Marriott Turns to Parkour in Ongoing Bid to Bolster Youthful & Fun Perception
Jennifer Billock February 13, 2015
Marriott International has released the trailer from the first film by its in-house global content studio.
Marriott recently released the trailer for the first 15-minute short it will produce with its in-house marketing film studio. “Two Bellmen” tells a story about a pair of bellmen who become friends while stopping an attempted art theft. The dance, music and parkour collective Substance Over Hype collaborated with the Marriott on the production, the trailer for which is now available on YouTube.
“Marriott helped fulfill our desire to build on a comedic hotel bellman routine we’d developed a while back,” said Substance Over Hype’s Director Malakai. “The JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A LIVE provided us both a context AND setting for that story. We created a role for the hotel that showcased all its beauty and amenities and combined it with all the stuff we do with dance, stunts and comedy. From there, it just flowed.”
“We understand as a brand that today’s millennial audience does not engage with traditional advertising,” said David Beebe, Marriott’s vice president of creative and content marketing.
The ultimate goal is to create an emotional connection with the films which then in turn brings customers into Marriott hotels because the company is perceived as youthful and fun. “Two Bellmen” will be released on YouTube in its entirety March 10. The film will also be screened during a party at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE.
Marriott plans to create these short films for each of its 19 brands and screen them on location.
[Photo: Marriott; Video: Two Bellman YouTube]
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Where's Parkour?? I only saw machine guns and kicking folks in the chest.
rgdave: Indeed. You know the difference between stodgy old people and hip young people? Stodgy old people can afford to stay at the Marriott. Hip young people stay in treehouses rented on airbnb.
I'm always amused by Marriott's atteempts to reposition itself as 'hip'. It's the least hip major hotel company on the planet. Stodgily reliable? Yes. Hip, no? This is a company who's premium brand is Ritz Carlton, a brand committed to heavy, overdone furnishings and British upper class style --- even in the tropics (Hong Kong being the big exception.) Maybe they'll succeed to remake themselves, like Abercrombie and Ficth did a few decades ago, but I'm not holding my breath. There's still something very Mormon about Marriott. It's where I stay when I want to know that everything works, but not a pick when I'm looking for hip, cool or hot.