Holiday Inn‘s Express brand of hotels has launched a Facebook app that celebrates smart Canadian innovations.
The chain’s Smart vs. Smart Facebook app allows guests and consumers to vote on their favourite Canadian inventions—poutine versus basketball, paint rollers versus politeness, peanut butter versus rotary phones—for a chance to win one of 14 weekly Holiday Inn Express prize packages.
The app is an expansion of the original “Stay Smart” platform, which was introduced 10 years ago as a series of television spots (see “Rapper” below). The updated 2013 incarnation aims to bring the same concept into the digital space, where consumers can interact with Holiday Inn in a more direct and immediate way.
Jo Allan, director of brand marketing in the Americas for InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns Holiday Inn, said the campaign “capitalizes on the consumer trend to participate in interactive campaigns that see an instant return, [since] consumers can see their votes on the site instantly.
“Canadians are responsible for many smart inventions, and Smart vs. Smart is a fun and humorous nod to how smart it feels to stay at a Holiday Inn Express hotel,” she added in a statement.
Holiday Inn Express is promoting the effort through an online buy. “Smart vs. Smart” was created by Ogilvy, and will continue until November. The media buy was handled by Neo.
