WASHINGTON, DC— Marriott International is betting that sports and entertainment heroes will boost the confidence of business travelers to convince them to take to the road again, and in turn stay at one of the company’s hotels. Marriott last month launched the fourth leg of its Marriott Rewards “Take 2” national advertising campaign featuring football greats Steve Young and Jerry Rice and legendary coaches Mike Ditka, Lou Holtz and Jon Gruden. These ads are airing on major network and cable stations including ABC Monday Night Football, Saturday college football, CBS, NBC, CNN, CNBC, ESPN, Telemundo and Black Entertainment Television. The ads are designed to appeal to the psyche of the business traveler, according to Marriott executives. “We’ve seen a great connection between sports and our customer base,” said Gordon Lambourne, vp/brand public relations for Marriott. “Profession football and college football, where a lot of the commercials are running right now, has a pretty broad audience, both male and female.” More specifically, Marriott is trying to connect to the competitive drive of the successful businessperson through the use of extremely successful sports icons, Lambourne said. “Road warriors and business travelers are very mission oriented and productivity minded, and there is a great connection between them and sports and the coaches who are very successful,” he said. “They present a lot of the same aspirations and goals that business travelers are trying to accomplish and that resonates very well with the business traveler.” The current campaign, consisting of four 30-second spots, kicked off Oct. 16 and will run through January. In one ad, Young, formerly the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, and Rice, formerly a wide receiver with the 49ers and currently with the Oakland Raiders, interrupt typical business trips to provide some motivational advice and talk about the benefits of Courtyard by Marriott. The skits are meant to be funny yet instill confidence in the hotel’s properties. The Young and Rice ads opens with a business traveler getting the luggage out of his car in an airport parking lot. He then surprisingly sees Young and Rice standing in front of maps of the U.S. with pushpins marking all their travels. The two football stars begin arguing over who had the most touchdowns in the most cities in order to get the traveler’s attention. At that point, a voice-over is heard saying, “Wherever business takes you, Courtyard has what you need to be successful.” While the Young and Rice add pushes Courtyard by Marriott, the overall ad campaign also promotes Marriott Hotels, Resorts & Suites, Residence Inn by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott brands. The other ads feature Ditka, Holtz and Gruden, separately. Each add highlights the Take Two promotional offer whereas Marriott offers Reward members two free weekend nights plus a special elite status and benefits when they stay three separate times from Oct. 14, 2002 through Jan. 31, 2003 and any Marriott. The ad campaign was developed by Marriott’s national agency, McCann-Erickson in New York, said Lambourne, adding that it began last spring during basketball’s March Madness competition. ‘These ads are part of the original campaign, which has been very successful for us, one of the best we ever experienced with Marriott Rewards,” Lambourne said. He would not comment on how much the campaign cost or what return Marriott has seen to date as a result. Along with the TV and cable spots, Marriott launched a multi-brand print campaign in USA Today, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Traveler, Hispanic Business and Black Enterprise. The print ads will also include SpringHill Suites by Marriott, TownePlace Suties by Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Resorts and Suites and JW Marriott Hotels. Marriott.com is also conducting a football-themed sweepstakes with prizes including a trip to the Super Bowl where the winner will meet Young. “
