Time Hotel
Results/Business Value
The average time spent on a typical hotel ad was about two seconds. The engagement time for these new, long-copy-no-image ads: 1 minute, 5 seconds. Creating immediate awareness, storytelling involvement… and a buzz spawned by a business travel media equally thirsty for something fresh and different to talk about. Occupancy rate in a recession-funked NYC, was 65% to 70%; Time Hotel registered 82% through its first year of the campaign.
The Business Problem
Recession. Clutter of NYC hotels competing for a guest’s dollar. Including the boutique market.
Target
Professionals in creative roles and industries.
Customer Insight
The Time Hotel was a small hotel, fewer than 180 rooms. To carve out a niche market and fill rooms, I saw that up-and-coming, budget-minded creative-arts guests were bored to death of hotel experiences and messaging. They were in New York to stimulate their creative juices. Time Hotel’s high-design concept by the now-legendary Adam Tihany, featured monochromatic guest rooms, each custom-accessorized in one of the three primary colors, red, yellow or blue. Time Hotel’s CEO, at the start of my work, stated that their brand was “…in the hospitality business.” But, after listening, really listening between the lines to customer – and to Tihany’s design vision – I asked: “What Business Are You Really In?” and after listening to the usual media-trained answers, I offered that the Time Hotel was really in the business of “Inspiring creativity” – for creative professionals coming to New York.
Brand Position/Strategy
A Place That Inspires. A place. Not just another hotel. Why give them an “ad” or any message for any hotel that does anything less? We were letting creative professionals do what they love to do: play and discover. Not just “find” a hotel for their travel needs, but “discover” a place created for creators who lived by the energy of their playful selves.
Creative Solution
Campaign included in-room design and artifacts (books, art). And, ha! Not including “hotel” in the logo intrigued all the more our creative client’s curious, playful mind. Every little and big thing shaped the brand for all staff to be genuinely wired into this creative culture. The front desk each day delivered a fresh fruit of that primary color. And each room had a small, fun keepsake book on the anthology of that room’s primary color. For advertising, I created not hotel ads, but stories stylized poetically from esoteric facts about that color. Sensually charged, creatively eccentric, making for a playful experience of its own. The key to winning this client’s business was understanding their minds: they craved “play” — the way they best worked and succeeded in the business venture that brought them to NYC.
janzlotnick@gmail.com or call/text +1 973-454-8536