Retail
ADOGO PET HOTELS
Doggone Great Results Right Out of the Gate!
John Sturgess had a highly successful career in the human hotel business acting as senior vice president of development for Carlson Hotels Worldwide, where he led strategic development of Carlson’s hotel brands in the Americas and was recognized as the “Great of the Great Carlson Companies Managers” for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
In 2008, he was named Hotel Executive of the Year” in Who’s Who. But in 2011, Sturgess put it all aside to pursue his dream of opening a premium line of five-star pet hotels called Adogo ("think Marriott, only for dogs,” he is fond of saying). He enlisted Media Savant to help launch the first of three in February 2011 and two more in subsequent years.
Building on and modifying that worn meme -- "Human Hotel Exec Going to the Dogs" -- the PR strategy breathed new life into the old cliché.
And the media went nuts!
TV Coverage on 3 out of 4 stations
Radio interviews
Newspaper, consumer and business magazine stories -- including a six-page story in Minnesota Business and a cover story in Upsize
Eventually, Reader Choice Awards from community papers
Invitations to speak at Chambers of Commerce
An unsolicited free print and video ad campaign using the Adogo story was created by the Carlson School, where John had gotten his MBA (and formulated the pet hotel concept).
But perhaps the biggest affirmation of the PR strategy was the bottom line:
Only 3 months after opening, revenues were already at projection for the 6-month period and continued to escalate.
On average, Adogo has experienced annual growth of 30% or more since opening.
More Adogo hotels are being planned for the Twin Cities -- Chicago and Dallas.
Dogs -- and owners -- are diggin' it!