Based on the Open Table goes into #DiningMode for Mother's Day Case study (questions at the bottom)

Situation Analysis

It's not news that as a society we're feeling more divided than ever, but even when it comes to connecting with family and friends, the lack of meaningful connections is also on the rise. The U.S. Loneliness Index says 49% of Americans feel less connected to the people around them than they did just 10 years ago. And, while the time we spend on our phones has tripled in the past six years, the time we spend with our families is on the decline.

That time with our friends and families used to take place around the dining table, as the one time of day when everyone came together. Yet dining together at a table has all but become obsolete as more of our meals are eaten on couches instead.

OpenTable, the world's leading provider of online restaurant reservations, saw an opportunity to take back the table as a place to connect people. And we thought, what better time than Mother's Day, the restaurant industry's number one day for dining out.

So we created #DiningMode, a campaign to encourage diners to put aside their phones on Mother's Day and give their moms the ultimate present of their presence.

Objectives

Because each day, we spend 3 hours and 35 minutes on our phones, send an average of 75 texts and touch our devices 2,617 times. But when was the last time you spent three uninterrupted hours with your mom?

Create widespread awareness of the campaign, as measured by earned media impressions. Earn at least 65 placements.

In absence of a significant media buy, generate organic shares of the campaign assets. Achieve at least 1.3M impressions and 5,000 engagements.

Increase engagement of paid social assets, with KPI's of 3M reach, 17% view rate and 14% completion rate.

Increase Mother's Day reservations booked on OpenTable.

Research

The Demise of the Dinner Table

According to a recent survey of more than 1,000 American adults, the table is becoming a less popular surface to eat on. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said they grew up typically eating dinner at a kitchen table, but a little less than half said they do so now when eating at home (The Atlantic, May 2019).

Where are they dining instead? The couch and the bedroom are both far more popular now than in the respondents' youth. Thirty percent of the survey takers cited the couch as their primary at-home eating location, and 17% took meals in their bedroom. To put it another way, the number of respondents who most often eat at a kitchen table nowadays is roughly the same as the number who eat either on the couch or in their bedroom. In addition, families tend to eat separately these days, often citing busy schedules.

Moms, Especially, Want Their Kids to Put Down Their Devices

According to our primary research (OpenTable survey of 1,000 diners), 85% of adults check their phone at least once while dining out and 40% still get lectured by their moms about their phone time! Our survey also found that 73% of respondents ranked a Mother's Day meal as the No. 1 occasion when people should avoid checking their phones and nearly 1/3 said sharing a meal together is the most meaningful Mother's Day gift, followed by thoughtful conversation. In addition, 81% of diners have been annoyed by their dinner companion's phone use in the past; 20% say they actually avoid eating with companions who overuse their phones; and 75% of respondents at least somewhat agree that they use their phone too much.

Strategy

Once we uncovered the significant data revealing how few people really ever are 100% present during a meal with others, we set out to figure out how to get folks to power off and power through a spell of nomophobia (the fear of being without a mobile phone or mobile connection) at the dinner table. (FYI, for most people, it's far worse than FOMO). And since the data clearly showed that people felt a Mother's Day meal is the No. 1 occasion to avoid checking their phones, we pegged our strategy to align with Mother's Day, a day that was also an important revenue driver for OpenTable based on the traditional high volume of restaurant reservations.

So we started to dig into how to best talk to audiences about the issue at hand. We knew it would be important to create tone-appropriate content and surrounding assets in order to bring our idea to life. Our creative brief spelled out the challenge: "Mother's Day has become a big cryfest for brands. How can we cut through this clutter and really inspire people to put their phones down?"

That notion inspired our manifesto: "Sometimes, you have to disconnect to reconnect. This Mother's Day, set aside your phone to connect over a great meal. You never know what you'll discover about the woman who loves you (like her solo surfing trip to Costa Rica...or her unfortunate big hair phase). And while you can't give her back all those hours spent helping you with homework, you can give her some uninterrupted time together. So, celebrate the amazing women in your life and get into #DiningMode."

That led us to our strategic approach to the campaign: If you don't take the time to truly connect with your mother -ideally over a shared meal -that's a big missed opportunity to get to know the person who was always there for you.

Execution & Tactics

We created a global campaign that encouraged diners in the U.S., Canada and Australia to get into #DiningMode on Mother's Day; putting their phones aside and giving their moms the gift of uninterrupted conversation.

We created a hero social video that we called "Mom, Interrupted." The humorous piece showed a variety of moms trying to connect with their children over a meal only to have their words interrupted by the constant beeps, dings, alerts and notifications from their dining companion's mobile device - cat videos, sports scores, texts...even late timesheet warnings!

Another social video invited real families to put away their phones and get to know each other better, challenging the kids to show how well they really knew their moms on topics that ranged from silly to serious - favorite foods, biggest pet peeves, biggest fears.

Additional social content teased the idea that going into #DiningMode on Mother's Day will help you avoid being one of the 85% of people who check their phones at least once while dining out.

It was such a popular idea that nearly 700 OpenTable restaurants around the world opted in and supported #DiningMode by offering free drinks, desserts or appetizers to Mother's Day diners that checked their phones at the door. (Our original goal was to have 50 restaurants join us.) Plus, to really underscore the idea of being truly present and connecting over a great meal, we created "Conversation Coasters" for the participating restaurants.

The #DiningMode landing page housed all of our videos, listed participating restaurants and a bonus: a list of the top 100 restaurants on OpenTable for brunch (with the option of reserving a table for you and your mom right then and there, of course). And we partnered with a dozen influencers to share selfies with their moms and divulge their #DiningMode Mother's Day plans.

Effectiveness & Results

#DiningMode was OpenTable's most successful consumer PR campaign to date, in large part because we were able to tie the idea to a timely cultural discussion - cell phone usage at the dinner table - as a way to increase the relevancy and resonance of the campaign.

Results Tied To Objectives: Create widespread awareness of the campaign, as measured by number of placements and earned media impressions. There were more than 650 earned placements around the world in just two weeks, including 162 broadcast placements. That's up 455% from the previous year!

Earned media impressions topped 820 million (up 65% YOY), with notable coverage in Real Simple, Elite Daily, Domino, Forbes, USAToday, and on a Live with Kelly & Ryan paid integration and on Access Live in the U.S.; the HuffPost, Toronto Sun, Ottawa Matters and CTV News in Canada; The Daily Mail in the UK; and The 10 Daily in Australia. In addition, many of the media placements included our funny social videos in their coverage.

Increase Mother's Day reservations booked on OpenTable.

In terms of reservations, 2019 was OpenTable's best Mother's Day ever. And thanks to the #DiningMode campaign, we believe millions of moms thought so too.

-What tactics did OpenTable use as part of the promotion of the #DiningMode campaign?

- Suggest three more tactics OpenTable could use to add to the promotion of #DiningMode

- Using figures highlighted in the case, was the #DiningMode campaign above or below expectations?

- Reverse engineer the creative brief of this campaign by highlighting the following:

Basic problem or issue advertising must address

Advertising objectives

Target audience

Major selling idea or key benefit to communicate

Creative strategy statement (theme & appeal)