Why is this work relevant for Creative Data?

The evolving COVID-19 situation globally has changed consumer behaviours and their sentiments towards international travel. This made it difficult for Marina Bay Sands (MBS) to effectively anticipate demand. Only with a good understanding of the market conditions can MBS make informed and strategic marketing decisions. We worked closely with MBS to develop data-driven solutions, analysing real-time consumer data to uncover actionable insights for media optimisations and increase budget efficiency. Two custom data analytics solutions were developed - Look-to-Book dashboard and Attribution Model, designed to identify consumer behaviours that were impacting room booking performance at MBS.

Background

Hospitality players, such as MBS, had been impacted by the pandemic as international travel came to a standstill in 2020 and saw a relatively slower pick up in 2021. With the evolving situation, MBS adopted a more adaptive marketing approach, utilising data-driven strategies to ensure efficient strategic adjustments whilst keeping marketing costs low during these uncertain times. MBS adopts a data-first mindset and maintains a strong data infrastructure, enabling them to leverage the vast amount of first-hand consumer and performance data for business planning purposes. However, the sheer scale of their operations made it difficult to effectively streamline, process and analyse the data at hand, limiting the availability of actionable insights. To improve marketing effectiveness and lower cost-of-sales (CoS) on room bookings, we helped MBS develop a series of custom data analytics solutions to draw valuable and actionable insights from the available data.

Describe the Creative idea / data solution (20% of vote)

As the primary KPI was to have a more effective budgeting process, we focused on uncovering data-driven insights to optimise MBS’s media strategy. It was crucial to deep dive and get a good understanding of consumers’ behavioural changes to achieve a balance between in-country marketing spend and conversion rate (ie. room bookings). Through an in-depth exploration of their first-party data, we identified two areas of analysis: 1. The time consumers took between research and booking: To identify booking patterns that the media team could leverage when timing their campaigns. 2. The journey the consumer took through various media touchpoints: To gain a holistic view of marketing performance and the cross-channel impact that drove booking conversions. The results from these analyses provided MBS with targeted consumer-centric insights, thus allowing the team to make media optimisations for improved performance.

Describe the data driven strategy (30% of vote)

Custom data dashboards were built to capture and analyse real-time first-party data. Look-to-Book Dashboard Utilising traffic and event data from MBS’ website, we correlated the dates that users made a query and made a booking. This helped in determining the approximate lead-time users took to book. Furthermore, country filters were used for a more detailed analysis of travel sentiments in different countries during this period. In addition, the dates people booked for were also captured, giving us valuable insights into how far ahead consumers were booking. Attribution Model We analysed media and website data including a high volume of impression-level data to map the user path, the channels users were exposed to and how they engaged. It identified how each channel assisted the conversions from other channels. We also had multiple attribution comparisons for more comparative views and integrated cost data for a holistic view of the cost revenue relationship.

Describe the creative use of data, or how the data enhanced the creative output (20% of vote)

The daily analysis of data enabled the team to make swift media adjustments according to the changing market conditions. Booking lead-time insights from “Look-to-Book” were regularly reported to MBS, together with proposed launch strategies of prospecting and retargeting campaigns in different countries. For example, the dashboard revealed an uptick in overseas inbound room inquiries during festive periods such as Christmas and New Year and when Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) were announced. However, we noticed that travellers were hesitant to book as news around Omicron started to emerge. These insights were used to analyse the booking performances whilst giving us key information to make strategic changes to our media strategy, reducing our budgets in countries that are showing greater booking hesitation due to potential travel restrictions. Combining this with insights from attribution modelling allowed the team to make shifts in channel budgets to ensure that marketing dollars were spent most effectively.

List the data driven results (30% of vote)

Using Look-to-Book and Attribution Model dashboards, the team made data-driven decisions, improving overall media performance. Insights from the Look-to-Book helped better target the right customers at the right time, showing them relevant information to motivate bookings. This translated to better performance and enhanced consumer experience. Following the relaxation of travel restrictions last September, MBS Room campaigns delivered 30.5% more room bookings, 28.3% more room revenue, at 25.5% more efficient CoS between Oct-Nov 2021. Optimisations helped scale campaign pacing in anticipation of demand uptakes during the festive season. An increase in inquiries and bookings for hotel rooms was observed, with more bookings made for the last two weeks of Dec. With the emergence of Omicron in late November, we noticed a dip in queries from Singapore and overseas markets alike. Budgets were reduced in preparation by 13.6% in Dec, reducing cross-channel CoS by 27.1% in the last two weeks of Dec.