J. Most effective use of branded content

Holiday Inn wanted to break out of the category’s vicious price-driven promotion cycle, and improve its brand perception among Chinese business travellers. It needed to showcase how premium its hotels were (beds, showers and service) and do it in a Chinese-netizenly interactive and emotional way, a first in the category in China.

We told curious tales, shot in real Holiday Inns, on office elevator LCD monitors, in-taxi LCD monitors, online video portals and social media sites. It piqued consumers’ interest with the beginnings of several curious tales, and did not show the endings. In one film, a running woman was taking off her clothes while a man was chasing after her. In a second, receptionists stare at a man who was walking backwards in the lobby. In another, a maid runs madly out of a room and collapses on the floor. Consumers were asked to dig out the hidden videos on the internet to find out how the tales ended.

Approximately nine million consumers interacted with Curious Holiday Inn-cident content online, with over 5 million consumers who viewed the videos, and two million of whom clicked through the videos to find out more about the brand. In addition, revenue grew 16 per cent versus a target of 10 per cent by the end of 2011.