For the last several years, Westin Hotels, a part of the Starwood Group has been cultivating an experience that enables customers to travel well. Starting in 1999 with their “Heavenly Bed”, Westin has gradually accumulated other collaborations to provide consumers with opportunities to play out their business trip or vacation with as little disruption to their routine as possible. In 2014, this evolved into the launch of a brand new campaign, Westin Well-being Movement. Two years later, their campaign is still going strong and 2016 marked a renewal of the campaign’s imagery and social media presence.
Think about what changes you go through when you travel. Does your marathon training get interrupted? Do your kids start bouncing off the walls from too much restaurant or fast food? Do you stress over your meeting because you don’t sleep well in hotels? Travel can increasingly add layers of stress or inconvenience to our lives, and it looks like Westin found an excellent niche to market to. They particularly market the wellness campaign to travelers who experience high levels of stress, travelers who live a healthy and active lifestyle, and travelers who want a more leisurely and wholesome hotel experience. Westin particularly targets the athletic or active guest with exercise focused programs like a RunWestin concierge, running groups around the local area, and a New Balance shoe rental program. Nowadays, wellness is a luxury!
Based on six pillars of wellness, the campaign thoroughly emcompasses every part of the guest experience with free services, or additional add-ons. Sleep well, eat well, move well, feel well, work well, and play well are at the core of this campaign. One or more of the six pillars is always present in the Westin customer experience, from the various services offered for each pillar (i.e. sleep encouraging superfoods) and visual branding on posters, menus, in-room placards and guest key cards constantly reminds guests that they are there to relax and be well in health.
It truly is a well integrated campaign, aimed at both guests and employees. Collaborations with Headspace meditation, FitStar app workouts, and New Balance help add a legitimate and serious tone to the campaign. Westin isn’t just trying to pander to customer needs, they mean it, and they prove it by going the extra mile for guests. 2016 visuals designed by ad agency BBH New York allow consumers to picture themselves living out the wellness lifestyle at Westin. Images are fresh and high definition, showing people in wellness moments, like runners in urban settings, fresh wholesome food, zen-balanced work spaces, or poolside.
I don’t know about you, but these images make me want to go on a run through an new city! Next time I travel, I’m packing my running shoes alongside my heels… then again, if I stay Westin, I won’t have to waste the space, and I’ll just borrow some shoes. See where I’m going? They make it easy for the customer to rationalize how Westin would fit in better with their lifestyle.
Relevance of the food images are debatable, but visually, they come across as wholesome and fresh – very in keeping with the campaign’s messaging. The 2016 campaign pushes Westin’s wellness messaging across popular channels, especially across social media, especially Instagram, with the beautiful images of food and relaxation. According to Westin’s brand manager, visuals on social media like Instagram largely inspired the tone of the current campaign.
This campaign seeks to rebrand Westin as a lifestyle, and a global one at that. Westin is loudly confident they are the only hotel chain that is pursuing a wellness campaign, however, other sources identify competing hoteliers Hyatt and Intercontinental Hotels also have created their own wellness programs. Though Westin’s claims may not be completely true today, they certainly stand out as the most prominent and successful of the hotel chains to create a wellness lifestyle that enables customers to continue living their lives without stress or interruption.
References
Birkner, C. (2016, March 10). How fitness, health, and beauty trends shaped Westin’s new visual identity. Adweek. Retrieved from: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-fitness-health-and-beauty-trends-shaped-westins-new-visual-identity-170117
Westin Well-being Movement. Retrieved on March 12, 2016 from: http://westinwellbeing.starwoodpromos.com
Levere, J. (2014, Mar 19). Westin creates six pillars of well-being in a program for guests and employees. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/business/media/westin-creates-six-pillars-of-well-being-in-a-program-for-guests-and-employees.html?_r=1
Trejos, N. (2014, March 22). Westin hotels launches year-long wellness campaign. USA Today. Retrieved from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2014/03/22/starwood-westin-wellness-health/6690963/
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