Mr & Mrs Smith
Background
Mr & Mrs Smith had carved a niche against the Goliath travel industry players, so the team wanted to harness this approach and create a mailing that appealed to active and lapsed customers alike, driving bookings in the busy January period.
Solution
The luxury end of the travel industry is awash with aspirational imagery but little that creates an emotional connection to the brand. Working in true collaboration, Mr & Mrs Smith and their agency Proximity devised a clear strategy, built around extensive customer analytics, to identify the audience and the content required to drive bookings.
The campaign started with existing customer insights. First, the agency identified the behavioural segments of the database, separating the Active Membership base from those Lapsed customers who had previously booked once or multiple times, showing there was a ‘win-back’ opportunity.
Data mining showed that a group of customers only bought UK breaks, so Mr & Mrs Smith had to ensure the content mirrored this but provided these customers enough overseas aspirational holidays to whet their appetite and stimulate these types of bookings. Equally, those that spent considerable sums over numerous overseas breaks needed to feel recognised and valued.
It was also revealed that, historically, January had a particular buying behaviour - almost 50% of January bookings had traditionally travelled before Easter, so the content had to reflect this whilst building the brand’s reputation for luxurious travels built out of dreams and extensive planning.
Further profiling revealed a clear picture of two distinct audiences: 45+ affluent families in larger houses alongside higher earning 20-30 year-olds in rented or shared accommodation in cities. The creative approach had to appeal to both.
The creative brief asked for an aspirational piece that fed the emotional travel feelings without being a traditional January peak “sale and hard sell”. Using the JICMAIL insight that a travel mailing will be interacted with 4.6 times, the goal was to create something that drew on this and “lived” on the coffee table for a longer time.
To create an immediate differentiation from other luxury operators, the outer envelope of the mailing used the line “HOTEL LOVERS ONLY ASK ONE QUESTION… ... BUT IS IT A SMITH HOTEL?” Inside was an 8pp newspaper called “Room Service” that stood out from all the brochures being sent by competitors. Aspirational content showcased the Top 9 places to visit in 2023, based on the destinations and product types usually booked in January but written in a Sunday Supplement way with copy that teased the reader to find out more via the website and phone.
The content included a mix of shorter breaks and longer stays and a blend of UK and overseas - all presented in an immersive approach so that the customer could see themselves in that destination.
Results
The combination of an insight driven strategy and highly inspirational creative (that encapsulated everything Mr & Mrs Smith customers had grown accustomed to) worked together to make the mailing a huge success.
The campaign was a huge success, exceeding ROAS expectations.
It solidifies mail’s position as a pivotal and effective component within the overall marketing mix for reaching and engaging the Mr & Mrs Smith customer base.
