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HOTELS report from New York: 2014 Adrians showcase humor

What do a talking yoga mat, two sweater-wearing ponies and a man whose last name is Vegasdotcom have in common? They’re all part of the humorous approach taken in the last year by hotel and destination marketers in their quest to make their brand, message and revenue go viral. And they were all honored by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) at its annual Adrian Awards on February 24 in New York City.

Many of the campaigns involved low-budget efforts such as YouTube videos that offered high return on investment and some specifically targeted younger travelers who have a taste for all things quirky.

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, San Francisco, for instance, “rolled out” a successful campaign to spread the word that every Kimpton-run room contains a yoga mat. So the boutique collection, which skews towards female travelers, ran a YouTube video that featured a rolled-up yoga mat with a male voice. The video shows the mat talking to a stressed-out female guest, asking, “Can’t we just spend this one day together?” She finds the mat irresistible, relents and enjoys a day – with the mat – frolicking in the sun. The YouTube video was viewed more than 175,000 times, getting the word out about yoga mats.

“The humor of Europe is finally making its way to the U.S. The work here historically has always been so boring,” said Bob Gilbert, CEO of HSMAI. “It’s like they let down their hair.” The low-budget nature of the digital work could be helping marketers feel more relaxed about approving riskier content, he said.

The 2014 Adrian Awards
The 2014 Adrian Awards

It cost the Visit Scotland destination marketing group just US$6,000 to rent two ponies, have two gigantic sweaters made for them, have a photographer shoot them and rent some equipment, said Laura Davidson of Laura Davidson PR, which publicized the event that won an Adrian digital marketing award. The media then did its work splashing the ponies’ absurd images on as many screens as as possible.

The images generated more than 114,000 views on Visit Scotland’s YouTube channel alone. The images were so irresistible that CNN did a humorous story on it, as did NBC’s Today Show, NBC Nightly News and ABC’s Good Morning America, accounting for more than 18 million viewers, Davidson said. She estimated the PR value in North American media outlets at US$7.6 million, which generated a return on investment of about 1,267:1.

Less funny but still successful from an ROI standpoint was the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s campaign designed to tell travelers that they could now book their rooms on LasVegas.com. The campaign revolved around a character portrayed by a plain male actor called – big surprise –“Las Vegas Dot Com.”

The character spoke about his “normal” life before the site went live and how he became an instant celebrity afterwards. “People confused me with the website,” the character said amid fanfare from friends and neighbors. Vegasdotcom’s face was seen on TV and in print ads, as well as social networks and digital marketing ads.

The US$28.5 million campaign increased traffic to LasVegas.com by 40% and pushed website revenue an average of 13% higher during weeks when the spot aired on TV, according to Ron Rubin of R&R Partners, the Las Vegas-based agency that created the spot. The return between January and May was 55%, which means US$1.55 of revenue was generated for every US$1 spent, he said.

Hilton Worldwide won’t disclose a specific return on investment for its award winning summertime travel campaign, but it’s worth mentioning because of the reactions it provoked among passers-by.

The hotel giant’s goal was to promote Hilton HHonors’s annual Great Getaways campaign without the discounted rate that enticed travelers in years past. Hilton decided to play off research that showed how consumers believe they’re spontaneous, with 80% claiming they would immediately leave on a trip – despite their hectic lives – if offered a free weekend trip.

So Hilton dared consumers to live up to their claim. In Chicago, Hilton set up a table with a telephone in a city park with hidden cameras to record peoples’ reactions. When the phone rang, four of 10 people answered. The winners left by private jet for Miami. “The campaign exceeded expectations,” Hilton said in a statement.

The campaign lived on in other platforms, too. Hilton partnered with AT&T to launch a digital version of the challenge that included HHonors free-night certificates, it worked with radio DJs in four markets to give away trips and it even partnered with the popular social site BuzzFeed to reach Millennial-aged travelers with specific blog posts such as “16 Animals Who Need a Vacation.”

The Candid Camera-esque aspect of the campaign reminded HSMAI’s Gilbert of the stunt by Fort Lauderdale, Florida, several years ago that packed models in swimsuits in a glass-paneled truck in the middle of one of the world’s busiest neighborhoods: New York’s Times Square. Both were attention getters in high-traffic areas, he said.

Of course, for every trend, there are those who buck it.

The luxury golf resort Pinehurst, located in North Carolina, won an award for its blog. While it may not sound splashy or sexy, the blog is earning Pinehurst greater visibility locally and in respected sports media in the months leading up to the hosting of both the 2014 US Open and US Women’s Open Championships.

In 2012, the resort hired former sports editor Alex Podlogar as its content and social media manager, and he started blogging. He writes about professional golfers who visit, celebrity sightings, its world-class spa and even annual amateur tournaments. No other news outlet had the staff or the interest in covering most of the resort’s “news.”

“Nobody’s ever going to cover Pinehurst better than Pinehurst Resort itself,” Podlogar said. “That’s how I approached the blog. When excellent news stories happen, we can cover the events. We can fill a public relations role and have shareable content.”

Some of the resort’s blog posts have been picked up by Golf Channel, Golf Digest magazine and Sports Illustrated Golf, and while the resort has an external PR agency, Pinehurst Marketing Director Kerry Andrews says the blog obtains its own press – free of charge.

“The lines are very blurred now. A traditional PR agency had been creating content,” Andrews said. “But we’re doing that now on the ground on our own. Alex was perfect for this job. He was a journalist. He’s not like a marketing guy.”

 


Contributed by Barbara De Lollis

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