InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) launches mobile promotion

IHG is trialling the use of a mobile promotional campaign to target frequent business travellers.

A combination of Mobile Web and SMS Engine functionality was implemented by MTT to drive awareness and to increase enrolment of IHG’s Holiday Inn brand and exclusive Priority Club® Rewards (PCR) loyalty programme.

The project, initially running in Germany, offers a competition mechanic, fulfilled on mobile, to encourage business travellers to register for the PCR loyalty scheme. Promoted via press ads, outdoor billboard advertising, and mobile banners, travellers are invited to text a key word to a mobile short code. They then receive a link to the mobile micro site via SMS. The site gives them further information on Priority Club Rewards and ‘Any Hotel, Anywhere’ and offers them the chance to win a pre-paid hotel card worth 3,000 Euros when they register as a Priority Club Member. Email address and mobile number are collected on mobile, triggering an email to the customer, which contains a clickable link to complete their PCR application and finalise their competition entry.

As loyalty programmes become increasingly important in this competitive market-place, this solution offered consumers an innovative, instant way to enrol alongside more established channels.

The mobile micro site for the promotion has been developed using MTT’s m2bed mobile hotel platform, which combines mobile web with SMS and email engine functionality to fulfil the campaign.

To date around 50% of people who responded to the campaign by SMS clicked through to visit the campaign Mobile Web Site. And 30% of these went on to complete the short-form PCR registration on mobile.