Monday, October 27, 2014

Journey to the Extraordinary via the digital world

Three months ago, Holiday Inn launched its first digital-only campaign dubbed "Journey to the Extraordinary". The campaign focuses on inspiring journeys of real Holiday Inn guests. The hotel brand has partnered with organizations such as Tumblr, Nonfiction Unlimited, International New York Times, Mashable and MBAs Across America to tell these stories.

Profiles of five real Holiday Inn guests will be featured in a "Signature Stories" series. On the search for these stores, the brand encountered guests from a social entrepreneur to an award-winning rodeo clown, all of whom stayed at the Holiday Inn. The first of the "Signature Stories" will be shared in an unscripted documentary style via Tumblr. It stars Scott Rigsby, a double amputee who is a marathoner, tri-athlete, world record holder, author and motivational speaker. During his journey, Scott stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort Panama City Beach while rehabilitating and facing financial difficulties. The documentary will showcase Scott's reunion with the hotel's owner. New stories will be added weekly via Holiday Inn's various digital platforms including Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Since the campaign's launch, Holiday Inn has 175.3 million total video views, a Tumblr reach of 19.2 million consumers and more than 200,000 likes of its #JourneyOnContest photoblogger content. These results support the brand's decision to go digital only and focus on engagement as its key success metric. In addition, digital platforms enable the brand to reach guests of all demographics in a targeted way and place the right message in front of the right people at the right time. This campaign may change the way that the hospitality industry approaches customers.

Sources: http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?PageID=57&NewsID=3253
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/holiday-inns-digital-only-approach-has-generated-135-million-video-views-so-far-160830


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