SevenRooms: Driving growth in a pandemic

Insight & Idea

From closings and reopenings to new regulations and vaccines, hospitality has seen it all over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. The industry was arguably in crisis, not helped by the fact that many of the things initially blamed for the spread of coronavirus – touching, breathing, close quarters with others – were very much the norm in restaurants. Diner confidence undoubtedly needed a boost.

What’s more, the uncertainty caused by the pandemic was felt equally by the working population. Covid-19 has induced workers to re-evaluate what they want from work, with the current job-to-job move rate at an all-time high of 3.2%. Attracting and retaining the right talent has become more important than ever.

Diffusion’s idea was to implement a series of strategic creative peaks designed to maintain brand awareness, boost coverage and provide insight for SevenRooms’ restaurant partners at a challenging time for the industry. This enabled us to drive the media agenda with news that aligned with the issues restaurants were facing during the pandemic.

Impact & Action

Diffusion implemented a combination of creative campaign peaks, consumer research, thought leadership and news hijacking to position SevenRooms as an authoritative expert and leading voice in the hospitality tech space and source of guidance over the course of the pandemic.

Creative campaign themes included:

• Covid Confidence – showcasing how diner preferences had shifted in the wake of the pandemic, looking at their attitudes towards new technology such as vaccine passports and contactless ordering and payment
• Online Ordering – using the hook of Deliveroo’s IPO and the ongoing trend for delivery to look at diners’ attitudes towards third-party platforms. This emphasised the benefits of liaising with customers directly, encouraging operators to own and leverage their approved guest data to personalize and improve the customer experience
• Talent – amplifying SevenRooms as a top hospitality tech employer by using the hook of the Great Resignation to look at what employees now want from their employers and promote SevenRooms’ revamped employee benefits package

Diffusion secured extensive coverage across national, business, tech, regional and hospitality trade media, including The Times, Business Insider, Daily Express, Business Live and Catering Today – a total of 23 pieces over the course of 15 months. The campaign has generated a total reach of over 300 million.