This Is How It Should Feel

THE INDUSTRY INSPIRATION
Bright young things in the form of individualistic boutique hotels oozing sexy, hip appeal stoke urban trends. On the contrary, the widely admired Westin is an inimitable Grace Kelly, upholding a class of its own with efficient service in an effortless style and gracious attitude for a truly unforgettable experience since it opened its discerning doors in 1930. Its name graces more than 150 hotels and resorts in over 20 countries and the Westin brand is synonymous with driving service innovation within the hospitality industry. This unyielding regard to serve guests with nothing less than the best in experience stems from its birth: Westin was born out of an alliance between two hotel rivals who found themselves having breakfast at the same diner in Yakima, Washington. Strange bedfellows, but what a success of a marriage they made. Westin has been making history throughout its 78 years of establishment. Known as Western Hotels then, its succession of momentous “firsts” that left competition by the wayside took root with credit — it issued the first guest credit card in 1946. A year later, it was the first hotel that could confirm guest reservations instantly with the introduction of the “Hoteltype” reservations system. In 1969, it was the first to offer 24-hour room service. Before it commemorated its 50th birthday with a new name, Westin Hotels & Resorts, it struck another first in 1980 by developing the inaugural in-house hotel training program for executive chefs. A nod to its earlier milestones, 1983 marked the debut of a comprehensive credit card reservation and check-out system with Westin being the first major hotel to implement the service. Westin continued to ride on the technology wave by offering guests industry firsts: Personal voice-mail service in 1991 and in 1994, all hotel services if just a call away with Service Express®. Westin’s attention turned to tiny tots in 1994. Westin Kids Club® is the first children’s program serving infants and features an extensive range of services and facilities for all children under the age of 13. THE LUXURY LINEAGE
Luxurious comfort never goes out of style. 1999 was a turning point for the Westin brand. While competitors court customers with heartwarming promises of being a home away from home, Westin woos the world with sine qua non a little more out-of-this-world: Heaven. Guests’ divine experience in Westin’s lap of luxury got closer to nirvana after its acquisition by business maverick Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 1998. An young upstart who took the world of hospitality by storm when he set up Starwood Capital partners in Chicago in 1991, Sternlicht’s decade-long tenure was marked with a string of successful coups, bold strategies and imaginative concepts that built Starwood into one of the world’s largest and most influential hotel and leisure companies today. The stable of stellar brands it owns, manages and franchises famous brands like St. Regis and Sheraton, reputable heavyweights in the hospitality business that have served guests long before Starwood’s inception. Sternlicht himself is recognized as one of the industry’s youngest movers-and-shakers. Tenacious in his creative vision, he has made a name for his spawn by keeping it fresh — each individual brand holds a distinctive position and offers an exceptional experience. For Westin, it is as close as you can get to heaven. When the Heavenly Bed® was introduced in 1999, Westin single-handedly changed guests’ expectations of a snooze and the industry paradigm of a superior slumber experience. Now, devotees can even bring home Westin’s signature innovation of plush comfort. The luxurious all-white Heavenly Bed® is a holy matrimony of a specially-designed pillow-top mattress set, wrapped in three crisps sheets ranging from 200 to 250 in thread count, a cosy down comforter, stylish duvet and five plump pillows. Westin followed up with an incentive to get out of bed: The Heavenly Bath®, offering guests a fully customizable shower experience through Westin’s exclusive invigorating dual showerhead configuration and a revolutionary curved shower rod that affords eight more inches of elbow room. As the icing on the cake, Westin ups the ante with indulgent spa amenities, Brazilian combed cotton bath sheets, bespoke robes of renowned Egyptian cotton velour and the Heavenly Shower Curtains. Westin extends the state of blissful sleep to the little ones as well, creating the Heavenly Crib® that embraces tiny travelers in an unparalleled cloud of comfort and a superior sleep experience. Parents obtain peace of mind while babies receive the luxury of sweet dreams on a cushioned 4” thick mattress — double the thickness of most portable hotel cribs — with a deep-pocketed fitted sheet and padded bumpers crafted from fire-safe fabrics and non-toxic materials. “We’re obsessed with creating unforgettable guest experiences and infusing a spirit of renewal into every aspect of the Westin experience,” said Sue Brush, senior vice president of Westin Hotels & Resorts. THE RECENT RENEWAL
Guests check out of Westin a brand new person. The transformation is inevitable; physical, mental and even spiritual needs are all taken care of under the global brand‘s meticulous care. From blah to bliss, from stress to serenity — it’s all about the experience. This year, Deutsch New York is challenged to communicate this one-of-a-kind hotel experience in, of course, an experential campaign. The US$30 million ad blitz is designed to foster an emotional attachment with the upscale traveler. At the same time, it is a go-to-market strategy engineered to outsmart the category leadership. Explained Ronald Tsung (Vice-President, Account Director of Deutsch New York): “Our solution is to make Westin a lifestyle brand that offers the benefit of renewal by providing their guests with a multi-sensory, transformative experience that leaves them feeling better than when they arrived.“ The idea resonated with Westin’s goal of promoting brand awareness. The 78-year-old establishment‘s target audience is defined as college-educated professionals, skewing slightly towards the males, between the age of 35-49 years old. The group belongs to a certain class of travelers whose demanding standards draw them to hotels that can efficiently fulfill their business and leisure needs, because they are motivated individuals striving to achieve their personal best. Affluent and regular travelers who are driven to attain success in both their professional and personal lives, it is a struggle for them to maintain a balanced lifestyle. “Travel is a defining aspect of their lifestyle (right behind work), and travel experience is important for their career advancement and personal development,” said Tsung. “However, travel can create stress, break their routine, and leave them feeling drained. When on the road for business, they like to work hard yet stay fit, eat well and get enough sleep.” Still, seeking renewal outlets is not on top of most harried business travelers’ mile-long lists of priorities. In recognition, Deutsch New York positioned Westin’s key message as the destination for renewal. The agency took on the approach of gentle reminders rather than aggressive marketing, in line with the campaign’s promise bring an oasis of calm to a sea of chaos. THE EXPERENTIAL EXECUTION
Subtlety is the essence. All ads were contextually relevant and designed to stimulate the senses and calm frazzled nerves, reinforcing the “be it, don’t say it” strategy. It was deliberately devoid of typical hotel imagery such as room shots, fluffy beds, sunsets and other showcases of amenities in any aspect of the campaign. Such a significant departure from traditional hotel advertising called for highly evocative ads to stir the imagination and emotions of what it is like to stay at their properties — a rejuvenating, personal experience free from the shackles of travel and everyday life. Aptly, the effort is christened “This Is How It Should Feel”. National print represented a fundamental media vehicle — selections of categories and titles were based on the target’s preferences in business, sport, travel and epicurean — but ad buy encompassed radio, online and multi-platform elements.
Click on the thumbnails to view Westin’s print ads in detail. “The use of non-traditional media marks an exciting new direction for Westin,” said Brush. “What better way to convey the Westin Renewal experience than to literally surround consumers with positive experiential messages in subways and airports and on highways, where they are most stressed and yearning for an escape? This message is particularly resonant with business travelers, who can appreciate the juxtaposition between the most successful moments of the day and the most renewing.” To bring the message to life, Westin converted some of the most hectic transportation hubs in the United States like Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco into “places of renewal”, before culminating in New York City on 1 August, where every possible media touchpoint in Grand Central Station becomes a carefully choreographed brand immersion experience, dreamed up by Deutsch New York and implemented by MediaVest. Through sophisticated experiential mediums, the out-of-home domination program literally and figuratively turned everyday negatives into positives, transforming the mundane commute into an unexpected oasis by employing unconventional and breakthrough units that capture the attention of the busy, stressed-out target.
Click on the thumbnails to view Westin’s out-of-home domination program in detail. More than 270 images were used for the out-of-home execution. Deutsch New York wrapped the interiors of three Grand Central/Times Square shuttle trains completely with 360-degree imagery of a lush rainforest, breathtaking underwater coral reef or a soothing sauna leading to an icy lakeshore. Travelers are offered a respite from the angst of everyday commute, which they could find at Westin too. This suggestive approach earned coverage in several hundred blogs and secured broadcast on both local and international news stations.
Click on the thumbnails to view the interiors of three Grand Central/Times Square shuttle trains in detail. In addition, Westin lined the tunnel walls of the subway with ads. Through the clever use of the train in motion, these images acted like a giant flipbook when viewed from the subway car windows. During morning traffic, passengers were greeted with a signature Westin botanical unfurl with the tagline “Morning stretch”. In the evening, commuters saw a crashing wave and the tagline “Rush hour”. Out of the train, landscape photos spread across several columns throughout Grand Central Station. As commuters walked through the station, they would see the images merge to create a cohesive picture from specific vantage points. Taglined “Breathing room”, the columns were designed to incorporate and leverage on the natural flow of traffic patterns to create an interactive visual experience. Lenticulars peppered throughout train stations provided the perfect fit for translating a transformative experience to commuters. The image-shifting panels demonstrated Westin’s ability to convert everyday negatives into positives, such as rush hour traffic to a rushing waterfall. In the subway system of New York City, Westin installed the largest-ever indoor back-lit Cee-lite panel. It is also the first Cee-lite panel to be allowed in Grand Central Station. A noteworthy mention is the Bluetooth billboard in New York, an interactive unit that invited commuters to download Westin’s signature soothing ringtone because “renewal is calling”. In fact, the billboard was conceptualized with the numerous inquiries of the song, featured in 2006’s 15-second TV spot, in mind. Overwhelming response prompted Westin to return to the studio to record the full track.
Click on the thumbnails to view Westin’s out-of-train executions in detail. Apart from floor graphics, Westin made savvy use of larger-than-life traditional billboards by combining it with spectacular hand-carved, three-dimensional units. Spread over five major cities in the United States, Westin gave commuters a fresh take on “rush hour”. One of the billboards featured a simple Zen garden, but it provided a strong visual escape from a heavily congested traffic zone in Manhattan.
Click on the thumbnails to view Westin’s floor graphics and 3D billboards in detail. In airports, Westin relaxed frazzled travelers through calming imagery and airport-specific messages by re-interpreting negative associations with flying into a positive momentary escape, such as a particular signage that mentally linked the frustration of delays to the thrill of surfers lined up to catch the perfect wave.
Click on the thumbnails to view Westin’s airport-specific messaging in detail. “This phase of the Westin campaign is designed to embrace and evoke the feelings of renewal and rejuvenation that Westin provides by being more experiential,” chief creative officer of Deutsch New York Peter Nicholson rationalized. “We’ve taken advertising and made it work harder to reward people for spending time with the executions; a mini escape from the day.” To maximize the buzz and raise awareness a few notches up, a PR plan was implemented even before the start of the campaign. Advanced business stories were pitched and picked up by top national outlets in the weeks leading up to the unveiling of the ad blitz. The campaign possessed such intense imagery that it reached local broadcast outlets in the key cities, blogs and newspapers. Outreach achieved coverage in several hundred blogs, including a video feature on Gawker and positive stories on influential industry sites such as Reuters‘ MediaFile.com, Forbes.com, HotelChatter.com, NYTimes.com, AdRants.com and AdForum.com. In addition, visuals of the campaign ran on the front page of AM New York and on three local TV stations, and the effort was crowned “Work of the Week” by Advertising Age. Additional broadcast coverage was also secured on CNBC and dozens of local news stations including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, with international interest in places as far as Germany and Tokyo. THE ADVERTISEMENT AFTERGLOW
The extra efforts walked the talk, and even went an extra mile that resulted in a significant contribution. According to Tsung, it yielded a remarkable 14.7 million additional impressions to the whopping 52 million impressions the media plan achieved. Number crunching aside, the campaign large-scale use of 360-degree media and environmental messaging facilitated a huge breakthrough for the hotel industry. Engaging consumers at multiple touchpoints through the integration of a diverse range of non-traditional mediums spanning more than 270 different visuals and 2,754 media placements — that left a deep impression on consumers and industry insiders alike. The choice of suggestive imagery over traditional showcases of hotel amenities was a hit: Campaign posters were produced in response to consumer requests. There are tangible results and there are intangible consequential effects. Reinventing Westin as a renewing lifestyle brand breathed new life into brand awareness and preference among upscale travelers while the business exceeded category occupancy and rate projections, revitalized Westin’s lead at the cutting edge of luxury comfort. Westin. A breath of fresh air. This is how it should feel. © 2003 - 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.