive SoCial media Strategy

a magazine

microsites, campaigns, videos, photography, marketing collateral

67,500 readers per issue X 4 issues a year

11 social media

accounts

5,186 engaged users in a

single 3 day video campaign

1,000+ likes a week generated

by Facebook campaigns

= 270,000 readers a year

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Always talking about you.

If you want your customers in Asia

and the Middle East to talk about you,

you need to talk to us.

talktoswitch.com

Switch Limited

1103A, Business Central TowersDubai Media City

PO Box 24173Dubai, UAE

Office: +971 4435 5711Mobile: +971 55711 8499Email: charlie@switch.ae

Switch Communications

48b Amoy StreetSingapore, 069874

Office: +65 6438 1998Mobile: +65 9005 4753

Email: owen@switchsg.sg

Switch Limited

Al Fardan Office TowerOffice 950, 9th Floor

Al Funduq 61PO Box 31316Doha, Qatar

Direct: +974 4410 1719Mobile: +974 7786 3136

Email: ridwaan@switch.qa