Hotel: thematic vs tactical

If you watch TV long enough, you will realize that there's always these ads on hotel by..emm.."booking asia" or sthing. Geesh my memory, I'll re-confirm that again. But you know..where it signs off with an animated trolly luggage bag and the URL?

Anyways, I've always find the ads a lil tacky..esp the average rating hotels'. But one ad caught my attn. Shangri-La. I must say it is one of the best thematic hotel ad i've seen. I dare say the only thematic ad of a hotel i've ever seen! Usually when it comes to hotel ads, there will be the bed scene, the scenery seen, the beach, the couple looking all relaxed and happy and yadi yada. But Shangri-La's didn't have all that. It's basically pure metaphor. And it was executed very very well too! I never expected that from Shangri-La. Maybe Hilton....or Marriot. Anyways, ad wise, job well done! From an advertising point of view, personally I think they definitely left an impact.

However, despite that being the only hotel ad ever stored in my head, when it comes to decision making of which hotel to stay, I didn't even consider Shangri-La. So that's where my question comes in. Hotel: thematic or tactical? Shangri-La may have the best ad ever done by any hotel, but is it impactful enough to maneuver people's mind and decision to stay at Shangri-La hotel? At least for me, it didn't. Maybe because Shangri-La has not establish itself as a renown brand yet. When we think of Four Seasons, we know the standard and the prestige of the hotel. It doesn't require a tactical ad to sell the brand.

So, what works and what doesn't? I still think at the end of the day, when it comes to hotels, we still want assurance of the look & feel of the hotel, the view and the experience we will earn from staying there. A thematic ad will only work if the brand of the hotel is super solid that all the ad needs to do is to remind u of the hotel and not over-selling it.

Nevertheless, I think it was worth the shot for Shangri-La to go out of the norm ;) Click on the photo below to view the vid.

KFC - finger lickin good!

If we think about the nutrition value of KFC...what can be shouted anyways? It's plain and simple that deep fried chicken is no bestfriends to a good healthy life. But what makes people still wanna eat it? The awesome taste ofcourse. But at this new age of smart educated ppl with conscious mind of what's good and what's bad, what make em opt for KFC nevertheless?

SMELL. "Good things come together with KFC". True! That includes the awesome smell!! That's one of the strongest branding of KFC.

True life example. We were driving back to Penang after lunch when we decided to stop at Tapah R&R for a loo break. Shafiq saw the KFC. "KFC!!" and i replied "dah makan lunch kan tadi??". But once I opened the car door, the smell of fried chicken shoved up my nose, straight to my head and I went "oh my god!!! bau sedap and kuat gila siot!!" and quickly turn to my handbag, took out some cash and head up for some fried wings. Gila siot. The change in my decision was less than a minute!

What a great branding and marketing tactic!

Nyammmm!

Me love Brands!

So to those who knows me well...u know how much i love Brands. By Brands, I don't mean talking about the designer brands to shop for! ..but the whole idea of Brands in general and the impact and relevance in our life.

Hence the blog! This blog is dedicated to share on the Brands I think is successful or not and the impact on our everyday life :)

"Brand value is very much like an onion. It has layers and a core. The core is the user who will stick with you until the very end." - Edwin Artzt