BBH New York teamed up with writers from McSweeney’s to launch the ultimate out-of-office message generator for Westin Hotels & Resorts.
The approach is exemplified in the video above, in which a standard backdrop is set to a voice reading an out of office message with the type of humor McSweeney’s readers have come to expect from the humor site. While not quite laugh out loud funny, it’s a fairly clever (and sarcastic) way to deliver an out of office message while on vacation and there are several more such messages on the campaign site. There’s even a tool to customize your own by filling in your name and details about the type of trip you’re taking. For a category in which it’s incredibly hard to stand out and make an impression, the approach is memorable and the gentle dose of humor welcome.
For McSweeney’s, the project, along with recent work for Airbnb and Warby Parker, marks the beginning of the publisher opening up to brand partnerships. “We haven’t felt like we’ve had to compromise ourselves so far; it’s a bargain I’ve been happy with,” Jordan Bass, McSweeney’s editor-in-chief told Digiday. “Such projects offer a different type of opportunity to our writers and help put more resources toward our passion projects. It’s how we support everything we do here.”