Hotel Ads And Viral Videos

As my colleague Derek Gale noted the other day, I’m apparently now HOTELS’ designated advertisement blogger because I blogged about a commercial once. That’s cool, I watch a lot of TV, so I’ll take that niche and run with it.

YouTube-happy Marriott is making a play for viral marketing with this latest offering, which isn’t so much a commercial as it is a somewhat bizarre TownePlace Suites video, featuring a breakdancer named David Elsewhere. (I’d never heard of the guy, but he apparently has quite the following.)

It’s a bit of an irreverant cross between two other Marriott brand campaigns—there’s this Cirque du Soleil-styled series of ads for Residence Inn, and then there is this dancing-themed ad for the main Marriott brand. Can’t say I really get the connection between contortionism, ballet and hotels, but they are visually attractive. The TownePlace video and the Residence Inn commercials do a nice job of being interesting and memorable while also telling a little about the hotels. 

Not that anyone besides Gale cares, but I’ll give the TownePlace video a B, the Residence Inn ads an A- and the Marriott dancing commercial a C. I found the TownePlace video a bit boring personally, but I think I’m probably not in the majority on that. The Marriott ad is interesting visually, but unlike the even more compelling Residence Inn ads, whatever message it had was lost on me.

Crowne Plaza Meets Mickelson

IHG’s Crowne Plaza brand has a series of commercials with Phil Mickelson, who is arguably the most popular golfer this side of Tiger Woods. In the ads, Mickelson appears in a board meeting with his (real-life) devoted fans, and they offer him humorous advice on how to be a better golfer. Besides being genuinely funny, the ads work on a marketing level—Crowne Plaza calls itself "The Place To Meet," and the brand also targets golfers as a major demographic. This campaign gets an A.

In a "Why Not?" move, the brand posted videos of the audition process, lending a behind-the-scenes feel to the ad campaign. At the very least, the folks in the audition videos were sure to forward them on to everyone they know, and since the videos existed already, a simple YouTube posting generated some free buzz among a handful of social circles. The "extra content" gets a solid B.

Doubletree Maxes Out

It’s been running on American TV for a couple months now, but hands down my favorite hotel ad has to be this one from Doubletree, titled "Branches." Maybe it’s the simple animation showing a tree sprouting leaves adorned with images of Doubletree properties that makes me love it. More likely, it’s the choice of song—the soothing sounds of Dinah Washington singing "Relax Max"—that makes me stop all conversation and focus fully on the commercial whenever it comes on. Simple and perfect. A+

Anybody else have a favorite hotel ad? What makes a perfect hotel ad, either from an artistic or marketing standpoint?

UPDATE: Here are the La Quinta ads that Ariel from Pegasus references in the comments section. The humor is on par with this Holiday Inn campaign, and I mean that as a compliment. Although the deep-voiced "La Quinta!" declaration at the end of each commercial sounds to me like "Lucky Duck!" which is kind of distracting. Maybe I just can’t hear…