Karen Timpone is a veteran of Walt Disney, Yahoo and, years ago, The Seagram company. She was hired at Marriott International in 2013 and is the global marketing officer.
In this article, she explains how Marriott is bringing Millennials to some of Marriott’s 4,100 properties across 79 countries. She talks about lessons learned at Disney and Yahoo; why the brand is investing so heavily in content marketing and why she always travels with so much water.
The author mentions branded video marketing, including Marriott’s first short film “Two Bellman,” that was produced by The Marriott Content Studio. The studio launched last year as the entertainment arm of the hotel chain with a vast slate of non-traditional marketing projects underway targeting Millennials through all screens and formats.
“Two Bellmen” was filmed at the JW Marriott LA. The hotel plays a character in the action-driven story about two bellmen who thwart a heist at a private art event.
In talking about the film, David Beebe, vice president, creative and content marketing at Marriott International said: “It’s not about us integrating the hotel features into the story. It’s more about how does that naturally take place as part of the story.”
The 20-minute film, produced in partnership with Substance Over Hype, was shot over seven days. It premiered this month surround by a marketing plan worthy of a major motion picture. Since posted on YouTube, the film has received more than 3.4 million views.
The strategy for the Content Studio is built around three “Cs”: Content, (produce relevant and engaging content); Communities (targets for the content) and Commerce (monetize the communities).
“Great content for us equals heads in beds,” Beebe said.
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