Marriott Bonvoy celebrates travel return by taking consumers 'Here'

Marriott Bonvoy brings up all the little moments consumers have missed about travel with its latest Asia Pacific campaign "Here". Created in partnership with The Secret Little Agency (TSLA), the campaign features a series of familiar, hyper-real travel moments shot across Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and New Zealand, that celebrate the irreplaceable exhilaration that only travel brings to life. The campaign will be available on digital, social, OOH and broadcast, throughout Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China).

Marriott International Asia Pacific's chief sales and marketing officer, Bart Buiring, said the company hopes to inspire travellers to embark on their next Asian journey and thoroughly enjoy the return of travel. "We want to remind them that the joy of travel is as much about unscripted and authentic moments as the picture-perfect ones. It’s all these little moments that make big memories and leave you craving for your next adventure," he said.

While travelling can be about fabulous bucket-list destinations and dining in world-class restaurants or local food at hawker stalls, Buiring said Marriott recognises that there are likely also unexpected, spontaneous, and perhaps some less-than-perfect but memorable moments.

Meanwhile, Julie Purser, VP, loyalty marketing and partnerships at Marriott International, said the company's primary goal is to inspire people to travel again and to drive awareness of Marriott Bonvoy and the diverse experiences and “small moments” the company can help travellers create on their journeys.

"We have created social executions out of the campaign materials to drive engagement and bookings. And we’ve pulled the creative all the way down the funnel to performance media to bring the inspiration from the top of the funnel to drive bookings at our properties," she explained.

When asked how the creative concept came about, TSLA's chief creative officer Nicholas Ye told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE: "We knew that just romancing travel was no longer enough. This needed to tap into a more authentic reality around the little moments we missed about travel."

TSLA's spokesperson explained that the campaign mirrors the energy of an entire region restless and ready to travel again. "We wanted to embrace all the little things about travel that we simply cannot recreate at home - the ones we really missed whilst we were stuck at home during the pandemic. This is a celebration of the little, intimate, memorable moments that make up a great holiday," the spokesperson said.

Separately, in an interview, Rivero Delgado, area vice president for Malaysia, Singapore and Maldives, said while Marriott's messaging to its Marriott Bonvoy members used to be driven centrally from its headquarters in the US, the varying regulations for each market during the pandemic forced the brand to decentralise its process to create localised content for members in varying regions, Delgado said.

This also came as Marriott shifted nearly completely to digital, with close to 100% of its marketing budgets in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Maldives dedicated to digital marketing channels such as SEO, social media marketing and email marketing, among others.

She added that this year, its marketing focus will be on delivering branded experiences through Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott’s travel programme, and Marriott Bonvoy Moments, the exclusive platform for Marriott Bonvoy members.

Related articles:
ONE Esports and Marriott International team up in new gaming talk show
Interview: Marriott's near total pivot to digital
Marriott International hunts for Asia Pacific comms VP
Marriott International promotes Michael Tse to regional director