Client: Marriott’s Residence Inn
Job: Drive awareness of Residence Inn’s unique amenities for extended-stay travelers and redefine the extended-stay hotel image.
Agency: Mcgarrybowen
Theme: “Master the Long Trip”
The Concept: Mcgarrybowen found that consumers had little understanding of the Residence Inn brand and that there was a negative association with the term “extended-stay hotel.” When people were informed of the amenities unique to the Residence Inn, such as a full kitchen, free grocery delivery, spacious rooms and outdoor common space, they were surprised. Marriott, which has more than 20 Residence Inn hotels in the metro area, saw an opportunity to spell out the benefits of an extended hotel stay for its target audience, business travelers.
The Plan: Four TV ads filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, feature a fire-breathing performer and acrobats completing feats such as balancing four twirling plates in the kitchen and gliding on a trapeze wire across the room. The ads are designed to highlight, in an eye-catching manner, the conveniences for the “endurance” traveler staying five nights or longer. The ads were launched June 18 on channels such as CNN, ESPN, TNT, the Travel Channel, the Weather Channel and The History Channel. Print ads started appearing in mid-July in Fortune, Time, Money, and Travel and Leisure magazines.
Residence Inns also are undergoing renovations so that the stainless-steel appliances and granite countertops in the kitchen, flat-screen TVs, upgraded bedding and updated multi-functional furniture that are featured in the commercials are in the rooms. There are more than 500 Residence Inn hotels worldwide, and about 135 will have completed the renovations at the end of 2007.
What’s Next: A Web site, masterthelongtrip.com, slated to launch in September, will feature a virtual tour of the new Residence Inn designs. Online ads will appear on Web sites targeting business travelers in the near future.
Creative Team: Jennifer McCarthy, account director, and creative directors Eric Segal and Lars Jorgensen
Background: Mcgarrybowen, a New York-based ad agency founded in 2002, provides advertising services to nine of Marriott’s brands, as well as other major corporations such as Verizon, Pfizer, Crayola, Chase, Disney, Century 21 and Kraft.
