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Industry
Dining
Goals
Westport Plaza sought to expand its owned audience by growing its marketing database and capturing actionable audience insights to support more targeted, segmented marketing efforts. The initiative aimed to generate awareness and drive visitation. At the same time, the campaign position Westport Plaza as premier destination for a complete night-out experience or a fun weekend staycation with a variety of dining, entertainment and attractions.
Results
Through the collaborative sweepstakes campaign, Westport Plaza achieved a 34% opt-in rate. The campaign generated more than 155,000 impressions, attracted 1,268 entrants, and drove 2,064 total engagements.
Key Product
Sweepstakes
The Solution
A Strategic Sweepstakes Built to Deliver More Than Entries
Westport Plaza partnered with St. Louis Magazine to launch a "Ultimate Night Out" sweepstakes campaign — offering a prize package valued at $800, including a $100 gift card to Basso on the Plaza, two tickets to The Funny Bone, a $100 gift card to 360 Westport, and a one-night stay at the Sheraton Westport Plaza or Sheraton Westport Chalet. The prize was designed to showcase Westport Plaza's full mix of dining, entertainment, and hospitality in a single experience, giving winners, and prospective visitors, a reason to turn a night out into a weekend staycation.
Distributed through St. Louis Magazine’s newsletters, social media, targeted email audience, and run-of-site digital impression campaign, the sweepstakes reached audiences across the St. Louis region who matched Westport Plaza's prospective visitor profile.
What The Data Revealed
To better understand prospective visitors, Westport Plaza embedded two survey questions designed to capture experience preferences and event interests. The contest collected more than 6,500 total responses:
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Dining Leads the Experience Mix: Dining experiences was the top preference, followed closely by live music nights, and comedy shows, reinforcing Westport Plaza's core strength as a food-and-entertainment destination.
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The Live Music Factor: Live music related events was the top event interest, followed by holiday pop-ups, and movie nights.
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Community and Lifestyle Events Show Real Interest: Neighborhood-related events like anniversaries and farmers markets, social happy hours, and sports-related events all drew meaningful interest, pointing to an opportunity for Westport Plaza to expand community-oriented and lifestyle programming.
Why This Matters
These opt-ins represent a highly engaged audience—428 individuals actively raised their hands to hear more from Westport Plaza! Because both the survey questions and the email opt-in were optional, every response reflects genuine, self-selected interest.
The audience data collected gives Westport Plaza the ability to deliver more relevant messaging, tailor offers to specific experience and event preferences, and build stronger connections with prospective visitors. Most importantly, Westport Plaza can immediately activate this audience, turning contest engagement into long-term visitor loyalty and repeat visitation.
What To Do With This Information
Westport Plaza added 428 new marketing opt-ins, creating a valuable audience for ongoing visitor engagement. By nurturing these leads through a series of targeted email campaigns, Westport Plaza can encourage first-time and infrequent visitors to become repeat guests while using the collected first-party data to deliver more relevant, segmented marketing messages throughout the year.
Ways Westport Plaza could segment their follow-up campaigns:
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810 respondents identified dining experiences as a preferred Westport Plaza activity, making food and beverage the strongest experiential driver. This audience could be targeted with restaurant-focused campaigns, chef features, happy hour promotions, and curated dining guides that encourage longer visits and repeat traffic.
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743 respondents expressed interest in live music events, making it the strongest event category. This group is well suited for concert announcements, live entertainment calendars, artist spotlights, and "plan your night out" messaging centered around music experiences.
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622 respondents selected holiday pop-ups, signaling strong demand for seasonal and limited-time experiences. Future campaigns could highlight festive programming, family-friendly activations, and exclusive holiday promotions to drive repeat visitation throughout the year.
Ready to partner together?
