May is National Pet Month, celebrating our furry friends for all the joy they bring into our lives. As one of the most pet-friendly hotel chains in the nation, Red Roof wanted to stand proud during National Pet Month and make sure all pets (and their owners) were aware of Red Roof’s year-long Pets Stay Free policy.
But how do you stand out amidst the crowd when everyone is having the same “happy pet month!” conversation?
We had three key objectives for this organic social media campaign:
And we needed to do it in a way that differentiated ourselves from all the other pet hotels, pet food brands, and pet-friendly accounts that would be celebrating this month.
Pets always stay free at Red Roof, so this National Pet Month, we let #PeopleStayFree instead.
Since Red Roof celebrates pets all year round, we flipped the script this month and let our pets reward their favorite people instead.
Here’s how we did it…
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
We launched our campaign via social media teaser videos where instead of asking pets to stay, we showed pet owners trying to “stay” instead as they are covered in peanut butter, dog treats and pet goodies while their dogs do whatever they please. The videos encouraged users to follow along all month long for surprises that would reward pet travelers. No longer would we just let pets stay free, becuase wanted to give YOU the opportunity to stay free too.
Behind-the-scenes, we had to get scrappy. Our own colleagues and their beloved pets starred in the videos... but until we handed them a poncho, they had no idea what they'd signed up for. This allowed us to get genuine reactions from both humans and pets alike.
A MONTH OF TREATS
Over the course of the month we gave away 50 free stays in honor of our 50th anniversary. We had to utilize every organic social media tactic in the book to ensure these giveaways were surprises all month long: we gave away some stays via an Instagram contest, surprised users who engaged with our content at random with free stays, and even tracked down several “bad pets” by monitoring pet hashtags on TikTok to give away stays to their hard-working humans. When we ran out of stays to give, we kept the fun rolling by rewarding Red Roof Woof Box gift packages to everyone else engaging with us all month long.
We wrapped up our month by surprising the ASPCA with 250 free nights at Red Roof, to support an organization close to our hearts as they continue to help furry friends get adopted all over the country.
Our #PeopleStayFree campaign achieved remarkable success, driving outstanding results that showcased our brand's pet-friendly commitment.
The heartwarming content, engaging giveaways, and strategic partnerships drove positive sentiments, greatly enhancing brand awareness. Throughout it all we were able to actively drive up summer bookings with our target demographic, supporting our #PetsStayFree initiatives at all levels.
And the frosting on the proverbial pup cup? Our video efforts even got us noticed enough on TikTok to finally get verified.
