The Holiday Inn Express frequent business traveller spends a lot
of time on the road and they know what they like: practical
amenities, without all kinds of extra fluff (and cost). This is the
premise for Holiday Inn Express' "Stay Smart" brand promise: you'll
feel smarter for having stayed with HI Express instead of "fancier"
full service hotels.
Holiday Inn capitalised on the unprecedented level of media
interest in the 2008 US Presidential race by creating a media
conversation around the Holiday Inn Express brand positioning. In
the midst of the most expensive campaign in history, the Stay
Smart, America website exposed how fiscally responsible- and
irresponsible- the Presidential candidates were.
The success of the website hinged on a risky but hugely
successful communications strategy that relied solely on PR to push
the website and its message. No paid media was purchased, online or
offline, to tout Stay Smart America. This was an unconventional
strategy that paid off huge for the brand.
Leveraging the candidate's public FEC filings, the website
analysed and published the candidate's campaign lodging
expenditures and determined how much they would have saved if they
stayed with Holiday Inn Express.
The story was first offered up to respected journalist and
blogger Chris Elliott of The New York Times for inclusion on his
blog. Once Elliott ran the exclusive, the release was then
strategically distributed right before Super to the Top 100 daily
newspapers, national television and relevant Web sites, blogs,
social networks and message boards.
In the first 2 weeks the website generated over 85m media
impressions and secured online and offline, national and
international coverage on Fox News, CBS, The London Times, The New
York Times, The Washington Post, LA Times, and USA Today, among
dozens of political and news blogs. The Stay Smart, America
website, developed for $100K, set off a storm of press activity
that returned over $2.5MM+ in free media coverage.