BACKGROUND
Holiday Inn Express is one of the fastest growing hotel brands in the industry. The Stay Smart platform has and continues to be a culturally relevant marketing platform that has broken through the competitive clutter. In 2014, we launched the first all-digital campaign that blended comedy and hyperbole to show normal people doing exceptional things, while bringing to life the idea that when you stay at a Holiday Inn Express, you stay smart.
OBJECTIVE
Drive brand consideration and preference of the next generation business traveler in the digital space. Persuade the business traveler to "choose" smart and stay at Holiday Inn Express.
STRATEGY
Through a multi-platform digital campaign utilizing various forms of content that encouraged travelers to follow along and participate in the journey, Holiday Inn Express used comedy and wit as a unique and ownable way to talk about the key features of the hotel, providing rational support to the Stay Smart platform. Key partnerships included Major League Baseball (MLB), Funny or Die, comedian Jim Gaffigan, BuzzFeed, Pandora, and more.
OUTCOME
Results were better than expected. The campaign, when compared to baselines, performed above both industry and channel metrics resulting in over 477M reached. With over 18MM total videos viewed, we surpassed the projected video reach which was set at 13MM.
STAND UP FOR SMART
Holiday Inn Express is taking an active stance in defense of smart decision making when it comes to the business traveler. Through a thorough digital communications architecture, the tactical campaign approach included video (Second City & pre-roll videos), partnerships, social media, internet radio and cross-device display.
NEW AND INNOVATING
The campaign leveraged emerging technology as they happened by testing and pivoting while in market. Leveraging video cards on Twitter, testing thumbnails, and changing ad buys based on new and innovative strategies significantly increased engagement rates and helped Holiday Inn Express improve impressions while being innovative and cutting edge.
Real-time media monitoring with the "Loop", a room devoted to monitoring conversations across social channels as they happen, resulted in reaction-based social media posts including celebrating World Teachers Day on October 5, a Facebook post that drove brand preference positively.
A very successful partnership with comedian Jim Gaffigan included brand videos (Man on the Street and Doctor), a Twitter takeover of the Holiday Inn Express handle which resulted in over 2M impressions and 1.1K mentions, and many key brand media placements in Ad Week, New York Times, and Forbes.
A partnership with Major League Baseball included "Play of the Day" tweets sponsored by Holiday Inn Express and used the hashtag #StaySmart. These tweets garnered over 9M impressions and over 110K engagements.
The partnership with Funny or Die's Oddball Festival included a Room with a View sweepstakes on Facebook to win Holiday Inn Express branded front row seats at the comedy shows, media, and videos following comedians on the road. On Twitter, our Oddball partnership had 18M impressions.
METRICS AND RESULTS
Metrics included a combination of consideration-based (for example, video completion rate) and preference-based. The campaign reached over 477M with over 1.1M social engagements. Through display and video, the reach projection was set at 13MM with a maximum frequency of 6 per month. Sentiment has been trending positive on social channels overall with the Jim Gaffigan content performing best.
