Holiday Inn unveiled two new national television spots as part of a multichannel advertising campaign promoting the Holiday Inn brand relaunch. This relaunch is the largest in hospitality history impacting over 3,200 properties around the globe. The new television ads, concepted by McCann Erickson NY, focus on the changes that are happening within every Holiday Inn hotel while highlighting current strategic alliances with Major League Baseball and Richard Childress Racing.
In “Pit Crew,” a NASCAR-styled pit crew invades a Holiday Inn hotel room and refreshes and updates different in-room elements including the mattress, sheets, towels, pillows, big-screen TV, shower head, rod and curtains. In “Grounds Crew,” a polo-shirt-clad baseball grounds crew hustles in to the hotel room and performs a similar makeover in the room as in “Pit Crew”. In both spots, the hotel guest is seen re-entering the room immediately after the changes are complete, reacting with surprise and delight at the changes and upgrades.
The multi-million dollar advertising campaign which Holiday Inn launched this year includes a mix of TV, print, online and outdoor. The campaign is supported by a three prong strategic media approach which includes entrenchment in key local markets, creating ownable properties, and reinforcing to hotel owners the importance of the Holiday Inn global relaunch.
The launch of this advertising campaign also coincides with the first official change to the Holiday Inn logo in over 50 years. The changes made will ensure the brand goes forward into the future with a strong and confident new image. The refreshed logo also represents the physical changes that are taking place amongst Holiday Inn brand hotels around the world.
In addition, as the most visible touchpoint for consumers outside of a hotel stay, a soft-launch of the new Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express websites took place on June 26, 2009. The new websites have a clean and modern look to ensure consumers’ online experience will mirror the refreshed experience they can expect at a new or relaunched hotel. The websites focus on making it easier and more efficient for consumers to book a hotel. This is done through a variety of features that keep the consumer in the ‘booking flow’ rather than having them navigate to a new page and smarter tools to streamline the search process and help shorten the time to book. The website also makes it easier and more efficient for consumers to find and book a relaunched hotel.
