Chapter 9 - Content Marketing

Case Study Chapter 9: JW LeesTurning online traffic into offline footfall in JW Lees pubs

Image: home page of jwlees.co.uk reproduced with kind permission of JW Lees

OverviewEstablished in 1828, JW Lees now manages 35 of its pubs, inns and hotels and a further 115 pubs and inns let through independent licenses. JW Lees prides itself on its quality ales and food at great value for money. To turn online traffic into offline footfall within the JW Lees pubs, JW Lees selected Venn as its chosen digital marketing agency. Together, they launched the ‘Beer Hop’ campaign. The Beer Hop promoted an offer to try three JW Lees beers for the price of two. This deal was fulfilled by a

Source: Heinze, A., Fletcher, G., Rashid, T., & Cruz, A. (Eds.). (2017). Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach. Routledge. Accessible online http://mastersindigitalmarketing.org/book/ #passion4digital This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

downloadable voucher code, provided at the end of the Beer Hop, that entitled users to a third off in one of four JW Lees pubs. The aims included the following:

● Promotion of JW Lees cask ales● Encourage drinkers to try alternatives to their usual drink● Bring an offline market online

Implementation

Source: Heinze, A., Fletcher, G., Rashid, T., & Cruz, A. (Eds.). (2017). Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach. Routledge. Accessible online http://mastersindigitalmarketing.org/book/ #passion4digital This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Image: reproduced with kind permission of JW Lees

The Beer Hop microsite - http://www.beerhop.co.uk/ - was designed around an interactive ‘fruit machine’, to help beer lovers discover JW Lees’ ales and learn about the different tastes on offer. To do this, users were asked to select the flavour and the colour of their perfect pint, after which they would be presented with three suggestions tailored to their taste.

Source: Heinze, A., Fletcher, G., Rashid, T., & Cruz, A. (Eds.). (2017). Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach. Routledge. Accessible online http://mastersindigitalmarketing.org/book/ #passion4digital This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Venn also designed promotional posters, drip mats and tap hooks to reinforce the campaign and entice ale lovers online to find the perfect pint and download their voucher. From the smartphone app to the coasters, Venn made sure users were immersed in the Beer Hop at every touch of their drinking experience.

While beer will always be on JW Lees’ customers’ lips, the Beer Hop campaign was launched during national Cask Ale Week to ensure it received maximum interest from ale lovers on relevant sites and social media. To reach the right people, Venn also ran Facebook advertising throughout the campaign and introduced a display campaign towards the end, to give traffic to the site a final boost.

To bolster the Beer Hop campaign, a social media competition was also launched, where people who included #weightinbeer in a Tweet or Facebook post, could win their weight in JW Lees’ beer. Venn took a fully integrated approach and supported the social media competition with an e-shot sent to everyone on JW Lees’ mailing list.

ResultsIt’s hard to argue with the results. This short, five-week campaign brought almost 10,000 unique visitors to the Great JW Lees Beer Hop site. More than 675 vouchers were downloaded over this period at a staggering conversion rate of 7%.

Targeted outreach generated over 2,000 conversations with industry leaders on social media and secured placements on 10 high profile websites including the MEN, Cask Ale Week and Prolific North.

Further InformationThe campaign won the Best Digital Marketing Campaign for Travel/Leisure in Prolific North’s 2016 Awards.

http://www.jwlees.co.uk/

http://www.beerhop.co.uk/

Discussion Questions1. What type of content formats were used within this campaign?2. What digital marketing channels were most effective in amplifying the content?3. What were the core KPIs?4. How could this campaign have been amplified further?

Class ActivitiesSource: Heinze, A., Fletcher, G., Rashid, T., & Cruz, A. (Eds.). (2017). Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach. Routledge. Accessible online http://mastersindigitalmarketing.org/book/ #passion4digital This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

1. Should you have been given the same objectives and client, how would you plan a similar campaign? Consider the following:

● Strategy● Buyer persona● Content● Digital marketing channels● Public relations approaches

Source: Heinze, A., Fletcher, G., Rashid, T., & Cruz, A. (Eds.). (2017). Digital and Social Media Marketing: A Results-Driven Approach. Routledge. Accessible online http://mastersindigitalmarketing.org/book/ #passion4digital This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.