Simon's Muse
Post by Tin on Apr 26, 2012 22:31:55 GMT -5
sparksheet.com/storied-luxury-hotels-star-in-their-own-branded-films/
When Duran Duran released its lush, ten-minute comeback video “Girl Panic!” in November, the real star wasn’t the band or the five 1990s supermodels (Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Eva Herzigová and Yasmin Le Bon) who played the roles of the vintage new-wave rockers, but a sixth show-stealing beauty: London’s Savoy hotel.
In the part-mockumentary, part-music video created by director Jonas Åkerlund (whose previous musical mini-movie, the sexy, stylized Lady Gaga-Beyoncé collaboration “Telephone,” has nearly 136 million YouTube views), the pedigreed models wake up in an elegantly appointed (but slightly trashed) suite, seduce female groupies outside the hotel’s iconic entrance, rock out in the ballroom and have to be wheeled back to their room in a bellman’s cart.
To the public, the video is pure eye candy. To hospitality industry insiders, it’s a stroke of marketing genius.
Hotel with as character
“Girl Panic!” is just one example of the emerging trend of hotels appearing as “characters” in short, subtly branded films. As TiVo and Netflix make the 30-second ad spot a thing of the past, such co-pro “advertainment” is quickly filling in the gap.
For the Savoy, that meant a handshake agreement with the filmmaker in which the hotel offered to host the 300-member crew for a whirlwind 48-hour shoot; the payoff was a priceless piece of publicity that will live online forever.
The Savoy, managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, reopened its doors in 2010 following a three-year, 220-million-pound renovation. In Europe, the 10.10.10 launch didn’t just make the newspaper travel sections, it made the front pages.
The historic hotel on the Thames is the stuff of legend, the place where Oscar Wilde carried out the affair for which he was later tried, where a young Princess Elizabeth first appeared in public with suitor Prince Philip, where Maria Callas performed an impromptu concert in the ballroom and where Bob Dylan stayed while filming “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in an adjacent alley.
For more than a century, celebrities have danced and drunk and sometimes behaved badly under the Savoy’s sparkling chandeliers and behind its heavy chintz draperies. It was the first hotel in London where women could dine in public – and later smoke. But rather than sweeping its vices under the rug, the Savoy readily embraces them.
“Not many hotels would have done this,” says Savoy director of communications Brett Perkins. “But the Savoy is a sexy hotel. It’s often said that we’ve done events for royalty and rock royalty.”
Luxury hotel brands with historic properties in their portfolios like to speak of “hotels as destinations” whose storied personalities beckon visitors as much as their locations.
With this music video, the Savoy played its character – regal, with an edge – to perfection. Aside from showcasing the interiors, brand recognition was facilitated by a lengthy establishing shot of the hotel entrance and signage, as well as a title screen indicating that the video was “Shot at the Savoy hotel, London, 6th of June 2011.”
The publicity didn’t end with the video release. The world premiere at the Harper’s Bazaar UK Women of the Year awards ceremony was followed by a cover and 22-page shoot in the magazine with hands-on styling by Dolce & Gabbana.
The result? More than 5.3 million YouTube views and, according to Perkins, countless phone-in requests from guests, media and event planners to use the spaces seen in the film.
When Duran Duran released its lush, ten-minute comeback video “Girl Panic!” in November, the real star wasn’t the band or the five 1990s supermodels (Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Eva Herzigová and Yasmin Le Bon) who played the roles of the vintage new-wave rockers, but a sixth show-stealing beauty: London’s Savoy hotel.
In the part-mockumentary, part-music video created by director Jonas Åkerlund (whose previous musical mini-movie, the sexy, stylized Lady Gaga-Beyoncé collaboration “Telephone,” has nearly 136 million YouTube views), the pedigreed models wake up in an elegantly appointed (but slightly trashed) suite, seduce female groupies outside the hotel’s iconic entrance, rock out in the ballroom and have to be wheeled back to their room in a bellman’s cart.
To the public, the video is pure eye candy. To hospitality industry insiders, it’s a stroke of marketing genius.
Hotel with as character
“Girl Panic!” is just one example of the emerging trend of hotels appearing as “characters” in short, subtly branded films. As TiVo and Netflix make the 30-second ad spot a thing of the past, such co-pro “advertainment” is quickly filling in the gap.
For the Savoy, that meant a handshake agreement with the filmmaker in which the hotel offered to host the 300-member crew for a whirlwind 48-hour shoot; the payoff was a priceless piece of publicity that will live online forever.
The Savoy, managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, reopened its doors in 2010 following a three-year, 220-million-pound renovation. In Europe, the 10.10.10 launch didn’t just make the newspaper travel sections, it made the front pages.
The historic hotel on the Thames is the stuff of legend, the place where Oscar Wilde carried out the affair for which he was later tried, where a young Princess Elizabeth first appeared in public with suitor Prince Philip, where Maria Callas performed an impromptu concert in the ballroom and where Bob Dylan stayed while filming “Subterranean Homesick Blues” in an adjacent alley.
For more than a century, celebrities have danced and drunk and sometimes behaved badly under the Savoy’s sparkling chandeliers and behind its heavy chintz draperies. It was the first hotel in London where women could dine in public – and later smoke. But rather than sweeping its vices under the rug, the Savoy readily embraces them.
“Not many hotels would have done this,” says Savoy director of communications Brett Perkins. “But the Savoy is a sexy hotel. It’s often said that we’ve done events for royalty and rock royalty.”
Luxury hotel brands with historic properties in their portfolios like to speak of “hotels as destinations” whose storied personalities beckon visitors as much as their locations.
With this music video, the Savoy played its character – regal, with an edge – to perfection. Aside from showcasing the interiors, brand recognition was facilitated by a lengthy establishing shot of the hotel entrance and signage, as well as a title screen indicating that the video was “Shot at the Savoy hotel, London, 6th of June 2011.”
The publicity didn’t end with the video release. The world premiere at the Harper’s Bazaar UK Women of the Year awards ceremony was followed by a cover and 22-page shoot in the magazine with hands-on styling by Dolce & Gabbana.
The result? More than 5.3 million YouTube views and, according to Perkins, countless phone-in requests from guests, media and event planners to use the spaces seen in the film.