The Sheraton "Belong" Ad Campaign - appealing to emotions and lifestyles

Since late last year, many big hospitality / hotel companies have been scrambling to redefine their image and stand out from a growing herd of brands and franchises. The drive behind this is the understanding / realization that humans tend to be creatures of emotion...rather then logic, and the very elements that have helped companies build successful brands with a fan-following can be utilized to stand apart in the hospitality industry too!

After all, the hospitality industry today is saturated with an influx of new rooms, properties and brands - just how does a customer make up his/her mind? Starwood kick-started a superb branding initiative in 2005, with a differentiating exercise for each of its brands, including defining a unique image and core values associate with each brand. Also rolled out this year were various advertisement campaigns and property-level initiatives to build on brand uniqueness, e.g. Sheraton's "Belong" campaign, the simplicity factor associated with Four Points, the "address" and exclusivity offered by St.Regis, etc. Other chains like Marriott and Hilton have also followed suit with their own initiatives, of course. Also in development are various "new" brands which aim to cater to niche and growing markets, like Aloft by Starwood, Hyatt Place (Brands)... the younger generation, Women Corporate Travellers (niches), etc.

The emotional branding and marketing approach is clearly a beneficial one...after all, we all tend to define our personalities and signature by the choices we make (mostly on gut feel and memories, emotions evoked)...however, for the hotel industry, this also raises some interesting questions:

- With the number of chains and brands out there, even if all of them adopted a emotional and lifestyle branding approach....isn't there still just too many to choose from? When the number of channels on TV increases...does this always improve choice and quality too...or just make it harder to sift through the lot?

- Is the trick to get in early and gain as many loyal customers as possible...or build on niches? Is the trick to get through to as many people as possible through aggressive marketing? The two Cola giants got in early and established their empires based on branding and emotions - after all colas can be easily reproduced in a myriad of flavors...but only a handful of companies dominate the markets.

- With the changing demands, sophistication and moods of customers, what guarantees success of an approach / strategy? Can semi-static or dynamic approaches to branding and marketing combat this?

- What happens to the small guys? How will independant operators and smaller chains react to this trend...and compete effectively?

A very interesting topic, with a lot of different angles to look at...and definitely a lot of perspectives on the same angles! What do YOU think?

More articles on The Tourism & Hospitality Diaries related to emotion-marketing and guest experiences:

>> Hotels wake up to the lifestyle trend - Starwood, Mariott and Hilton lead the way

>> Which Country Provides the Most "Comfortable" Hotel Experience?

>> Brand Your Moments of Truth

tags: experiences, lifestyles, branding, emotions, hospitality, hotels, starwood, marriott, hyatt, hilton, sheraton, belong, four-points, st.regis, lifestyle-branding, emotion-marketing, sheraton-belong