#BeWhoYouAre
Overview
Posh Cockney was hired to provide Marketing, PR, and Social Media services for Andaz London - a 5-star luxury lifestyle hotel located in the heart of East London. This case study will focus on the integration of Posh Cockney as an extension of the hotel’s Marcomms team to generate buzz within the local market through storytelling, partnerships, and brand activations.
Upon signing with the client, Posh Cockney proposed ideas that would achieve the objectives set in the RFP - one of which was the #BeWhoYouAre campaign. This social media-led campaign aimed to create an online viral movement and obtain lots of positive press. Ultimately, increasing search and web traffic, social media following and engagement, and brand awareness.
The proposal intended to integrate local brands and communities to communicate the brand’s ethos of embracing its surroundings – thus, allowing its guests to enter the hotel premises as travellers and leave as locals.
Our Objective
Andaz London came to Posh Cockney intending to elevate the overall brand awareness of the hotel and its five restaurant and bar outlets. The three main areas of focus were:
Andaz London Liverpool Street (Overall hotel positioning) - Strengthen brand awareness and the hotel’s positioning as the leading vibrant, creative, and inspiring lifestyle hotel in East London
Food and Beverage Outlets - Raise profile and awareness of Andaz London’s dining options individually as high-street brands
Events & Weddings - Raise awareness of the unique and diverse event venue options
However, the main objectives of this campaign focused on the following:
Generating brand awareness for Andaz London across the Greater London area, and gaining extensive exposure for the brand and hotel to the target audience. Posh Cockney aimed to achieve this through a viral social media campaign and positive press coverage.
The said target audience set by Andaz London was the following:
- 25-45-year-olds
- Businessmen/women
- Creatives
- Londoners
- People living in cities and towns at the ends of rail lines connected to Liverpool Street Station
Challenges
Posh Cockney spent one-month learning about Andaz from the inside and out. With history weaved throughout the building and the brand, there was plenty to shout about. However, in the process of planning this campaign, the team faced a few challenges, one of which was the need for a marketing budget for the rest of the year. This posed a threat to the campaign as it involved working with global and local brands and influencers. Thus, our approach needed to take this into consideration.
Another obstacle we had to overcome was the lack of responses from global and local brands and influencers. Therefore, we ramped up our email marketing campaign by ethically sourcing emails to get in touch with respective employees working under each brand.
Once the timeline and the strategy were finalised, we were set to carry out all tasks necessary to make this campaign successful. Leading up to the online launch and the launch event, a series of unprecedented events occurred thus postponing both launches. Posh Cockney worked closely with the Andaz London team through weekly virtual meetings to discuss the plan of action to launch the campaign at an appropriate time to achieve the set objectives.
Our Approach
Key members of the team were invited to immerse themselves in the hotel to provide feedback on its 5-star service and to fully understand the Andaz brand from the inside out. Alongside this, in-depth market research was undertaken to layout the foundation and timeline of the campaign. As the target audience was set by Andaz, our job was to create the campaign message that would appeal to the selected demographic.
As this was the first summer without any restrictions, our team assessed the current marketing trends to guide us in constructing a campaign message and strategy that would strengthen brand awareness and positioning of the hotel. We anticipated trends such as the opening of the Elizabeth line that would bring an influx of local travellers, and the growing conversations surrounding inclusivity and diversity, whilst integrating these trends into the interesting stories behind the Andaz brand.
We identified the most appropriate time to launch the campaign by laying out key dates for the remainder of 2022. We highlighted September as an ideal period due to locals returning from holidays, and would allow us to either include them in the campaign or invite them to the launch party. Leading up to the launch, we spent two months reaching out to brands to sponsor the event, invite guests, and capture campaign content. Once we had captured content, we moved onto planning the launch party – with the help of the PR and Social Media teams, over 60 influencers and [number] of journalists were invited to the launch event. We had Moet & Chandon sponsor beverage for the event, whilst we liaised with Andaz London to put together the food offering from each of the six F&B outlets they had for the #BWYA launch party.
What we did
With all our campaigns, we began doing market research as we had hoped to launch the campaign in July. However, this eventually was pushed to September as we identified a prime time to target the selected audience. We then drafted the campaign message which was signed off by the client, and served as our guide to accomplishing tasks to launch the campaign online and through an event.
The specific tasks undertaken involved:
- Logo and website design
- Research on relevant brands and influencers for a partnership
- Email marketing reach out to local and global brands
- Gather and interview participants (which included guests, employees, and partnering brands)
- Create the press release
- Edit the campaign photos and videos
- FAM Trips to Andaz London with participating brands
- Plan out the launch event
- Schedule posting for the next 4-months
- Plan out activations following the launch event
Once all had been planned out, we moved on to event planning and management, which involved the following tasks:
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- Creating the guestlist (influencers and journalists)
- Invitation Creation
- Creation of event collateral
- Send out RSVPs
- Weekly Client Meetings
The Results
As this was a social media-led campaign, the results came back outstandingly positive for Andaz London. The campaign was shared across three platforms: Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The results showed that upon launching, there were almost 100 tagged stories and posts on the Andaz London Instagram account. On the day of the event, they gained 236 new followers, with over 108% of new accounts reached and impressions boosted by 217%. To ensure engagement was consistent for their Instagram account at this time, a story prompt reel was created and gained almost 5,000 views. With the increase in posts and reach on Instagram, many of the posts urged viewers to visit the #BeWhoYouAre website which housed the interview videos and biographies of each participant. The results of the campaign showed that the website had reached over 1.4k users within the first month of launch, and reported that most users directly clicked the link from posts on social media.
Whereas from a PR perspective, the campaign generated six pieces of coverage, which not only mentioned the campaign but opened up a platform for Andaz London to discuss other topics such as the hotel appointing a new director of Human Resources and providing the General Manager, Mario Flanagan with a platform to be introduced as the ‘Hotel Expert’. Features were included in notable publications such as Hotel Owner – a must-read publication for UK hoteliers and hotel managers, and Conde Nast Traveler – a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine. These features accumulated an estimated publication-wide viewership of 262k with an approximate 7.38k views based on audience reach and engagement.
What's next?
The launch of the campaign opened various opportunities for Andaz London to further the conversation on inclusivity, and diversity and celebrate creativity through collaborations with different brands and new audiences. In December 2022, Andaz London is working with Black Girl Knit Club to bring a festive pom-pom workshop for hotel guests, BGKC members and Londoners to enjoy.
As an extension to celebrating creativity and self-expression, the luxury hotel is collaborating with the University of Westminster to bring East London an engrossing art showcase featuring artwork from Fine Art, Illustration and Photography students. This aims to bring together hotel guests, students and families together at Andaz London.
Looking forward to 2023, Andaz London will be hosting the participating designers, Electronic Sheep, for a retail popup just after London Fashion Week and leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. This provides Andaz with the opportunity to tap into their fanbase located in Ireland as well as across the Greater London area.
To quote the general manager, Mario Flanagan, “Andaz London is so much more than just a hotel… Every Andaz hotel aims for guests to arrive as visitors and leave as locals, embodying the local area at every opportunity… This is going to be a hugely exciting few months – we have lots planned and I know this is just the beginning.”
He is right, this is only the beginning for Andaz and Posh Cockney are on the lookout for more brands and activations that will continue to push this important message around London City and beyond.
“Posh Cockney are hands on and have delivered successful events and campaigns for Andaz London in a short period. Their work on the #BeWhoYouAre campaign is a great example of this.” – Saakshi Verma, Marketing and Communications Manager, Andaz London
Posh Cockney’s 2022 Highlights
What a year! 2022 has been a massive year for Posh Cockney. As we approach the Christmas break and the team looks forward to a well-earned rest, we wanted to take a look at some of our highlights throughout the year.
Venue Openings
We started off the year by launching Em Sherif in Harrods, bringing the brand to the UK for the first time. Working closely with the Harrods team, we offered full Marketing and PR services including website creation and video and photography production.
In the spring, we helped open the doors to St Martin’s House in Seven Dials. Our first big launch party post-winter lockdowns was a huge success.
Posh Cockney teamed up with Barrio Familia to launch their first out of London venue, Barrio Watford. Alongside this, we also launched Barrio Covent Garden, their new flagship venue in London. You can find out more about the Barrio Covent Garden launch here.
We already have three exciting launched planned for early 2023, so watch this space.
New Recruits
The Posh Cockney team has expanded in all directions this year. Renee Chavarika has joined us as Head of Digital Media, bringing a wealth of experience across paid ads and influencer management. The social media team has seen the addition of Elle Grimes, Zahraa Kadum, and Rachael Doran, each bringing something new and fresh to the team.
Franklin Adams has joined Posh Cockney as a copywriter, adding another dynamic to the agency and strengthening our copy across all divisions. Kate O’Malley joins us as an Account Manager. The PR team has been joined by Olivia Gumus and Dee Okusanya, with Alice Jupp stepping up to PR manager.
Formerly Head of PR and Communications, Emma Bolton will be taking on the role of Account Director in 2023, continuing to maintain fantastic client relationships and leading the team.
Awards
We are very excited to have been announced as the Best Hospitality and PR Marketing Agency in London in the LuxLife Awards 2022. As well as this, we have been awarded the Most Innovative Hospitality & Lifestyle Consultancy award by Corporate Vision.
2023
2023 is set to be our best year yet. We are thrilled to have made a name for ourselves in the Hospitality sector and now feels like the perfect time to expand into other industries. We look forward to taking on clients from the tech, retail, travel, and lifestyle sectors in the new year.
Alongside the expansion of our PR and Marketing services, Posh Cockney Events and Travel & Concierge will be taking things up a notch in the new year.
Get in touch with Posh Cockney today.
Things to do in London this Christmas
What to do in London this Christmas
The countdown to Christmas is on!
Christmas in London is truly magical – the sparkling lights lighting up the streets, gorgeous decorations and the perfect excuse to meet up with loved ones and enjoy the festivities. Here’s a round-up of festive favourite things to do in the capital to make it even more special.
Rent out the private room at Rake’s Café Bar for a gathering
Located in Liverpool Street, the private room at Rake’s Café Bar is the perfect location for festive gatherings with family and friends. Rake’s is a café by day and a bar by night so it really does cater for any occasion. The room is actually a ‘secret room’ – also known as the ‘Orgy Room’! – so it is sure to be a unique venue for your guests. The venue is perfect for intimate gatherings and is the perfect excuse to gather all your loved ones together during the festive period.
Book Rake’s on their website.
Have a festive meal with a twist at Ritu Seasons of India
Head down to Ritu this festive season to indulge in spectacular Christmas party menus in a stunning setting. With two three-course set menus to choose from, there’s something for every kind of gathering, whether it be the office Christmas party or a catch-up meal with the extended family. The menus run until Christmas Eve.
Both menus are perfect for Christmas parties and get-togethers for tables of eight or more.
Book your table now for an unforgettable Christmas.
Stay at the luxury Andaz London hotel after a day of exploring the city
Experience a luxurious stay at Andaz London hotel located just next to Liverpool Street station. Enjoy the modern and spacious rooms and relax in the incredible range of five restaurants & bars located within the hotel. With the hotel being so close to the tube, moving around London has never been so easy.
Before settling down for the night in this lush location, make room for an activity-packed festive day in the capital. From the beautiful Christmas lights illuminating Covent Garden, to the decorations filling the shop windows on Oxford Street, there’s always a stunning display to see in London. Of course, there is also Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, which allows you to immerse yourself in all things festive. This year, they celebrate their 15th edition, so it’s sure to be extra special. With a wide selection of attractions, food, drinks and entertainment, it is guaranteed to have something for everyone.
Head down to Barrio on New Year’s Eve to celebrate in style
Barrio is hosting a showstopping New Year’s Eve event at every one of their venues. From just £15 at all London sites and £5 at Barrio Watford, guests can secure their place at London’s biggest carnival fiesta, which includes a welcome cocktail on arrival.
Expect a night full of Barrio all-star DJs, confetti cannons at midnight, the infamous Barrio ice luge and non-stop party mash-up mayhem bangers. Set to bring the spirit of the Latin Quarter to your favourite Barrio with their legendary samba dancers and dream team serving the freshest of cocktails straight into 2023. Whether you are doing a congo under a limbo shot stick or wearing a sombrero full of margarita shooters, there are drink packages for everyone to book and celebrate in style. There are a variety of entry times to choose from when purchasing your ticket with the latest ticket entry of 11pm – just in time to raise a tequila as the clock strikes midnight.
Tickets can be purchased on their website.
Would you like to see your venue listed here? Get in touch with Posh Cockney today.
International Football at Andaz London
Overview
With the World Cup fast approaching, our long-term client, Andaz London, required a recurring where Londoners could watch the World Cup. This case study outlines how we did that along with the campaign results.
Our Objective
To create and promote an event for the World Cup within Andaz London that generates revenue for the hotel.
Challenges
Due to brand guidelines, we were unable to use the term ‘World Cup’ when referring to the event. Communications-wise, this provided the challenge of being unable to implement Google Ads due to search terms.
Our Approach
We settled on the event title ‘International Football at Andaz London’ as well as listing matches by the game name. This proved successful and we had no issues with ticket sales due to the name.
What we did
Firstly, we worked closely with the onsite team to create an event package that would be desirable to guests as well as profitable for Andaz London. We set up a partnership with Heineken Silver, who provided beer for each match. Once agreed, we listed the event on Design My Night.
A press release was created and circulated to all relevant press to announce the event.
The event was promoted via Instagram on both the grid and the stories. We reshared this a few days prior to each match to drive further awareness.
On LinkedIn, we focused on a more B2B approach, encouraging businesses to book Andaz London for their teams to watch the games.
The Results
We gained 5 pieces of press coverage with an estimated 3M audience and 37K views, all focused on where to watch the World Cup in London.
All England games sold out at the Andaz Studio.
What's next?
We will continue to work with Andaz London and use the success of this event to inform future campaigns.
Launching Barrio Covent Garden
Overview
We were approached by Barrio Familia to handle all PR for the launch of their 5th and largest venue in Covent Garden.
Our Objective
To create a buzz around the opening of Barrio’s largest venue opening through PR and a launch party.
Challenges
The Covent Garden venue is a very large space with a capacity of 600 people. That meant we needed a guest list of around 1,000 people to guarantee a full venue. Rail strikes caused us a huge challenge and led to us needing to change the event date twice and having to resend all invites to the entire guest list.
Our Approach
We worked closely with the Barrio team as well as Nightcap’s PR team to plan a PR strategy and launch event that would continue to drive bookings as well as create a huge PR buzz.
What we did
We created and sent out an initial press release, announcing that Barrio Familia was taking over the former Tropicana Beach Club site in Covent Garden. The focus was on trade, hospitality, business, and consumer press both in London and nationally. We used the fact that the site is believed to be ‘The World’s Largest Tequila Bar’ as a hook, as well as a quote from Nightcap CEO and former Dragon’s Den Sarah Willingham.
Next, we focused on the launch event, creating a target list of London-based journalists and influencers. We also invited local businesses in order to support the Barrio events team and drive future bookings. We invited approximately two thousand people in order to have a guestlist of one thousand attendees.
Posh Cockney also organised the step and repeat board as well as the paparazzi for the event.
The Results
The initial press release landed 15 pieces of coverage with an estimated 97.6k views.
During the week of the launch event, there was a 300% increase in Instagram engagement on the Barrio channels.
What's next?
We will continue to support Barrio with their upcoming campaigns and ensure we drive bookings for Covent Garden alongside the other sites.
Important Dates For Your December Marketing Calendar (+ Content Ideas!)
Your 2022 December Marketing Calendar
December is finally here! Winter is already sinking its claws into the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas lights are getting turned on around the country, and the year will draw to an end very soon. This time of the year holds so many opportunities for marketing teams, so in this blog we’re going to give you all the important dates for you to use in your December marketing plans!
From Small Businesses Saturday and National Hot Chocolate Day, to Christmas and New Year’s Eve, there is so much for all the marketers out there to get playful with, so grab your calendar and a pen, and get planning!
The Whole Month – The Run Up To Christmas!
We know this is a topic for debate in itself – when does Christmas start? When does it end? Is it okay to put up Christmas trees in November? But, if you’re working in a customer-facing business, we know as well as you do, Christmas conversations have to start well before December! Christmas should be the focus of your December marketing calendar!
By now, gingerbread lattes should be back on the menu, Christmas photoshoots should have been completed, and you should already be pushing Christmas group bookings and offers harder than anything else you’ve pushed throughout the last year.
Once you have all of your Christmas content, it’s time to plaster it all over your platforms – show your customers why your business is the best place to be during the festive season. And if you’re looking for Christmas-related fun for the office, why not do secret Santa, or spend a day doing a team Christmas charity event?
2nd December – English Breakfast Day
Ah, the good old English breakfast – nothing beats it! There are so many things your business can do to mark this day! You could offer a special one-day-only discount on your English breakfasts, put on an offer where customers get extra hash browns for the day, or take this time to introduce a vegan fry-up if you don’t already have one!
At the very least it’s definitely a good idea to plaster your social media in the best pictures of your breakfasts that you have with the most mouth-watering images. It might even be worth using it as an opportunity to do a new photoshoot for your breakfasts – there’s no better way to entice customers than crisp, clear images of delicious-looking food!
3rd December – Small Businesses Saturday
This day is for promoting small businesses and encouraging people to shop and dine locally. If you’re a small business, why not do a series of Instagram posts and stories discussing the growth of your business, from the initial concept all the way to the present day. If you’re a bigger business, you could promote local small businesses on your socials, or showcase the small restaurants, cafes and takeaways that the team love to go to on their work breaks!
4th December – National Cookie Day
This is the perfect opportunity for any hospitality businesses selling cookies to get their names out there. You could offer a one-day discount on cookies in store, or create a special cookie, inspired by your brand, available for one day only – make it the tastiest and most irresistible cookie ever. And, when you’ve made all the hype around this limited edition cookie, you can always please your customers and bring it back permanently for the new year!
11th December – Christmas Jumper Day
This is either the day that office workers love or dread, but it can be a great bit of fun! Wandering into the office and finding your boss, who is usually dressed in a suit, sporting a knitted Christmas jumper can definitely be a good giggle for employees (it’s a lot like seeing your teacher at school wearing jeans and a hoodie on a school trip). Having a participation-optional Christmas jumper day can be a great way to change up the vibe at the office, and give employees something fun to look forward to. It also makes for great picture opportunities for the business’ Instagram, a fantastic addition to your December marketing plans for social media!
13th December – National Hot Chocolate Day
This one is perfect for a December marketing calendar! Everyone loves hot chocolate in winter, so there’s a lot of opportunity here for businesses to get involved with this one. If you run a coffee shop, you could run discounts on your hot chocolates, or create limited edition ones for one day only! You could even create some boozy ones for the adults!
If you manage an office, you could organise for some luxury hot chocolates to be delivered to the office as a big thank you for all of your employees’ hard work! Or alternatively, have an office charity event where everyone gets involved and sells hot chocolate on a stand, and the money goes to a good cause!
18th December – World Cup Final
Getting involved in the World Cup is a great way for businesses to throw events for customers. It’s also a great opportunity for businesses score some great marketing points, and to generally give their brand a trendy, current feel.
For ideas on what you could do throughout the football season, you could host viewing parties and create great group deals for those coming to watch, or bring out World Cup-inspired cocktails and food deals for the viewers at your venue. Andaz London and Azura are both hosting epic viewing parties this football season, be sure to check them out!
The World Cup is also a great opportunity for some reactive PR. It would be a great idea to have someone on your brand’s twitter sending funny reactive tweets in response to what’s happening in the matches. It’s a great way to let your brand’s personality shine through!
22nd December – The Start Of Capricorn Season
On this day, the world moves into a new astrological season and Capricorns across the globe will be celebrating their birthdays. Why not create Instagram stories shouting out all of the Capricorns in the office? It’s a great way to have a bit of fun with the team and it helps your customers get to know the people in the business! It’s also something that can be repeated monthly, to be a fun activity which is an integral part of your social media calendar!
31st December – New Year’s Eve
The day before we enter a new year brings opportunities for reflection, as well as the creation of new goals. Not necessarily on the day, but you can use the period leading up to the new year to listen to your customers and find out what’s going well, what’s not going so well, and what they would want from the business moving forward. It’s also an opportunity for bosses to listen to their employees in the same way, and for employees to help set new and improved visions for the new year.
If you’ve done this and still want more ideas for the new year period, you could always throw the biggest New Year’s Eve party anyone has ever seen and get your business’ name out there! If you’re looking for a party on New Year’s Eve, try Rake’s Café Bar or Azura.
Still need more content ideas for your December marketing calendar? Get in touch with Posh Cockney today.