Stepped on a Times Square Shuttle train the other day and suddenly found myself underwater surrounded by gorgeous angle fish, luminescent coral and fluffy anenomes. I was all but drenched by the experience, a perfect set up for the Westin Hotels highly engaging “this is how it should feel” campaign. The experience continued in the corridors of Grand Central with multiple posters of beautiful vacation retreats from rain forests to secluded beaches. Some of the posters were lenticulars, showing how “rush hour” is in the city and how it should be on vacation.
The campaign by Deutsch has already received a lot of commentary in the trades and on blogs. A photo of one of the Times Square Shuttles that was turned into a rainforest was in AdAge this week. This travel industry blog shows a picture of one of their three dimensional billboards and provides a lot of details about the campaign including:
The campaign’s clever use of imagery and “environmental messaging”
literally and figuratively turns everyday negatives into positives,
transforming the mundane commute into an unexpected oasis. A busy
escalator, for example, is transformed into a rushing tropical
waterfall, while airport signage creates a mental link between
negatives like the frustration of delays and positives like the
exhilaration of surfers lined up waiting for the perfect wave. In
New York, an interactive Bluetooth billboard invites passersby to
download a soothing, original Westin ringtone because “renewal is
calling.”
Another travel related blog focuses on the print executions in this campaign:
Full-page ads—I saw one in The New Yorker—resemble perfume ads,
complete with a subtle fragrance residing under a sticky flap. A
single line of text over a photo of dewy leaves announces: “White
tea. The calming new scent of Westin.” … The scent in the magazine
ads will apparently be wafting through Westin hotels this spring.
Initially, I thought it might be a stretch to label this campaign Marketing for Good since on the surface it is simply an ad campaign with beautiful pictures. But on further reflection and successive 14 hour work days (like so many “work never stops” New Yorkers) , I came to truly appreciate their *inspiring* “personal renewal” message. I also suspect the power of this message will fill quite a few Westin hotel rooms. We simply can’t get enough reminders of the need to stop and smell the roses (or anemones).