ORLANDO, Florida—As InterContinental Hotels Group marks the 60th anniversary of its Holiday Inn brand, executives at the company’s Americas conference Thursday unveiled new marketing directives that will launch in 2013 to ensure the brand remains distinct in today’s market.
The new advertising campaign for Holiday Inn is positioned around the brand statement of “innovative comfort,” said Verchele Wiggins, VP of global brand management for the Holiday Inn family of brands at IHG.
“Our positioning is driven by a fundamental need for guest comfort. … All of our data shows us that the Holiday Inn brand owns comfort,” Wiggins said to conference attendees.
“The new advertising campaign in 2013 and new collateral for your hotels (will) reflect the repositioning,” she said.
The brand’s marketing team has done extensive research on its target customers and their media behaviors. The new TV ads featuring the “innovative comfort” slogan will be featured on specific channels during certain programs that reflect their findings.
To go along with the TV ads, Holiday Inn will begin to offer three seasonal promotions to increase stays from Priority Club members and from potential customers that aren’t yet familiar with the Holiday Inn brand, said Jim Anhut, senior VP of Americas brand management.
Online retargeting efforts also will be put in place to convert bookings from customers that visit any of the Holiday Inn family of brand websites but don’t book right away, he said.
Consistency is crucial
In order for the campaign to be truly effective, however, the company needs to ensure individual properties will back up the marketing message, Wiggins and Anhut said.
“We have to stay focused on delivering the basics … and all the things that go into creating (the ultimate) guest experience,” Anhut said. “(As consumers) don’t you pay more for the service that’s expected and the service that’s exceeded (expectations)? So will our guests.”
The key to remember is consistency, Anhut said.
For that reason, executives will streamline brand standards and make them easier to execute, Wiggins said.
A “guest champion” in the lobby during peak hours will facilitate that effort, she said. The goal of this new role is to be there for the guest at the most critical point during the guest journey: his or her arrival.
But that employee’s role does not end at welcoming the guest and answering any initial questions, Wiggins said. There are times when a business traveler is running late for a meeting, needs materials from the business center and has to set up a PowerPoint presentation in the meeting space, she said. Instead of having the guest run from one space in the hotel to another to make it in time for the meeting, the guest champion’s job will be to assist that business traveler.
There has been a tremendous demand for small meetings’ space at Holiday Inn properties, Wiggins said. To meet that demand, “we’re working on a strategy that will define and grow this business for hotels.”
“Our goal is to … enhance the value proposition for this segment,” she said, so executives are focusing on presenting how the hotels will deliver service, sustainability and maintain an active website presence for the small meetings segment.
Holiday Inn Express
The success Holiday Inn Express achieved approximately 15 years ago with its “Stay Smart” campaign is something executives hope to recreate as they bring that marketing directive back to life in 2013.
“This (brand statement) is driven by a guest need,” Wiggins said. Holiday Inn Express guests have provided feedback about the kind of hotel experience they want and need, she said, “and in essence, they want to stay smart.”
So evolving brand standards for Holiday Inn Express is crucial to meet those needs, Wiggins said.
At the top of the list is the check-in process. “Shouldn’t we be faster with the check-in process?” she said. Because of that, Holiday Inn Express will begin rolling out a mobile check-in platform next year.
In addition, “we’ll continue to leverage the (distribution) channels we own,” Wiggins said. “We’ll create an integrated plan … to work with (owners and operators) to integrate revenue management programs to get the highest revenue at the lowest possible cost.”
Training on the new initiatives will be offered at no additional cost via an e-learning platform, she said.