Marriott International has long used short films to strike an emotional connection with consumers in a way that 15-second ads can’t. The hospitality giant’s content studio has been making features, docs, and short films for nine years, which it distributed through social media channels and on screens in its thousands of hotel rooms.
After COVID restrictions lifted, Marriott doubled down on the practice, and longer films and series could be next.
Its approach is evident in a two new short series now airing on Amazon’s Prime Video. In “Travel by Design,” the focus is on the creative minds behind some of Marriott’s swankiest properties from Rome to Japan. “The Power of Travel” features figures like entrepreneurs for whom travel is central to their work. Episodes run about six to eight minutes, and each one opens with the credit “Marriott Bonvoy presents.”
Whereas the goal of “Travel by Design” was to forge a connection with the hotels, with “The Power of Travel” Marriott for the first time centered its content on values, said Annie Granatstein, VP of Content Marketing at Marriott International.
“We all thought it was extremely important to connect emotionally with inspiring content as people were returning to travel in droves and navigating travel in this new normal,” she told Business Insider.
The series are the first ones Marriott has put on a major streamer. The company worked with Amazon’s advertising arm to distribute the films. Amazon, like other major streamers like Hulu and Roku, works with brands to distribute brand videos.
“The idea was to reach streaming audiences in a big way,” Granatstein said. “And it’s driven, of course, by just the trend of people watching so much content on streaming platforms and wanting to meet people where they are with content that is the same quality as they’re generally watching on the Netflixes and Amazon Primes of the world. Early numbers are showing that our completion rates are very high versus their benchmarks.”
Amazon’s advertising team has worked with several brands to produce streaming TV content, such as “The Wanderer,” a series produced by TripAdvisor that aired on Prime Video, an Amazon spokesperson emailed.
“Amazon Ads is always exploring ways to help advertisers tell compelling and engaging stories, and these campaigns with Marriott are an example of how we’re able to do this across channels and devices,” the rep said.
Longer series and movies could be next
Marriott doesn’t want to stop there. Encouraged by the viewership it’s getting from these and other recent films, Granatstein and her team are exploring longer formats and more types of storytelling such as feature films, hosted shows, and scripted projects.
“If we are engaging people for five minutes, for at least five- to seven-minute videos, and the majority of people are completing, then you can imagine, if we could actually engage people on a 30-minute episode, what that would mean for us in terms of engaging with our values, engaging with our storytelling, connecting emotionally with audiences, and with travelers,” Granatstein said.
Marriott is part of a trend of big brands funding film and TV and getting projects distributed on big streamers as it becomes harder to reach ad-avoidant consumers through traditional advertising.
Mega brands like Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola have expanded into films that align with their messaging as traditional ads’ effectiveness has worn off. Feature films starring brands — Barbie and Super Mario — drew big audiences this year.
Many are enlisting partners to help them navigate the streaming landscape. In the case of Marriott, it worked with production companies Stept Studios and Culture House for “Travel by Design” and “The Power of Travel,” respectively. Marriott also works with CAA to tap the agency’s expertise helping brands navigate the streaming world. Granatstein, who reports to Brian Povinelli, SVP, global head of marketing and brand, brings her own background in film, having worked for CAA and for Hollywood megaproducer Jerry Bruckheimer (known for blockbusters like “Top Gun” and “Armageddon”).
At a time when companies face pressure to make sure every dollar spent on advertising is having an impact, some still face internal doubts that such projects will pay off for their business goals.
Granatstein said while a short film may not get the broad audience a traditional 15-second TV spot can, it can entice people to spend a longer time with your message.
“We’ve made some beautiful ad campaigns since I’ve been here that are really compelling and emotional, but it’s just a different thing to spend 30 seconds with something than to spend five minutes with something,” she said. “And the kind of storytelling you can do is totally different and really on a different level.”
Marriott’s Amazon series were paid ads, but as brands seek to make TV series and feature films entertainment that’s on par with things a traditional studio would make, some are aspiring to a different relationship with the streamers.
“If we enter the 30-minute episodic space or the feature space, then it does start opening up possibilities to potentially have the platforms pay you and license your content or buy your content, or buy your concept and develop it with you,” Granatstein said.
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