IHG and Ogilvy Celebrate Moments of Connection for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express

IHG Hotels & Resorts today will launch a global marketing campaign for two of its brands, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, that celebrates moments of human connection. The multi-year campaign, created by the New York office of Ogilvy, kicks off in the United States today with a co-branded spot that will be shown on network and cable TV and in movie theaters; a second spot will be introduced later this month, while paid digital and social media campaigns will also be introduced in the U.S this month. The first, new co-branded TV and cinema spot—made in 15-, 30- and 60-second versions—shows a diverse range of people laughing with each other both in and outside hotel properties. ”It’s funny what happens when people get together," the spot says. "We’re there so you can be too.” Digital ads will also include this tagline. [kickout id="1"] A second co-branded spot to be introduced later this month will feature a cross-section of people connecting through the sense of touch; digital ads also will depict people holding hands, in a wide variety of grasps, or hugging each other. IHG said that ”in a world where technology increasingly dominates how people connect, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express believe that celebrating real, human connection matters now more than ever.” A survey the company conducted recently in the U.S. and U.K. found that, in the previous 12 months, Americans and Brits communicated more often digitally than in person with good friends (67%), family members (59%) and even parents or guardians (39%). The company also said the theme of human interaction was important to Holiday Inns’ founder, Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first Holiday Inn in Memphis in 1952. One of his favorite aphorisms was, “Although there are hundreds of languages in the world, a smile is a curve that sets a lot of things straight.” [kickout id="2"] The new campaign will run on various platforms—including radio, digital and social media—in the United Kingdom in July, and on digital and social platforms in Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, continental Europe and Asia at dates not yet determined. Claire Bennett, global chief marketing officer for IHG, pointed out that its location network—which has almost 4,000 hotels worldwide, including almost 3,000 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in the U.S., with the remainder of these two brands in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe—positions it to “be part of the journey connecting our travelers with the ones that matter most.” In the U.S., the first co-branded spot will run this month on ABC during the NBA finals; both will later run on ESPN, USA, Travel Channel and Bravo, among other channels, and on network TV in the fall. They also will run in movie theaters before summer blockbuster films. IHG also will run four additional TV, digital and social ads—two each for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express--that will feature the theme of connection and run in July and August. The company declined to discuss its budget for the campaign, whose target market is business and leisure travelers 22 to 55 years old with an annual income of over $75,000. [kickout id="3"] CREDITS: Campaign: “We’re there” Advertiser: InterContinental Hotels Group Chief Marketing Officer: Claire Bennett SVP, Global Marketing Mainstream Brands: Heather Balsley VP, Marketing Excellence: Lisa Gunther Head of Global Brand & Commercial Performance, Holiday Inn: TJ Abrams Director, Global Brand & Commercial Performance, Holiday Inn Express: Tia Cummings Director, Mainstream Campaign Management & Planning: Marci Gotlieb Creative Agency: Ogilvy New York Chief Creative Officer: Leslie Sims Executive Creative Director: Ryan Blank Creative Director: Thomas Smith Creative Director: Darren Urquhart Associate Creative Director: Abigail Harris-Shea Art Director: Betsy Appling Copywriter: Leslie James Executive Group Director: Ben Levine Account Director: Liz O’Brien Executive Program Director: Lesley Melincoff Account Supervisor: Rolando Leal Account Executive: Samantha Kaplan Global Consulting Principal: Susan Machtiger Group Planning Director: Margaret Rimsky Global Consulting Partner: Elspeth Ross Global Analyst: Shefali Bhandari WPP Global Team Lead: Jaime Prieto Production Agency: Hogarth Worldwide Head of Production: Ruhiya Nuruddin Executive Producer: Pete Scudese Senior Integrated Producer: Jennifer Amaya Associate Producer/ Post Producer: Laura Goehrke Global Client Manger Director: Fiona Connel Production Company: Rattling Stick Director: Pete Riski Director of Photography: Antonio Paladino Executive Producer: Jeff Schupe Executive Producer: Joe Biggins Producer: Tess Mitchell Producer: Megan Moore Associate Producer: Julia Cook Stills: RW 2 Productions Photographers: The Wade Brothers Producer: Shaun Veltkamp Producer: Scott Moulton Editor: Eve Ashwell Editor: Josh Rathmell Colorist: Colin Travers Audio Engineer: Collin Blendell Music: Duotone Audio Group