The Ask:

As part of a new business pitch, Marriott asked our Creative Strategy team to come up with business partnerships that make sense for EOY and Summer periods. These partnerships would be leveraged for the Marriott Bonvoy re-launch.

IMPORTANT: Client asks for creative strategists during new business pitches tend to be very broad and non-specific, but overall the goal is to keep it RIP:

Relevant to the business/consumer
Interesting to the clients
Provocative (Keep it RIP!)

My Role:

Come up with interesting and/or provocative data-driven partnership proposals leveraging our new PlaceIQ partnership onboarded via Snowflake, supported by any other syndicated or survey tools available if necessary.

NOTE: This PlaceIQ data had very rich and granular data up to the device_id level and latitude/longitude level. Tools/Skills used include SQL, Snowflake, and Tableau

My Initial Provocation (pseudo-hypothesis):

We all know that Summer and End of Year are the “busiest” times for travel in the US. End of Year has historically been the “busiest” period.
However, “busy” could mean different things, and is not necessarily related to amount of time traveled: what if instead of total time traveled we look at the amount of different touch-points experienced by travelers during these periods to defiine what “busy” means?

My Approach (iterative working along creative teams):

FIGURE 1: Statista Global Consumer Survey- Source: https://www.statista.com/global-consumer-survey/tool/10/gcs_usa_202304

Figure 1 shows self-reported travel frequency by Month during 2023.

There are two takeaways here:

Travel frequency for non-business purposes tends to decrease towards the end of the year and
It might be “busier” at the end of the year compared to Summer, but there is LESS MOBILITY (less experienced tochpoints).

Given the “respect” that Statista information has with planners, this gave me the green light to explore the “busy” vs “mobility” hypothesis using granular PlaceIQ data via Snowflake.

So I reframed the ask as follows:

What are the differences in mobility between Summer and EOY?
What mobility information can inform innovative partnerships that tailor to specific regions and dates?

But first, is there a similar conclusion using PlaceIQ data?

FIGURE 2: PlaceIQ and Acxiom Overlay - airline, hotel, and travel related visits

Figure 2 does indeed validate Statista’s numbers.

This means that people experience way more touch points during Summer compared to EOY travel. Again, we are talking about number touch-points and not necessarily overall trip duration.

What else can be interesting about this? Let’s deep dive:

Figure 3 shows that mobility density is higher for airlines than car rentals during summer, but the opposite happens during EOY travel. Mobility density for hotels during EOY is also lower compared to Summer.

Not surprisingly, the amount of Hotel brands consumers interact with are higher than airlines and car rentals. The volume difference can be attributed to travel delays, family visits, and available activities

Figure 4 shows that hotels, airlines, and car rentals are not the only relevant touchpoints experienced during travel activity. There is a long tail of partnership opportunities beyond “obvious” travel activities.

Given the validated hypothesis and opportunity potential, I developed the visuals below to recommend non-obvious opportunities by looking at brands/chains visited before and after a Marriott stays for 4 specific states/cities: Maryland, Washington DC, Colorado, and Florida.

Maryland: April 10th, 2023 - July 30th, 2023

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesdays
Interesting partnerships to explore: Popeyes, The Green Turtle, Boost Mobile

Maryland: Nov 10th, 2023 - Jan 4th, 2024

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Interesting partnerships to explore: IHOP, Shake Shack, Triumph, Outback Steakhouse

Washington DC: Apr 10th, 2023 - Jul 30th, 2023

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Interesting partnerships to explore: Acrteryx, AT&T, CVS, Five Guys

Washington DC: Nov 10th, 2023 - Jan 14th, 2024

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Interesting partnerships to explore: Pure Barre (fitness), Tesla, Dig Inn, Bliss World

Colorado: April 10th, 2023 - Jul 30th, 2023

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Tuesday, Friday
Interesting partnerships to explore: Sonic, Ross, Snooze: an AM Eatery, IndieBound, Einstein Bros (among others)

Colorado: Nov 10th, 2023 - Jan 14th, 2024

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Thursdays, Saturdays
Interesting partnerships to explore: Five Below, Urban Outfitters, Lazy Dog Cafe, Earls Restaurants (among others)

Florida: April 10th, 2023 - July 30th, 2023

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Saturday, Sunday
Interesting partnerships to explore: Waffle House, Maple Street Biscuit Company, Denny’s

Florida: Nob 10th, 2023 - Jan 14th, 2024

Weekdays with most Marriott visits: Tuesday, Friday
Interesting partnerships to explore: Taco Bell, BJ’s, Maple Street Biscuit Company

Data-Driven Business Partnership Inspiration: “Mobility” versus “Busy”