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Marriott International Launches Creative and Content Marketing Studio
POSTED BYCOLLEEN JONES
OCT 09 2014
To paraphrase the wise words of Wham!, if you’re “gonna” venture into branded content now, you really should be prepared to do it right. Marriott International has upped the ante in the travel space by announcing a new studio devoted to creative and content marketing.
Three things I like about this strategic move:
1. This Space Has Big Opportunity
Hotels especially have largely ignored content outside of booking, even though travel is ripe with content possibilities. If you think of content marketing in travel as pioneering, there is some wide open land ready to be claimed here. The big competition will not be other brands but other media properties. I like that Marriott is thinking big impact here. David Beebe, Marriott’s vp of creative, content marketing, and global marketing said:
We view this as the opportunity to be the world’s largest producer of travel-related content.
2. They’re Bringing the Effort Largely In-House
It’s clear Marriott is committed, and they have to be to pull off something this big. They’re putting time, resources, and effort into creating a robust team and system of content marketing. They’re not trying to simply outsource the work to agencies. The effort is too important to their business strategy, and I couldn’t agree more. As AdWeek notes,
The in-house division will have three parts: content development, which will be the personal creative agency; production, or the entertainment division responsible for video content ranging from Web clips to TV shows; and distribution, a real-time marketing group that will monitor social media to ensure immediate interaction with trending topics. Marriott will continue to work with external agencies and other production companies as needed.
3. Travelers Are Open to Content from Brands
As our Content + Credibility Study found more than a year ago, travelers are pretty receptive to the idea of travel brands being credible sources of content. That’s not necessarily the case in other industries. And, as branded content in general has become more commonplace and improved, I anticipate travelers will be more open to it now than ever before.
The big question, of course, is will this strategy work? Well, a strategy is only as good as its execution. But I’d say this move looks promising to pay off with more awareness of Marriott, increased trust of Marriott, and eventually a boost in reputation and results such as bookings.
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