‘Smart’ Holiday Inn Express Ads Soothe the Ego

Advertiser: Holiday Inn

Agency: Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis

Challenge: Create a separate identity for Holiday Inn Express, a chain aimed at budget-conscious travelers.

The Ads: Three television commercials use humor to assert that smart travelers stay at Holiday Inn Express. In one spot, a member of a group touring a wilderness area offers advice to a fellow vacationer who encounters a grizzly bear. “Try to act confident,” the tourist urges. “Walk up to the bear and box his ears.” When asked what makes him so smart, the tourist admits he is not a forest ranger. “But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” In other TV commercials, a tourist advises a bus driver about the structural condition of a bridge, and a businessman offers medical advice to an injured bicyclist. Each commercial mentions certain benefits and ends with the legend, “It won’t make you smarter. But you’ll feel smarter.”

Comment: Everyone likes to feel smart. Holiday Inn Express soothes the ego by giving value-conscious travelers reasons to pat themselves on the back. So the chain doesn’t offer room service--or even a restaurant. Its ads tout free breakfast and free local phone calls--modest benefits intended to satisfy road warriors more concerned with price than luxury. One danger is the implication that “smart” travelers stay at Holiday Inn Express--not the full-service Holiday Inn. But the parent, London-based Bass, doubts few full-service customers will choose to downgrade. $$$