IHG Checks In a Winner with Holiday Inn Relaunch Leading the marketing charge is Verchele Wiggins BY TODD WILKINSON When Verchele Wiggins was tapped to be InterContinental Hotels Group’s vice presi- dent of brand marketing communications for its Holiday Inn brand family in 2007, she knew that what awaited was no ordinary ex- ercise in brand rebuilding. The fortunes and future of an American-born icon — one that had transformed the way generations of busi- Wness and leisure travelers think about over- night accommodations — were on the line. How well she performed would be career defi ning as well. The $1 billion global brand relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand family that Wiggins helped complete in 2010 is consid- ered the largest brand relaunch in the history of the hospitality industry. Moreover, under Wiggins’ command, the Holiday Inn brand rolled out its fi rst-ever integrated global adver- tising campaign that was successfully executed across earned, owned, and paid media. Its budget: $100 million. As part of its revitalization Today, with over 3,400 Holiday Inn and efforts, Holiday Inn Express Holiday Inn Express brand hotels relaunched brought back the “Stay Smart” ad campaign and now allows globally, both brands are on a marketing of- guests to choose a soft or fi rm fensive, setting a brisk place in the crowded pillow at check-in. and competitive battle for consumer loyalty. » CREDIT TK 32 | Fall 2014 ANA Magazine to fi nd that special balance, which exists be- tween remaining true and authentic to the DNA of who you are while also gaining rele- vancy and making inroads with new genera- tions of travelers.” Wiggins over the years has earned a reputa- tion for championing innovative approaches to team building. She’s also well aware of her symbolic leadership position as an African- American woman who believes resonant mar- keting isn’t carried on the backs of just charismatic individuals. Staying power, she notes, depends on marketers’ abilities to move beyond their own comfort zones. The personal ethic that fl ows through Wiggins and her work is evident (see “Verchele Wiggins’ Five Best Business Practices,” page 40). Experience surely plays a role as well. Like many successful senior marketers, Wiggins managed several brands at Procter & Gamble early in her career. The transition from forg- ing relationships with customers around per- sonal hygiene products to understanding the deepest aspirational qualities of hospitality expanded her thinking. Founded by Kemmons “The economic slowdown that happened “I knew that the skills and approach to mar- Wilson in 1952, late in the last decade did not really affect our keting would be the same, but at the end of the Holiday Inn became a relaunch,” Wiggins notes from her offi ce in day, it’s about understanding consumers’ needs global brand but badly needed a recharge to Atlanta. “We created a terrifi c story about the and what motivates them,” she says. “The dif- make it relevant for Holiday Inn brand keeping the promises it ference at IHG, and in most service-oriented 21st-century travelers. made to both owners and customers despite businesses, is that we don’t control the experi- the challenges of that time period. We proved ence. A company like P&G may produce a box we could revitalize a couple of great brands of toothpaste for sale directly to the consumer, and harness our marketing to deliver positive but at IHG we partner with our franchisees and momentum.” they in turn run the hotels on our behalf. Knowing the difference has pushed creativity to A Hard Look in the Mirror a different level for me.” “The most No one working with the Holiday Inn brand The keepers of any brand worth its weight, denies that the original hotel concept had Wiggins says, engage in constant refl ection important and grown stale and outdated, opening the door for and embrace brutal honesty over denial. The also hardest competitors. As a stand-alone offering, Holiday opportunity that IHG presented — to reach Inn Express was launched in 1991 and cap- consumers at a deeper level along with sub- thing about tured the luster that its older progenitor had stantial brick-and-mortar improvements to lost, but the two lacked any marketing coordi- the physical Holiday Inn brand products — the marketing nation for years. fi r e d h e r u p . industry is What was the greatest challenge IHG “My passion for the marketing industry is faced in freshening up a well-established par- just as strong today as it was when I fi rst being current ent brand to make it more modern and rele- started,” she says. “That is because I’ve always and making vant as seen through the eyes of a new tried to stay grounded and work hard, while generation of emerging customers? “Guests’ still remaining authentic in my approach. The sure you’re needs are constantly changing, and at quite a most important and also hardest thing about staying ahead fast pace, so maintaining relevancy is a chal- the marketing industry is being current and lenge,” Wiggins says. “But a brand must also making sure you’re staying ahead of the trends, of the trends.” recognize and protect its core equity in order versus following them.” » 34 | Fall 2014 ANA Magazine www.ana.net IHG’s Long Bet on China Pays Off Stop thinking of China as an emerging market. It is home to At the same time, IHG is making inroads in partnerships more than one-fi fth of the world’s population and has a and establishing an entirely new brand in China. So far, middle class that’s larger than the entire population of the Wiggins explains, IHG is delighted with the interest expressed United States. by owners in the new Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts brand, In 1984, InterContinental Hotels Group was the fi rst which offers upscale stays. Hualuxe is built on three decades business of its global heft to enter China, starting with a of IHG’s accumulated market insights, experience, and Holiday Inn hotel in Beijing, says Verchele Wiggins, IHG’s leadership in the China market. “Aspects of Chinese culture vice president of global management for the Holiday Inn and heritage are integrated into every detail of the brand’s brand family division. “We’ve now been doing business in service and design,” she says. “There are currently 24 hotels the country for 30 years. Our scale and owner relationships slated to open in the near term, and we expect to open the have positioned us for signifi cant outperformance in the fi rst hotel at the end of 2014. IHG is targeting 100 cities for market versus the industry,” she notes. “IHG continues to this brand in the next 15 to 20 years.” see strong openings and signings in this region, with 216 Along with familiarizing consumers with its brands, IHG is hotels currently open and another 186 hotels in the hoping this continuing expansion translates into travelers’ pipeline. So far this year, we have signed an average of one seeking out Holiday Inn–related lodging elsewhere in the hotel a week in the country.” world as well. “We know that Chinese travelers prefer to stay More specifi cally, the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn with brands they know and trust,” Wiggins says. “There are Express brands continue to perform very well in China. There 150 million outbound Chinese travelers expected by 2020. are 67 Holiday Inn hotels, with 44 in the pipeline, and 44 IHG is ‘China ready,’ with tailored offerings to make Chinese Holiday Inn Express hotels, with 42 moving through the guests feel appreciated and welcome.” development process, Wiggins says. — T.W. Marrying the Past and Present value over a menu of workout, portable is determined to appease the needs of 21st- What the Holiday Inn brand purveys is a offi ce, and dining options — the Holiday century travelers, too, while courting them product that assuages the feelings of vul- Inn brand and its even larger extended wherever they roam. nerability most people have when they family of IHG brands appeal to the dis- That’s why the team has strategically leave home and hit the road. “Our guests criminating consumer, Wiggins says. invested in digital media more than ever are looking for a safe, comfortable place to “We have a powerful portfolio of before. The Holiday Inn Express brand re- shelter themselves or their families for the brands that each serves the different needs cently jump-started its “Stay Smart” ad night,” Wiggins says. “It’s one of the most of our guests depending on their travel,” campaign by using comedy in cobranding personal experiences we could provide she says. The Holiday Inn brand has a rich with popular media outlets like Funny or someone, so we have to create a connection heritage of “fi rsts,” she adds. From being Die, CollegeHumor, and BuzzFeed. that truly garners trust fi rst and foremost.” the fi rst hotel brand to offer “Kids Stay & Going local with social and mobile isn’t Depending on the kind of journey a Eat Free” to being the fi rst chain to uni- imperative in reaching Gen Xers and mil- customer is taking — be it a vacation formly offer a pool, restaurant, lounge, lennials only in the Americas, a hemisphere where more leisure amenities are expected and free ice, the Holiday Inn brand set the that Wiggins says is ripe with growth op- or a shorter-term business trip that offers standard that rivals had to match. Now it portunity. Both brands also are courting 36 | Fall 2014 ANA Magazine www.ana.net customer conversations internationally in Eu- rope and Asia.