1. Attribution – a Sales & Marketing Director’s view
NMA Live – May 20th 2011
Colin Whaley Center Parcs UK

2. Why attribution?
Source: Forrester Research: The State Of Consumer Technology Adoption 2005

3. Today’s Presentation
Introduction to Center Parcs
Our Marketing Challenge
Our approach to Online Attribution
Where next with Attribution?

4. Introduction to Center Parcs UK
Family short break destination
4 holiday resorts in England, each set within 400 acres
of forest
Over 100 indoor and outdoor activities

5. The Marketing Challenge for Center Parcs
100% direct sell - no affiliate activity
Limited spare capacity – 95% occupancy
Aggressive sales and profit targets
Strict limits on marketing budget
It’s all about improving Return On Investment

6. Our reality in 2009
Only accurate tracking was ‘last click’, …
Limited visibility of the consumer click path
Multiple platforms tracking various channels
Conversions were not being de-duped
Insights were retrospective

7. Was attribution a path worth pursuing?
65% of paths had more than one
click or exposure
50% of customers were interacting
on more than one media channel
before converting
The average number of exposures
before conversion was 3.2
Average length of consideration
period – 17.2 days

8. The way we were… legacy ‘last-click’ model
PPC
0% 0% 0% 100%

9. The Vision – increase ROI
Attribute revenue across all online channels
Minimise wastage and duplication on overlapping channels
Optimise online campaign in real-time
Have one fluid budget pot (channel agnostic)

10. Multiple touchpoints working together
CORE IDEA
E-CRM DISPLAY PPC SEO Social
We need to ensure our channels are working for each other,
not against each other.

11. The right team, the right platform

12. Getting started
Initially 5 channels measured:
Paid Search (PPC)
Display click
Display view
Organic search (SEO)
Paid inclusion
Ability to re-process 60 days worth of data to visualise
different scenarios
Flexibility to apply custom business rules to predictive
modelling and optimisation algorithms

13. 5 Step Methodology:
1. Analyse touchpoints
2. Select channel prioritisation
3. Customise weight of each channel
4. Customise Distribution
across click path
5. Analyse and apply insights for
optimisation of spend
Live November 2009

14. 2009/10 Attribution Model
10% 15% 25% 50%

15. 2009/10 Campaign results
14% decrease in cost-per-click
35% increase in bookings
43% increase in revenue
54% increase in ROI

16. Year 2 – Broadening the model
One budget pot across search and display
Reduced spending on Paid Search
Increased spending on SEO and Display
Investment in a Social Strategy

17. Year 2 (2010/11) results
Further YOY 19% increase in bookings
Further YOY 27% increase in revenue
Further YOY 29% increase in ROI

18. And the bigger picture at Center Parcs?
Overall marketing costs have been held over 3 years,
whilst achieving:
Record occupancies in each of the last 3 years
Record Revenues in each of the last 3 years
Record Profits in each of the last 3 years

19. Where Next with Attribution?

20. Social Media integration
How can our Social Media activity be measured
within the sales funnel?

21. What is the Connection Between Device Type and Conversion?
What effect does device type have on attribution?

22. In Conclusion.. the main lessons learned
Keep it simple – take ‘baby steps’
Get all the key stakeholders to collaborate (ensure
the client understands!)
Be open-minded and channel agnostic
Be patient and willing to continually test and learn
Stay focused (or lose touch and waste money)

23. Thank you - @ColinWhaley