How Hyatt Regency tweaked its big global campaign for APAC

Hyatt Hotels integrated global marketing campaign for the Hyatt Regency brand is the largest campaign in its nearly 50-year history. The multi-million dollar campaign seeks to celebrate the ways the hotel and resort chain helps its guests make the most of being away.

The premise for the campaign stemmed from global research done by Hyatt, which found that 78 percent of travellers value experience over everything else, with 80 percent reporting feeling more free and likely to discover new things when travelling.

“We heard loud and clear from travellers around the world that while it is good to be home, there is an inherent freedom in travelling and breaking from routine, making new connections and experiencing new things,” said Sandra Cordova Micek, senior vice president global brands, Hyatt, in a statement. “This campaign lets travellers know that we not only understand, we agree.”

Advertising agency Pereira & O’Dell worked on the global marketing campaign, which is aimed at both consumers and meeting planners.

PJ Pereira, founder and chief creative officer, Pereira & O’Dell said the best creative work happens when one is in tune with the consumer.

“We believe that the insight that sometimes ‘it’s good not to be home’ will not only resonate, it will help a well established brand break through in a sea of ‘home away from home’ messages in the category,” he added.

The campaign includes TV, social, digital, out of home and print media, a surprise and delight programme, in-hotel activations and conference take-overs that will continue to roll out across regions.

Resonating with Asia

Carina Chorengel

Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific, Carina Chorengel, senior vice president of brand and commercial strategy in Asia-Pacific, highlighted the key differences for the Asian leg of the global rollout.

While the campaign’s tagline in the United States is ‘It’s good not to be home’, the tagline ‘Make the most of being away’ will be used in Asia and Europe.

Chorengel said the adjustment was made to be culturally relevant, knowing that family is an especially important part of Asian culture.

Hyatt Regency has 153 hotels around the world, with 31 in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding India, and the brand expects to open five more properties in the region in 2016. On average 300,000 guests stay in one Hyatt Regency hotel every year.

“We’re also mindful that for many of our guests in Asia and Europe, English is not their first language,” she added. “So we wanted a message that would resonate clearly in a multilingual and cultural environment.”

Chorengel said that the tagline may be perceived as controversial, but was in line with the brand’s personality as “clever, confident and energising”. “We wanted to be bold about the statement we were making for this campaign,” she added.

Chorengel said that while guests will have all the comforts of home while staying at a Hyatt Regency property, travel priorities have evolved.

“It all goes back to experiences,” she added. “It’s about the experience of being in a different city, exploring the destination and connecting with where you are to get a sense of place.”

Chorengel said this shift to the desire for a more connected experience with a destination is fuelled by the internet and the trove of knowledge readily available for travellers.

“There’s a lot of dreaming going on before they even step on a plane, and we want to help fulfil that and help guest make the most of it,” she added.

The above-the-line campaign will see inflight ads being aired on Air China, with print advertisements in Japan. Digital channels engaged in China include Sohu, Tudou, Youku and WeChat.

Chorengel said the hotel brand works with ADK in Japan and Bates CHI & Partners for China and the pan-Asia region.

Social at the core

A key aspect of the Hyatt Regency brand is its stance on “fostering connections”, and that has been carried through in the new campaign via the strong social and on-ground activation component.

Chorengel said that five hotels in the region—Tokyo, Danang, Perth, Suzhou and the Shatin Hong Kong location—will feature 3D popup art booths placed in public spaces within the property.

Themed with each city’s iconic attractions, the hotel is inviting guests, staff and members of the public to take photos and share them on social media.

In the United States, these art installations were done in the hotel’s elevators, an homage to the classic notion of the ‘elevator pitch’.

However the choice to place 3D art booths in public spaces is a nod to the vibrant F&B traffic enjoyed by its Asian properties.

“Our hotels in Asia are part of a very robust F&B space, and we have not just hotels guests but the public coming into the hotel to enjoy our offerings,” said Chorengel. “By putting the booths where they are easily accessible, more people can connect and share their experiences.”

She added that the campaign is a 360 initiative with a big focus on on-ground activation in all hotels, in particular with colleagues and associates.

“We’re making a lot of noise globally about what we’re doing and who we are as a brand but where that experience is actually delivered is via our colleagues,” Chorengel said. “So it is important that they are an active part of this campaign and communicating that message to guests.”

In conjunction with the market-facing campaign, the brand is also conducting an internal one called “The Colleague Challenge”.

Employees around the world are tasked with created videos sharing experiences about how they help guests make the most out of their stay. Each hotel team can also issue a challenge to another in the network.

“We’re having a lot of fun with this and want it to be very energising,” Chorengel added.