HeadOn PR brought Adactus to the forefront of national and regional media with its report uncovering the true statistics of how likely the public are to follow the lockdown rules over Christmas. The report highlighted the widespread impact on the hospitality industry, and reaffirmed Adactus’ place as a leading people-first tech company and specialist in booking systems.
Our Client
Adactus is a people-first technology company. With their cutting-edge strategies, technological know-how and extensive experience, the team behind Adactus have the skills to transform their clients’ businesses by putting in place the right people, right technology and right solutions in next generation booking, queuing and customer experience enhancing systems. With well-known brands including TGI Fridays, Pizza Hut, Café Rouge, Goals Soccer Centres and many more, Adactus partners with their clients for continuous improvement and innovation, inspired by technology.
Christmas lockdown rules
HeadOn PR has worked incredibly closely with Adactus throughout the challenging months that all businesses have experienced in 2020. We have continued to establish them as an industry pioneer, providing insightful thought leadership pieces aimed at their target audience in the hospitality sector. We looked to successfully build brand awareness across the board on a national, regional and local level so that Adactus remain the go-to booking and reservation system specialists.
The research, in collaboration with HeadOn PR, explored the extent of the impact of the new Christmas lockdown rules in the hospitality sector, as many pubs, restaurants and hotels faced losing a staggeringly high proportion of their festive bookings to help them recuperate following the effects of COVID-19.
The tier system in place enforced at the time the ‘rule of six’ in England for all dining out, and those in the highest tier were only allowed to meet with one other from another household outdoors or their usual support bubbles.
The report that went viral
The shocking report found that nearly half of venues lost 75% of festive bookings since the ‘rule of six’ and 10pm curfew began, with 69% of consumers changing their plans or cancelling reservations to eat out because their party would exceed the guidance in place.
66% said their cancelled bookings included their office Christmas party, 26% included their annual family Christmas dinner, 16% a dinner with friends and 6% meals out Christmas shopping with friends. 69% of hospitality businesses said they are pessimistic about the viability of their businesses if the rules remain in place for up to six months.
The report also uncovered that accurate recording for ‘Track and Trace’ was done largely by using a clipboard/folder/book (89%), with only 5% of pubs, hotels and restaurants using the NHS app. 85% also said paper recordings were left out at the venue in full view of anyone, contrary to GDPR rules.
Reaching 63 million readers in days
The staggering revelation was quickly snapped up by national and local media, with 17 pieces of coverage and 63.2 million reads of the reports online. We also secured primetime coverage on Good Morning Britain which caused the data to go viral.
A key element to the campaign was to ensure there was sector-specific coverage, and with the data to back up the claims, our story was secured in several hospitality publications including Big Hospitality and Caterer, Licensee, Hotelier.
A local element of the campaign saw Scott Muncaster, owner and managing director of Adactus, appear on That’s Thames Valley TV as the headline to discuss the findings in more detail as the debate continued on social media.
Key media coverage highlights
- 17 pieces of media coverage
- Featured on Good Morning Britain and shared on their social media platforms resulting in 735k Facebook views and over 1k comments and 790k Twitter interactions
- 63.2 million reads online
- Headline interview on That’s Thames Valley TV
- Coverage in national and business media The Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Business Leader, New Business
- Featured in key industry media Big Hospitality, Boutique Hotelier, Food Service Equipment Journal, Business & Innovation Magazine, TechRound
