6 creative multimedia marketing campaigns to inspire your hotel

November 1, 2017

A great multimedia marketing campaign has the power to build brand awareness, drive traffic, and ultimately lead to more direct bookings. But throwing a glitzy affair and producing creative and inspiring content alone isn’t enough. True multimedia success involves reaching target audiences on the various digital platforms they use most, as well as getting them to engage and interact with the campaign itself.

In the hotel industry, there are certain brands and independent properties that are pushing the boundaries of multimedia marketing. By thinking beyond conventional strategies, they’ve been able to capture significant attention and rise above the rest of the competition

From hosting multi-day music events to commissioning the talents of acclaimed local street artists, the following six hotels illustrate a diverse and imaginative way of bringing their multimedia marketing campaigns to life.

Marriott’s Moxy tent at Coachella

Marriott has a track record of marketing innovation, and their latest campaign to promote the opening of Moxy Times Square was no exception.

During Coachella 2017, Marriott transformed eight safari tents into ‘hotel rooms’, then invited influencers and Marriott Rewards members to camp over in them during the festival. The Moxy tent was designed to offer a preview of the NYC Times Square property, while the remaining tents recreated the feel of Marriott’s other lifestyle brands.

The campground also had an on-site concierge and a chilled outdoor area, while DJ and social media influencer Amy Pham was invited to document Marriott’s glamping experience. The campaign proved a huge hit, earning over one billion media impressions, exposure on major media outlets, and a 63% week-on-week boost in Instagram reach.

Hotel Indigo’s “Color of Discovery”

Finalists at last year’s annual Shorty Awards, Hotel Indigo received acclaim for its Color of Discovery social media campaign, created to showcase the brand as the “ultimate curator of local discoveries.”

A series of social platforms, influencers, canvas ads, and content partners drove traffic to a Color of Discovery hub, featuring everything from neighborhood guides and user-generated content from Instagram, to a series of short videos promoting local experiences at key properties.

The campaign was launched at Hotel Indigo’s newest property in NYC’s Lower East Side, with artwork by street artist Lee Quiñones featured throughout the hotel to evoke the spirit of the local neighborhood.

A partnership with Uber also led to a three-date summer concert series to appeal to the hotel’s music-loving guests, resulting in over 129 million impressions generated in social and press. In addition, the chain’s Facebook canvas ads earned more than 25 million impressions and up to 15.82% engagement rates.

Vdara Vdog

To position themselves as the ultimate hotel for the pooch-loving traveler, Vdara Hotel & Spa Las Vegas devised a unique campaign to promote its canine-appealing credentials.

Fun, quirky and perfectly pitched, their 42-second Facebook and YouTube video entitled a Day in the Life of a Vdara Vdog showcased the resort’s dog-friendly suites, food options, and leafy dog park.

Aimed at increasing awareness as the perfect Las Vegas resort for pet lovers, this innovative campaign ended up earning 100,000 views, 1035 Likes and 144 comments on the hotel’s Facebook Page. Cumulatively, it outperformed all other branded video on Vdara’s social channels by over 3900%.

Hyatt #WhySettle

Pitched at addressing the demands of the 21st-century business traveler, Hyatt’s “You’ve Come Too Far to Settle Now” promotion centered around the sentiment that settling for “good enough” should never be an option.

Running through November 2016, this multi-million-dollar integrated campaign advertised the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House as the ultimate base for the discerning road warrior.

A slick 30-second YouTube video was supported by out-of-home advertising featuring social media, online, print, and a podcast that included interviews with real life entrepreneurs discussing their personal success stories.

Alongside this activity, Hyatt created the #WhySettle Spirit Awards to recognize individuals embodying the brand’s “why settle” attitude. Colleagues, family and friends were encouraged to nominate candidates on the Hyatt Place or Hyatt House Facebook pages, with the winner receiving a personalized 3D statue and a two-night stay at either of the Hyatt properties, as well as profile video and piece in USA Today.

The Pfister Narrator

Dating back to 1893, this grand Milwaukee hotel has taken a unique approach to engaging with guests through a Narrator-in-Residence program.

Each year, the hotel selects a new Milwaukee-based author as its “Pfister Narrator,” a position that entails interviewing guests and visitors around the hotel and sharing their stories through twice weekly entries on the Pfister blog.

Along with a podcast and regular Twitter updates, new stories are announced on the hotel’s Facebook Page. At present, a 90-second Facebook video introducing the previous narrator has gained over 28,000 views.

As well as documenting the lives of guests, the Narrator-in-Residence hosts live mini-events around the hotel. Current narrator Nicole Mattke has been holding a monthly book club along with themed events based on classic novels, including a recent Mad Hatter Tea Party.

Creative and engaging, this approach is a clever way of bringing a hotel blog to life through the words and imagination of a local literary talent.

Wilderness North Fishing Handbook

This family-run business manages a group of fly-in fishing lodges and outpost cabins in Northern Ontario, Canada. Through the years, they’ve invested in various marketing strategies including SEO, AdWords campaigns, blogging, and social media activity, but measuring the actual impact on bookings from these strategies has proven tricky.

In 2016, the lodge worked with I&I Travel Media to produce an official fishing handbook, complete with insider tips on how catch certain types of fish, local climate and fishing seasons, and what to pack. The handbook was distributed using a dedicated landing page, and I&I Travel Media used a subsequent advertising campaign to drive traffic to that page.

Since the targeted campaign, Wilderness North has seen an 80% decrease in AdWords costs—dropping from around $150 per lead to around $18 per lead. Along with more booking enquiries, the quality of the leads they now receive has risen dramatically. The download landing page itself achieved a 36% conversion rate.

Wilderness North nurtures these leads through further marketing campaigns, such as sending out a dedicated trip planning guide, email newsletters and remarketing. And most importantly, the campaign had doubled Wilderness North’s reservation inquiries by the end of the first month.

Although simple in concept and execution, Wilderness North’s campaign proves that sometimes the secret to success is just getting the basics spot on.