Roadchef Motorways

"CRYSTAL-clear presentation of a verydifficult task", is how one judge summed up the winning entry of the group marketing award.

The judges agreed that the standard of all entries had improved markedly this year, but the Roadchef Motorways entry stood out in its clarity of marketing objectives.

Headed by Peter Saunders, head of sales and marketing at Roadchef, a breakdown of detailed data collated by Roadchef identified specific targets: increased occupancy and revenue in the Roadchef lodges and increase average spend in restaurants, shops and forecourts.

It was noted by the judges, who were unanimous in this selection, that this "particularly unglamorous" campaign was an especially hard job, in the face of the poor public perception of motorway service areas (MSAs).

Through a detailed analysis of the company's strengths and weaknesses (ranging from acknowledging strong staff loyalty on the positive side to evidence of "menu fatigue" on the down side), it was decided to divide the year into defined promotional periods with seasonal themes, to be echoed by the catering menus.

The marketing team also identified three types of traveller to be targeted: the leisure and family traveller, especially during the summer months; the business traveller; and coach drivers.

With a summer budget of £40,000, these groups were bombarded with different attractions to entice them into the MSAs and once in, to spend more.

A proactive public relations campaign emerged. Banners and posters around the site helped to attract customers; once there, ceiling cards, table cards and wobble cards inside the restaurants and shops as well as mirror and window stickers, all emphasised the Roadchef name. Reciprocal advertising for lodges through premier lodge estates aimed to increase occupancy.

For families and holidaymakers, special-price meal offers were introduced, and free colas were available with family meals. Wimpy fast food units were introduced into selected MSAs.

Customer loyalty schemes involving collection of tokens were aimed at families and business travellers, to increase return visits, and a mailshot kicked off a campaign aimed at coach drivers.

The judges all noted the depth and detail of the marketing data, covering aspects such as decor, design, signage, studies of location and best use of internal communication.

The results of this "down-to-earth" campaign speak for themselves. In Roadchef restaurants and shops, the promotion brought incremental gross profit of around £125,000, and a 20% increase in the proportion of restaurant customers eating the main meal on offer.

Occupancy of the lodges, traced before and then during the promotion, rose by around 23%, and the achieved average room rate increased by about £2.

And MSAs with the Wimpy outlets monitored a 30% increase in transactions compared with those that did not have them.

Direct results from the campaign "gave a good example of ability to focus on a project", declared one judge. In fact, but for various pressing engagements, several of them were keen to head out to nearby Clackets Lane on the M25 there and then. n

WILLY BAUER

Chief executive,

Wentworth Group

dAVID HARROLD

Chief executive,

Restaurateurs Association of Great Britain

IAN GLEN

Managing director,

BookerFoodservice

PETER HUBER

Director,

J Walter

Thompson

RAY MCGEE

Consultant