Promotional Campaign Report: Strategy for Marriott International

This report, prepared by the Marketing Manager of Marriott International, details a proposed promotional campaign. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction to the hospitality industry. The report outlines a suitable promotional campaign strategy focused on advertising and digital marketing to enhance brand awareness and customer loyalty. It identifies the target market as high-income individuals, business professionals, and event planners, and sets communication objectives aimed at increasing brand awareness, attracting new customers, and retaining existing ones. The report analyzes competitors like IHG, Four Seasons, and Hilton, and recommends communication channels including social media, public relations, and pay-per-click advertising. The campaign's duration is set at 45 days, and methods for measuring its results are discussed. Finally, a budget for the campaign is provided, concluding with references and appendices. The report aims to secure management approval for the conceptual idea and expenditure of the promotional campaign.

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Letter of Transmittal
05th September 2018
The Management Team
Marriott International
Australia
Sir,
As the Marketing Manager of Marriot International, I am submitting this report regarding the
conceptual idea and expenditure of promotional campaign.
This report details the suitable promotional campaign strategy, target market, communication
objectives, competition, communication channels, duration of the campaign, the ways of
measuring the results and the budget for the promotional campaign.
I hope this report will assist the management team in taking decisions regarding promotional
campaign for Marriott International.
Sincerely,
XYZ
Marketing Manager
Marriott International

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Executive Summary
This report is addressed to the management team of Marriott International for the approval of the
conceptual idea and expenditure of promotional campaign. This report provides the brief
overview of Marriott International, suitable promotional campaign strategy, target market,
communicational objectives of the campaign, competition, communication channels and the
duration of the campaign. Furthermore, it highlights the ways in which the results will be
measured after the campaign. At the end of this report, a budget has been provided for this
promotional campaign.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Brief Overview of the Hospitality Enterprise..................................................................................4
Suitable Promotional Campaign Strategy........................................................................................4
Target Market for the Promotional Campaign.................................................................................5
Communication Objectives of the Promotional Campaign.............................................................6
Competition.....................................................................................................................................7
Communication Channels and Duration of the Campaign..............................................................7
Measuring the Results of the Campaign..........................................................................................8
Budget for the Promotional Campaign............................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
Appendix........................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The hospitality industry is concerned with the broad category of fields within the service industry
which includes event planning, lodging, transportation, theme parks, travelling, cruise line and
additional fields within the tourism industry. This industry is considered to be a multi- billion
dollar industry that is dependent on the availability of disposable income and leisure time.
Hospitality units such as hotel, restaurant and the amusement park comprise of multiple groups
such as direct operations and facility maintenance (McAlexander, Koenig, and DuFault, 2016).
As the Marketing Manager of Marriott International, this promotional campaign report has been
prepared to be addressed to the management team for approval of a conceptual idea and
expenditure.
Brief Overview of the Hospitality Enterprise
Marriott International is the multinational diversified hospitality company of America which is
engaged in the management and franchising of a broad portfolio of hotels and lodging facilities.
The enterprise was founded by J. Willard Marriott. The headquarters of the enterprise is situated
in Bethesda, Maryland in the metropolitan area of Washington D.C. Marriott International is
considered to be the world’s largest hotel chain. The size of the enterprise can be determined
with the help of its 6,700 properties across 130 countries in the world, 1.2 million rooms along
with 195,000 rooms in the development pipeline in the year 2017. The turnover of the company
amounted to 22.9 billion U.S. dollars in the year 2017. The enterprise has witnessed continuous
increase in the visitation numbers as a result of its efforts, dedication and perseverance. The
overall occupancy rate of the hotel in the year 2017 was 73.7%. Approximately, 177,000
employees work for the success of this enterprise all across the globe (Marriott, 2018).
Suitable Promotional Campaign Strategy
Promotion refers to the use of marketing communications for the purpose of persuading or
informing the target audiences regarding the relative merits of the brand. With the help of
promotion, interest can be created among the target customers along with increasing awareness,
generating sales and creating brand loyalty. Promotion is often regarded as one of the elements

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of promotional plan or promotional mix. It includes advertising, persona selling, direct marketing
publicity, sales promotion along with exhibitions, event marketing and trade shows (Luxton,
Reid and Mavondo, 2015).
The promotional campaign strategy for Marriott International will revolve around the basic
motive of better establishment of the brand in the market. Marriot International is already a
leader of the hospitality industry but the promotional campaign strategy will focus on improving
the customer loyalty. The existing customers will be offered exclusive offers which they will be
able to avail within the defined time period. Special discounts will be there for promoting the
hotel for the new customers (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan, 2015).
The promotional campaign strategy will focus on the advertising as the element of promotion
mix. High impact ad campaign will be initiated by Marriott which will be focused on targeting
the defined set of customers for the purpose of increasing brand awareness among them. The
advertisement will portray the high brand recall of the hotel which has made it the global leader
of the industry. The innovative incentives which will be offered to the clients such as vacations,
free merchandise, upgraded rooms, gifts and other facilities will comprise the part of the
advertisement. Frequent customers will be provided Marriott rewards as a part of its loyalty
programs. The advertisements will be published in the business directories, business TV
channels and on radios (Belch, Belch, Kerr and Powell, 2014).
Such advertisements are linked with the other elements of promotion mix. The advertisements
will attract the customers only on the basis of sales promotion techniques such as discounts,
coupons, loyalty incentives, etc. (Xu, Hao and Han, 2017) Direct marketing can be used for
advertising the offers to the existing customers by way of sending e-mails to them. The most
trending way of conducting the promotional campaign for Marriott International is in the form of
digital marketing. In this way, the offers and discounts will be advertised with the help of digital
medium such as the website of the company, mobile phone promotions, social media such as
Twitter or Facebook and writing blogs regarding the latest offers and the related benefits
(Kitchen and Burgmann, 2015).

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Target Market for the Promotional Campaign
The target market for the promotional campaign of Marriot International will comprise of the
customers who do not mind paying a premium for comfort and luxury. The organization believes
that a base service level is required by all the customers. However, the customers still differ in
terms of their willingness to pay for diverse levels of luxury and comfort. Therefore, the
promotional campaign of the enterprise will target customers belonging to high income bracket
who are in middle to upper age group. The customers can be business professionals, seasoned/
luxury travelers. Customers who are in search for a hotel for conducting an event or occasion
such as weddings or upscale business meetings also comprise the target market of Marriott
International. Couples, families and seasoned travelers are also the target market of the
promotional campaign (Dolnicar, Grün and Leisch, 2018).
Multi- stage segmentation will be utilized by Marriot International. The brand named hotels will
also be tailored in order to cater the distinctive target markets. The following hotel options are
offered by the brand such as JW Marriot, The Ritz Carlton, Gaylord Hotels, Edison Hotels,
Marriot Hotels and Resorts, Autograph Collection, Residence Inn, Marriot Vacation Club and
Conference Centres, Marriott Executive Apartments, etc. (Appendix 1) All these hotels have new
packages, services and promotion offers in order to finely key in on the target markets (Koch and
Benlian, 2015).
Communication Objectives of the Promotional Campaign
Communication objectives can be defined as the intended goals of the promotional program. The
communication objective of the promotional campaign strategy planned for Marriott
International is especially aimed at creating awareness regarding the brand. The business
meetings are generally conducted at renowned hotels as they have large budgets (Sozinova and
Fokina, 2015). Moreover, the high income families and couples do not mind spending a little
extra for premium services. However, they should be aware regarding the brand for obtaining
their services. Therefore, the promotional campaign will aim at keeping the name of Marriott
International in front of the customers along with reinforcing its image. The offers and discounts
will also enhance the capability of the middle income group to avail them as now they will be
under their reach (Gerodimos and Justinussen, 2015).

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The promotional campaigns will fulfill the basic communication objective of increasing the
business of the enterprise by way of attracting new customers. Furthermore, the objectives
include retaining the existing customers along with increasing their stays and visits to the hotel.
The communication objectives are required to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant and timely). The promotional campaign will help Marriott International in
communicating with the existing customers though their website, social media or email along
with encouraging them to refer it to others which will further increase its sales. When the
customers are rewarded for the referrals made, the relationship gets solidified and strengthened
(Jiang, Shang, Liu and May, 2015).
Competition
Since the operations of Marriott International are spread worldwide, its competitors are also
major giants in the hospitality industry. The competitors of Marriott International include IHG-
InterContinental Hotels Groups, Four Seasons Hotels Limited, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Hilton
Hotels and Resorts, etc. (Appendix 2). These enterprises are competitors of Marriott
International across Australia and in the global context also (Parente and Strausbaugh-
Hutchinson, 2014).
The net income of IHG was $417 million in the year 2016. The enterprise has over 5,100 hotels
in the world and has approximately 760,000 rooms. On the other hand, Four Seasons Hotel has
around 109 properties in 43 countries across the globe. Hyatt Hotels Corporation is known for its
finest hotels, vacation properties and resorts since 1957 (Radojevic, Stanisic and Stanic, 2015). It
has more than 700 properties in more than 50 countries of the world. Hilton Hotels and Resorts is
considered to be one of the oldest hotels in the industry and is a big player of the sector. The
enterprise has registered a phenomenal growth by ensuring its operations in greater than 5,200
properties having 856,000 rooms across 105 countries. Therefore, these major plays are aimed to
be defeated with the help of the promotional campaign strategy of Marriott International (Krafft,
Goetz, Mantrala, Sotgiu and Tillmanns, 2015).

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Communication Channels and Duration of the Campaign
Non- personal communication channel will prove to be effective in case of the promotional
campaign of Marriot International. Social media has emerged as the most effective
communication channel these days. However, for this purpose social media is required to be
utilized strategically by tailoring the content for meeting the promotional objectives of the
enterprise. Customers also look for offers on the social media websites; therefore, it will prove to
be an effective channel for promoting the brand and offers (Kilgour, Sasser and Larke, 2015).
Another communication channel is public relations which is synonymous with the press releases.
Popular bloggers can be requested to write regarding the campaign along with the PR
announcement. Or social media can be used for promoting and monitoring the thinking of people
regarding the announcements. Another communication channel is Pay- per- click in which the
offers are advertised on the social media sites and other websites (Tomše and Snoj, 2014). There
are a number of advertising options available on social media. Promoted accounts can be crated
on Twitter or sponsored updates can be posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. larger group of
audience can be reached with the help of pay per click promotions. Tighter targeting options are
provided by pay per click as it allows targeting segments by keywords, gender, location and
LinkedIn groups. Moreover, traditional ways can be used such as advertising through
newspapers, business channels, etc. The ideal length of the promotional campaigning is 45 days
(Fill and Turnbull, 2016).
Measuring the Results of the Campaign
The promotional plan will be required to be formally defined in the form of a written document.
Within this document, the situational analysis, time tables for effective integration of the
different elements of promotion and other platforms will be covered along with the different
elements of marketing mix. It will be determined in advance that how the effectiveness of the
implementation of strategy will be measured. Marriott International will measure the results of
the campaign by way of comparing the actual performance with the planned objectives. It will be
done by way of comparing the financial results of the period prior and after conducting the
promotional campaign. The increase in the number of visitors, referrals, offers availed will also
be considered as the criteria for measuring the results. Surveys can also be conducted on social

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media regarding whether they recognize or recall particular advertising messages or whether they
do remember such message. Along with this, their opinions regarding the advertisements can
also be obtained by way of the most popular medium namely social media. Moreover,
information regarding the changes in the attitudes of the customers through the offers and
discounts can also be analyzed for the purpose of measuring the results of the promotional
campaign (Blakeman, 2018). These factors will act as the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and
will help in measuring the results.
Budget for the Promotional Campaign
Huge expenses are required to be incurred in order to conduct a promotional campaign (Shen,
Chiou, Hsiao, Wang and Li, 2016). Since advertising is selected as a mode for the promotional
campaign, the following expenses will required to be incurred by Marriott International for
promotions in Australia.
Expenses Amount
Printing Posters $ 50,000
Newspaper Advertisements $ 20,000
Advertisements on Business
Channels and Business
Magazines
$ 40,000
Appointment of Marketing
Professional
$ 10,000
Pay- Per- Click advertising $ 5,000
Social Media Advertising $ 10,000
Website Redesigning $ 10,000
Total $ 145,000
The above table clearly specifies the amount required to be spent on different forms of
advertising by Marriott International. Since posters is the most common and traditional form of
advertising and promoting the offers and discounts, a number of poster 50,000. Newspaper
advertising assists in reaching a wider audience and will cost $ 20,000 to the enterprise. The

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organization will appoint a marketing professional especially for the purpose of handing this
campaign. The salary to the marketing professional will be $ 10,000. The promotions will also be
made in business magazines and on business channels for which the organization will pay $
40,000. Pay- per- click advertising will also be included by Marriott International in its
promotional campaign strategy. In this, other website owners will place the ads on their websites
and when the ads will get clicked, the owners will be paid according to the planned rates. The
estimated total cost for pay- per- click advertising is $ 5,000. Social media advertising will
enhance the reach of the offers to wider audience and will cost $ 10,000 to the enterprise as it
will involve appointment of professionals who will design perfect ads for the target market. At,
the end, the website of Marriott International will be designed in order to include the latest offers
and discounts on the home page. For this individuals will be appointed who are experts in this
field. The cost for website redesigning is estimated to be $ 10,000. Therefore, the total estimated
budget required for conducting this promotional campaign is $ 145,000.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that Marriot International is already a leader of the hospitality
industry but a promotional campaign strategy is required for the purpose of improving the
customer loyalty and increasing brand awareness. The existing customers will be offered
exclusive offers which can be availed by them within the defined time period. Special discounts
will be offered to the new customers during the campaign. The target market for the promotional
campaign of Marriot International will comprise of the customers who do not mind paying
premium for comfort and luxury. The campaign will aim at increasing the stays and visitation
numbers of the enterprise. Moreover, the enterprise face immense competition from its
competitors such as IHG- InterContinental Hotels Groups, Four Seasons Hotels Limited, Hyatt
Hotels Corporation, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, etc. The promotional campaign strategy will
focus on the advertising through non- personal communication channel such as social media
websites, press releases, Pay- per- click advertisements along with the traditional ways which
include business channels and newspapers. The results of the campaign will be measured by
comparing the actual performance with the planned objectives. The total estimated budget
required for conducting this promotional campaign is $ 145,000.

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communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education.
Blakeman, R., 2018. Integrated marketing communication: creative strategy from idea to
implementation. Rowman & Littlefield.
Dolnicar, S., Grün, B. and Leisch, F., 2018. Market Segmentation. In Market Segmentation
Analysis (pp. 3-9). Springer, Singapore.
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Appendix
1)
2)

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