overview top 12 initiatives at elmwood spa - home | gwen · pdf file• provided...

Gwen Hayes, HIGH VOLTAGE Marketing • Communications

Top 12 Initiatives at Brydson Group:

Elmwood Spa & Bangkok Garden

Summary of results 2008-2010

I am not permitted to share financial results for Elmwood Spa, there

some results that I can share:

• Spa revenue grew 62% in 3 years

• Guest visits were up by 57%

• Gross margins improved by 12% points

• Average cheque increased by 18%

• Opt in email subscribers increased by 200%

• E-mail openers increased by 10%

• 1st quarter unique visitor IPs increased by 164%

• Website grader score improved from 56 to 96 (01/’08-06/’10)

• Return on Marketing Investment doubled, from $2.08 to $4.24

• Call volume increased by 30% with fewer staff hours; abandon

rate dropped by 10%; service levels improved from 52% to 72%

• Data capture rate improved by 5.3%

• Groups sales increased by 50%

• 2010 year to date end October revenue was up 18% versus

prior year (in an industry that was down 11%)

• Provided Marketing Strategy and Long Term Goals, 2011-2013

and 2011 marcom plan validated by consultant

Leadership

While at Brydson Group I undertook, of my own initiative,

confidential surveys of my team, using materials for team

leadership evaluation from my days at Crayola/Zenger Miller

Leadership Training

Measured satisfaction of my direct reports with my leadership

across 6 categories

• Building trust and inspiring teamwork

• Facilitating and supporting team decisions

• Expanding team capabilities

• Creating team identity

• Making most of team differences

• Foreseeing and influencing change

Results

2008 75% – 6-months after start/big launch measured; new

team/stress/staff changes/lots of attention and by-committee

decision-making – unsettled and two low performers

2009 82% – new team members – more stable/long term, better

sense brand integrity/contribution

2010 92% – high performers, solid team, clear vision


1. Elmwood Spa Re-launch ‘07/08

Before

After


How

• Validation of consultant plan for spa renewal-launch

• Presentation of plan and budget to Exec & Board

• Execution of marketing plan – project management;

marketing direction

• New products & services launch – range rationalization

and pricing strategies, codes and systems, sell-sheets,

training materials, photography, merchandising/display

• Build and develop marketing team

• Selection and management of external service providers

(graphic design firm) brought Thinkhouse Design on board, new

printers and resources for marketing collateral

• Creative direction/collaboration with design firm: brand

evolution

• Collaborated on new photography of spa with

photographer/EM/consultant

• Provided copywriting all marcom/collateral including direct mail

materials, Retreats & Services brochure and new website

• Project management for website development including

collaboration with IT to make improvements to e-comm

capacity and transactions paths

• Introduced new e-mail methodology/process/tools and

e-marketing campaign

• Oversaw database clean-up/segmentation, list development

• Created and executed direct mail campaign

• Oversaw advertising planning and media buy

• Created launch and monthly promotions

• Evolved e-newsletter to reflect branding

• Managed PR/media relations relationships

• Developed employee communications and launch

• Managed launch event (guests) and media

Evaluation

• Co-authored final report and shared presentation of results,

conclusions and lessons learned

o analysis of services booked/revenue comparison

o visits comparison and loyalty promotion results

o gift card sales

o call centre performance to revenues booked

o marketing campaign ROI – revenue by marketing

initiative

o email campaign

o web activity

o mix of service revenue actual to projection, leading to

• Recommendations for 2008 plan extension

• Marketing Strategy and Long Term Goals and 2009/2010 and

marcom plan and implementation

Results

• 41% increase in number of services booking

• 40% increase guest visits

• 21% revenue increase

• 2.3% increase in first time guests

• 217% increase vs. prior year in call volume

• Web Unique Visitors up 147%

• Web -Page Views up 162%

• Web -Duration of visit doubled

Constraints

• Understaffed in Spa Services

• Dedicated phone line for Gift Card sales not up on time

• Call abandon rate increased/service level decreased as new

contact centre staff were not in place as requested

• Services sold out in key times


“I just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work over the past

several months – the marketing looks great and you should be very

proud!” – Marie Picton, Executive Manager, Spa Services,

November 16, 2007

Further evolution of the brand

“With your marketing efforts we were able to achieve positive first

quarter results for Elmwood Spa – thank you! Kudos to you and

your team for contributing to those results. Gwen, your smart

thinking and hard work is really paying off.” – Marie Picton,

Executive Manager, Spa Services, April 21, 2009

“Thank you for all your long hours and hard work this year. I’m very

proud of our success, and in large part it is through your marketing

efforts – thank you. Our advertising this month has been terrific and

certainly has attracted a lot of people to our doors.” – Marie Picton,

Executive Manager, Spa Services, December, 2009


2. Elmwood Man

Developed marketing-communications strategy for outreach to

men segment (customer/non-customer)

• Expanded men’s products and services range

• Created promotion – Shed Your Armour Campaign targeted

towards men and enhanced “Bring a Man” promotion targeted

towards female guests and their partners

• Created www.elmwoodman.com

• Validation of communications results, response and clarification

of next steps through survey of male customers (Survey Monkey)

• Recommendations for communications, outreach strategies

and focus for content creation targeted towards men segment

• Wrote brochure and website, oversaw site development

by Thinkhouse Communications Design

Conqueror > Shed Your Armour Every day you rise and put on the layers – the suit, the tie or the

uniform that prepares you for your day. You brace yourself for

deadlines, paperwork and teamwork, a sea of change, and simple

things like too much traffic, or too little sleep.

You spend your time in the trenches and lately, you’ve been on high

alert. Survival mode. But you know that over time the stress of

feeling like that can be damaging to your energy, vitality and

enthusiasm.

You need to relax, de-stress, and to look and be at your best.

This is why men spend time at Elmwood Spa.


Results

The survey results indicated that the “Conqueror Shed Your Armour”

branding for elmwoodman.com captured the main reasons why men

come to the spa. As stated by one guest whose elegant quote is

included on this page, the Elmwood Man brand “gets it.”

As Elmwood Spa takes an integrating marketing communications

approach to promoting this brand, “relaxation” and “luxury” will

need to be kept in the forefront.

3. Migration of Elmwood Spa website

To CMS system and search engine

optimisation

Overcame internal resistance from several (but not all) members of

the IT team to successfully migrate from an IT-controlled to a

marketing managed CMS system. Achieved by creating Elmwood

Man using CMS as a pilot project to provide “proof” of concept and

pave the way for migration of other sites to CMS platform, offering

marketing-communications team much more flexibility and

autonomy.

“Excuse the unorthodox email but I rarely come across

dead solid brilliant marketing. I am referring to your new

website and brand, "Elmwood Man", specifically the text at

the end of this email. In the past, the simple statement of

"the company telling me what's me" hasn't really resonated

because no one has had me dead on. Maybe I wasn't in a

demographic that I'm in now. But this statement has me

dead on.

I find myself trying to explain the "armour" to my spouse

and peers. Being "on" at higher level more often these days

and the damage that does to my current and future

success. It IS the reason I spend time at Elmwood.

My health benefits are helpful but I choose Elmwood

because maybe it's the one spa that kind of got it. Now I

know you get it and this brand you're building is a big help.

After almost ten years of going to Elmwood I treated a

friend to a day at the spa after we worked on a long project

together.

After all the homophobic jokes by our group the guys

working too hard admitted, they got it and thought it was a

good idea. So did my friend who appreciated the day...

You're on the right track. And as for this roll out - I tip my

hat to you. Bravo, keep it up.”

-- Elmwood Spa Guest


4. Internal Communications

Supporting Brand Integrity

• People – culture and team – right people/right jobs

(Introduced use of behavioural assessments as part of hiring

and performance management process)

• Customer service – delivery of the promise/experience

(collaborated with HR and Sr. Management team on

compensation and performance management program so

staff would have clear understanding of goals, objectives and

metrics for success

• Operational strength – IT support/reporting structures –

metrics and reporting across operations (worked with

programmer to simplify transaction paths for e-commerce

transactions, use of SQL reporting and data management and

data mining improvements

• Leadership – lead by example; introduced concept of ‘coaching

culture’ and supported HR initiatives for succession planning, to

enhance employee engagement and reduce turnover

• Product knowledge and expertise – right services/rational

understanding of what’s possible within specified timelines

Culture Change Components

• Vision Mission Values

• Compensation Project

o Total Rewards

o Align with Elmwood’s strategic objectives

o Reasonable wage costs, transparency, efficient, equitable

o Clearly link compensation to individual performance and

development

o Performance metrics

o Organizational development/succession planning

• Performance management

• Coaching Culture (training & development)

• Recognition

Wrote Elmwood Spa vision-mission & values booklet; created

presentation(s) and facilitated VMV sessions reaching all teams and

over 180 staff, from contact centre, guest services, spa services

(RMT, aestheticians), food services, IT/finance, housekeeping and

maintenance, to senior management team.


5. Evolution of Retreats & Services range • Supporting improved margins, processes, provider capabilities,

and productivity (bookings, utilization)

• Collaborated on development of aesthetics/massage portfolio

priorities and new services introductions

o Massage Your Mate, Private Room Mani/Pedi

o Facials

• “Technology” and high-end product ranges integrated

into protocols

• Best Face Forward (web content)

• Skincare 101 (training aestheticians/CCR/GSR)

• Skincare Experts positioning for 2011-2013

• Visual Merchandising & Display

• Promotional signage, seasonal display

• Gift baskets, ElmLine


6. ‘Top 10’ Promotions Dramatically improved the performance of key promotions and

conceived of a new promotion that contributed

1. Bring a Man – improved presentation of offering and

significantly increased year over year revenue

2. Introduced improved Passport (Loyalty) promotion/offers

increasing revenue, repeat visits and insights into customer

behaviour

3. Conceived of and launched Spa Birthday Celebration, netting

1,600 new email names and significant revenue

4. Conceived of and launched Guest Birthday Promotion to

resounding success, rewarding current clientele and attracting

new guests – significant incremental revenue

5. Modified Series of Services, creating loyalty and increasing

frequency of visits from targeted customer segment

6. Launched Grow Your Gift Card promotion

7. Tested then launched seasonal Gift Card merchandiser to

impulse purchases and provide improved service at check-out

8. Conceived of and launched Friends & Family Promotion with

favourable results

9. Improved guest retention by introducing First Time Guests

‘Come-Back’ direct mailings; tested offerings for best response

and tracked customer lifecycle and behaviours

10. Last Minute Emails; Pricing strategy for monthly promotions


7. Communications Strategies • Internal Communications supporting

o Marketing programs, promotions, products & services

knowledge

o Sales Support materials

o Supporting HR, training & recognition initiatives

• External Communications: Prospects

o Multiple channel campaigns including direct mail,

advertising (print, radio, outdoor, digital/social)

o Web listings, contests and co-marketing opportunities

o Transition to CMS with SEO to support future SEM & PPC

campaigns

• External Communications: Media relations

• Guests Communications

o E-newsletter/web content

o Comment cards and email feedback mechanisms

o Surveys and quick-polls via e-newsletter

o Corporate social responsibility & events

Digital Marketing Strategies and Social Media

Employee audit, creation of social media guidelines and introduction

of more robust digital marketing capabilities, setting the stage for

• Brand advocacy and support, word of mouth/referrals

• Research offering real-time feedback

• Media spend efficiency and shift from reliance on traditional

media

• Employer branding (internal and external)

• Communications role to handle social media responses

• Training organisation-wide on appropriate technologies and

responses

• Social media integration (incomplete)

o via Contact Centre

o Human Resources


8. Crisis management – Pin pad issue

On February 24, 2009 Toronto police laid charges against four

individuals in connection with a 9-month investigation of credit card

fraud affecting dozens of Toronto retail and service businesses,

including Elmwood Spa. The incident was part of a sophisticated

credit card fraud perpetrated in the spring of 2008.

As the police had mentioned in their press conference, the

fraudsters captured the information by skimming credit card

information from a pin pad that had been compromised via a

carefully inserted microchip. The fraudsters were described by the

police as being a group of “sophisticated, organized criminals”.

It was a drop everything scenario. At the end of it all, we

received praise from the board for our quick thinking and

expert management of the situation.

• A Globe & Mail article (Feb 25, 2009) provided incorrect

information regarding this incident

• For the peace of mind of spa clientele it was important to note

that the four individuals who were known to the police did not

have any previous history with Elmwood Spa

• An article by Danny Bradbury, Canwest News Service March 11,

2009 more fairly outlined the vast challenges that credit card

providers and merchants are facing, and what consumers need

to be aware of whenever and wherever they use their credit

cards

• For our part, we were pleased to learn that none of our

customers lost money as a result of the fraud

• We encouraged anyone with specific questions or concerns to

contact their financial institution directly

“Gwen, thank you for your earnest attention to our most recent

Elmwood crisis. Your prompt and conscientious direction has

provided our team with the confidence necessary to address

guest queries honestly and accurately. And, although they may

be stressed, also appreciate your efforts. Well done!”

– Gaye Sihin, Assistant Manager, elmspa, March 4, 2009

“Gwen has demonstrated that she has an acute appreciation of

urgency. We had to go into damage control very quickly when

we experienced the pin pad fraud. With cooperative efforts

made by the board and marketing, we were able to effectively

deal with the situation. Through Gwen’s leadership in marketing,

we were able to effectively communicate with our internal and

external guests quickly, and respond to guest concerns about the

incident.”

– Marie Picton, Executive Manager, Spa Services April, 2009


9. Sales Management: Group Sales

Manager and Contact Centre Team

Situation

• Lacking structure; no outbound group

sales for almost two years and no

Groups Sales Manager

• Unrealistic sales objectives, not based

on historical performance

• Clients, sales activities records virtually

non-existent

• Conflict ‘ownership’; role previously

reported via F&B/banquets and then

coordination delegated to a team leader

via Guest Services manager

Activities

• “Regroup” and facilitate culture change to engender

accountability for guest experience

• Reorganized sales operations/restructured reporting

• First hire via consensus approach to invest SMSS and SMFB in

success was unsuccessful

• New hire re-contacted past groups, built and recorded historic

sales analysis. Oriented towards vertical markets; identified

ideal (profitable) group size and reasonable metrics

• Attained a more reasonable budget; agreement on stretch goal

• Implemented use of CRM salesforce.com and provided training

for GSM on spa reservations system

• Pipeline filling – pipeline benchmark is for 5X total sales

target/quota required in order to meet goal

• Employed forecasting as coaching tool. Process – prospect,

qualify, pipeline, # contacts, % confidence/near /far-term,

estimated close; proposal out (1), signed contract/PO (2) and

(3)%/$ deposit

• Market, competitive analysis, product/service offerings review,

and plan development

• Coached GSM – sales planning, vertical markets, collaboration

with hotels, collaboration w/concierge; relationship building

Toronto Tourism; presentations/staff, BOT

o Networking and direct mail personalized from GSM

o Marketing collateral, templates/key messaging;

appropriate photos

• Compensation and incentives

o Rewarding ultimate close rates (revenue) accuracy of

forecast, lessons learned – obstacles – revise plan –

plot success – plan/work plan

o Gift cards, product, gift baskets added to mix

o Recognition & Accountability

• Facilitated pre-event planning meetings

• Facilitated post-event “lessons learned” via A/B/C event – staff

perspective, client/guest perspectives

Results

• Groups sales revenue increased 50%

• Operational turnaround marginally successful; executional

challenges persisted as culture change initiatives floundered


10. RFP, vendor selection and major

research and data mining project

• Current Customer Data Mining: Target Group Analysis

Transaction, consumption and time of week analysis; service

and product analysis; lapsed customer analysis to identify core

clientele personas; primary trade area; average spend by

category (aesthetics/facials/massage/gift cards); lifetime value;

demographics, social value trends, lifestyle overview/highlights;

media usage; loyalty program participation for the purposes of

direct response marketing campaign planning

• Current Customer Research

(Usage/attitudes/desired booking and services selection

habits/customer satisfaction/desirable communications

methodologies (content/outreach preferences-opportunities)

11. Developed research-based marketing

strategy, long term goals and wrote 2011

plan for Elmwood Spa

Validated through external consulting support - facilitated sessions

with Exec and Senior Managers

Wrote marketing plan comprised of

• Plan Context 2010

� Outlook (balance of year)

� Key lessons learned

• Market and competitive outlook for 2011

• Long Term Goals & Key Strategies (journey to $$)

� Key Target Customers

� Portfolio Priorities

� Positioning (evolution)

• 2011 Marketing Plan Specifics

� Goals and Investment

� Key Focus Areas

(Facials, Retail, Massage,

People/Process/Performance, Loyalty)

� Plan Details – Guidelines & Actions

• Product, Pricing, Promotion Activities,

Outreach, Facility

• Research and Testing

• Key Changes 2011 vs. 2010; Next Steps & Unresolved Issues

• Plans also completed for Bangkok Garden and elmspa

• Presentation to board: approval gained for 3-year strategic

plan and annual plans for 2011


12. Bangkok Garden Restaurant • Brand evolution – new menus, creation of new website

• Oversaw food and facilities photography

• Cross marketing/monthly promotions

• Creation of advertising/promotion plan(s)

• Digital signage (exterior) (implemented for all three companies)

• Digital marketing/web strategies

o e.g. dine.to, menu palace, where

• Concierge incentives

• Online reservations via opentable.com

• Events aligning with spa art exhibitions

“Gwen is very upbeat, positive and passionate about her work,

which is important in her role. She sets an excellent example for

others. Gwen, thank you for your radiant enthusiasm….”

– Marie Picton, Executive Manager, Spa Services

“Despite the volume of work, Gwen has done an outstanding job at

being positive and very enthusiastic! Gwen is a high achiever who

always pushes herself to meet all deadlines and timelines – and she

does! She is a good taskmaster when she needs to be. She is

extremely organized, very detail oriented, and has an excellent

work ethic.” – Marie Picton, Executive Manager, Spa Services

overview top 12 initiatives at elmwood spa - home | gwen · pdf file• provided...

Documents