Holiday Inn: 1972 to Now

Yeah, you read that right. Holiday Inn as in the hotel you stay at when you go out of town.

The 1970s Advertisement

Holiday Inn's 1972 advertisement focuses on the Holiday Inn restaurant more than the hotel part of a Holiday Inn.

So Many Choices but Nowhere to Eat

Here it is! All five paragraphs of type convincing people to stop by the Holiday Inn restaurant. Instead of typing out all of it like I have for previous ads, I'll just give you the gist of it.

I'm sure we've all been in this situation. You and your friends or family are getting ready to go out to eat. Mom wants one type of food, dad wants another, sibling sides with mom, you don't want any of the choices they give. The advertisement targets this scenario—a groups inability to agree on what to eat and where. Playing on the fact that Holiday Inn Restaurant's have something for everyone, the ad showcases six images of different meals on the menu.

Let's talk design.

For an advertisement, thats a lot of text. However, it's typeset nicely. In person, its a large size, maybe 14 pt, with good leading and wordspacing.

This is the first ad I've come across in these Life magazines that uses cut outs, or at least looks like it. It's an advantage for this ad because at the time it was circulated it may have been the first of its kind. The only hang-up I have is the placement of the Holiday Inn sign image in the bottom right corner of the advertisement. It overlaps the bottom plate in the most annoying of places and the corner of it creates tension with the grain of rice right beside it. Shifting the image to the right may have helped, or shrinking the image ever-so-slightly and shifting it to the right. Anything to move the image off the plate.

The 2019 Global Campaign

According to IHG, Holiday Inn's mother company, this is "the brands' largest marketing campaign in over a decade" and "brings together two iconic leaders in global travel [Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express] to demonstrate the power of in-person connection."

We're There

Launched June of 2019, We're There is a multimillion-dollar campaign (Multivu). The campaign has multiple parts—one combined commercial, two separate commercials focused on each brand's message(s), and paid and social media advertising elements, including a branded hashtag #BeThereIRL (Multivu). Below is one of the commercials of the campaign, for others visit PR Newswire's article here.

The Commercial

Combining multiple stories within one advertisement seems like a common theme to commercials these days. Advertising agencies and large companies are realizing people want to see relatable people and scenarios when looking into products and services. It shows people laughing—whether its family, friends, significant others, etc. The tagline for the commercial is "It's funny what happens when people get together. We're there. So you can be too."

While it focuses on any and all events and scenarios where people want to be together, this campaign was released just before the holiday season. October, November, December and January are the months that see the most travel, and the most events—fall and winter weddings are real popular.

Easter Eggs

If you pay close attention, there are at least four scenes within the ad that take place at either a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn express. It's small, but seeing repeating imagery like uniformed hotel workers and similar furniture and wall treatments like most hotels have helps people better remember and recall the brand seen there.

Still Ads

Below are two still advertisements of the campaign. Both have two people enjoying each other's company—laughing or smiling. Reinforcing the warm and happy feeling of being with people.

While the old ad focused on the Holiday Inn restaurant, the 2019 Holiday Inn advertising campaign focuses on both Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. Inciting a feeling of togetherness and happiness to appeal to consumers.

Resources:

Search This Blog

Ads Then & Now