HONG KONG: Buoyed by the upswing in travel, Shangri-La Hotels and
Resorts has rolled out its first major global campaign in almost a
decade.
The print campaign depicts the five-star treatment a guest can expect at
any of the group's hotels after the stress of modern day travel. The
chain's new ad agency has also evolved the tagline from "It must be
Shangri-La" of the Batey Couldrey Jones days to "Paradise Found", by
TBWA.
TBWA has shifted the strategy and execution away from the category's
tendency to highlight lavish lobbies, cosy rooms and sumptuous food.
"We could have carried on doing what everyone else is doing, but we
decided on a more aggressive route," said Shangri-La worldwide group
director of sales and marketing Michael Ball.
Personalisation, familiarity, anticipating needs and being calmly
efficient are messages that have been interwoven into its ads. "All the
research shows that whatever enjoyment there was once in travelling has
long since been buried in the grind of queues, meetings and 24/7
work."
The departure from what has become an industry norm comes a year after
Ball's appointment. He said changing the strategy is risky but he
stressed that "it is obviously a risk worth taking" because past
campaigns did little to differentiate the Shangri-La brand from the
competition.
