NEW YORK, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- In a bold move amidst a category full of
lobby photos, room views and laughing couples, Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide Inc.'s (NYSE: HOT) Westin brand launches a new ad campaign which is
a radical departure from its competitors.
Each ad in the campaign is a traditional letter-pressed hand engraved
invitation, complete with the tagline/call-to-action "RSVP Westin". Upon
closer inspection, the ads are anything but traditional. Whimsical icons and
suggestive copy tout the various innovations Westin seeks to promote. "What
makes the campaign so fresh", says Group Creative Director Tan Shen Guan "is
that we took one of the most traditional methods of extending hospitality and
used it to describe Westin in a fun, contemporary way. Besides, sending
invitations this way beats licking all those envelopes."
Westin is looking to this new campaign to re-enforce a personality for the
brand, as it has excellent customer loyalty, but relatively low brand
awareness. "That should change", says Leo Mamorsky, Group Account Director,
confident of his agency's new effort. This is the first new campaign since
Westin launched "Who is she sleeping with?' in 1996 and then later "The Best
in Bed" take off in 1999. Sue Brush, Westin VP of Marketing explains, "Who is
she sleeping with?" was risque and controversial and received a lot of
attention. We are moving onto a more innovative approach that says "style"
and "attitude" which we believe we have achieved through this simple yet
powerful campaign."
Prominently featured in many of the ads targeted toward upscale business
and leisure travelers is Westin's trademarked Heavenly Bed(TM), an overnight
success and brainchild of Starwood Chairman Barry Sternlicht.
Print, radio, direct mail, out of home and online media were selected as
the best way to reach the selective Westin customer. Print advertising will
break in major magazines and newspapers as well as airport out of home in
September and direct mail and online media will launch in October.
The new brand work has been done by DDB New York, who picked up the $16 MM
billing account after launching a campaign for Starwood's Sheraton Hotels last
fall.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and
leisure companies in the world with more than 725 properties in 80 countries
and 120,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With
internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner,
operator and franchiser of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury
Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points and W brands, as well as Starwood
Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high
quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please
visit us at http://www.starwoodhotels.com.
SOURCE Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/443150.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 443150
CONTACT:
Melissa Henninger of Starwood Hotels &
Resorts, 914-640-5268; or Marianne Flatley of DDB, 212-415-2075,
for Starwood Hotels & Resorts
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