Summer Diaries

By Daniel Craig, National Post,
Tuesday, August 24, 2004

For the rest of the summer, we will be excerpting the daily diaries of creative Canadians. This week’s correspondent is a harried hotelier, director of sales and marketing at Vancouver’s upmarket Opus Hotel.

Creating a New Campaign is a Sweaty Proposition
When Thomas Edison said genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, I think he was referring to marketing a boutique hotel. Whenever I’m approached by some wide-eyed innocent who thinks marketing is, like, the most exciting career ever, I want to hand him a phone book and tell him to start cold-calling from A.

I’m desperately searching for the 1% inspiration this morning. The creative for Opus Hotel’s fall postcard mail-out is due. I would ask our ad agency for help but, well, we don’t have an ad agency. As a boutique hotel, Opus doesn’t have a cast of thousands. We do much of our creative in-house, and strive for ideas that promise a big bang for our bucks.

Take the Academy Awards. For the presenter gift baskets this year, we submitted for consideration a $7,000 package that included three nights in a suite, meals, helicopter ride, winery tour, spa treatment and personal shopper. It was a long shot, but with 125 recipients on the list, general manager David Curell and I were more worried we would be accepted. Our L.A. publicist reassured us that the certificates were non-transferable and the redemption rate was close to zero. Nicole Kidman doesn’t need free stuff, she reasoned. And would it really kill us if she came?

It so happens that the Opus’s package was selected out of 60 other properties. The publicity was phenomenal. Problem is, this morning David is on the phone taking yet another booking. And it’s not Nicole. Or Brad. Or even Charlize. It’s the Academy’s membership administrator, the fifth person this week we’ve never heard of. Apparently, not only stars get perks.

From the beginning, Opus Hotel’s marketing messages have been irreverent and proactive, in flagrant disregard of industry norms. Hotel marketers are the worst purveyors of clichés. Must they all promise “refined elegance:” or claim that “business is our pleasure” or invite you “to indulge yourself?” It all sounds a bit masturbatory to me.

Holiday Inn’s slogan use to be “The best surprise is no surprise.” But Opus guests want surprises – as long as they’re pleasant. Our target demographics is more an attitude than an age. We see all types, from retired seniors to young executives, all looking for what we promised in a recent marketing campaign: “No brass, no Vivaldi, no north and south towers … Just style, exceptional service and a refreshing alternative to the big chain hotels.”

At the 10 a.m. sales meeting, I ask for advice from the team. They’re a creative bunch, and we always inspire one another. Our last campaign invited clients to enter to win a lavish package and “party like a rock star.” Cari Bower, corporate sales manager, suggests we go less irreverent this time. Enough about rock stars, supermodels and party times, she says: it’s almost fall time for our clients to get back to business. Let’s highlight the serious side of Opus.

Before long we decided on a “Go Boutique” theme to target fall group business. “No noisy conventions or tour groups here,” says the copy. “Opus Hotel’s intimate boutique environment ensures your group will receive our undivided attention.” Not exactly provocative, but a bit cheeky, so I’m happy.

Now for the 99% perspiration. I would farm the job out to our graphic designer and mailing house but our tight budget has sent them the way of the ad agency. So it’s up to Phil Renaud, sales and administrative co-ordinator, to work his magic with photoshop. Later, as a team, we’ll stick on the labels and lick the stamps.

Tomorrow: Travel agents, the ageing rock stars of the travel business.

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