The Montreal Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel has created a short interactive film aimed at attracting business travellers. Part of a planned series targeting various customer segments, “An Ideal Day,” follows a Toronto businessman as he spends a day in meetings at the six-year-old Montreal hotel.
Scripted, filmed and edited by Montreal film and video production company Gala Media, the film – which also comes in a French version entitled “Une Journée Idéale” – incorporates interactive “hot spots” that viewers can click to find additional information about the hotel’s various amenities.
AN IDEAL DAY from GALA MEDIA on Vimeo.
Sophie Bouchard, production director for Gala, said the film is intended to showcase not just the hotel’s 17,000-square feet of meeting space, but other features such as the Bijou Resto Bar, its rooms, and amenities such as the fitness and spa facilities and indoor swimming pool.
“The main goal was to make it short but give lots of information without overwhelming people,” said Bouchard. “If you don’t want to click on the hotspot, you still get to see all the hotel’s features.”
The two-minute and 15-second film shows the man arriving at the hotel from Toronto and going directly to a meeting without leaving the airport. The film employs a voiceover technique, with the man describing various aspects of the 279-room hotel.
“What we wanted is to show the ease and convenience of having a meeting at the airport,” said general manager Brenda Rodricks. “How it can be stress-free – you can arrive and you don’t have to worry about traffic.”
Accompanying boxes below the film enable viewers to find out additional information about the hotel by clicking on labels including “1 p.m. – Enjoy a good meal” and “8 p.m. – Enjoy the comfort of your room.”
Rodricks said the film is intended as a departure from how Marriott has traditionally marketed to business travellers, via brochures and ads in meeting planner-focused magazines and newspapers.
Business travellers currently comprise an estimated 65% of the hotel’s clientele, although Rodricks said that future iterations could focus on other key segments. “If we felt there was a big market for the wedding segment, for instance, we might do a film around somebody having a wedding at our hotel,” she said.
The hotel is teasing the full version of the film, which is also available on the hotel’s Facebook page, via a series of 30-second in-airport video ads. “We’re going to be exploring how we can maximize on that media platform,” said Rodricks.
Short films have become a key part of the Marriott marketing strategy in recent months, with the U.S. parent company launching its own in-house content studio last year.
Earlier this year, the JW Marriott brand released a 20-minute short film entitled Two Bellmen that was shot entirely at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. Live. The scripted film tells the story of two bellmen who battle a group of art thieves called the Purple Panthers as they try to steal a priceless painting during a hotel event.
The company recently released a second film, entitled French Kiss.
David Beebe, vice-president of global creative and content marketing with Marriott, told Variety earlier this year that the company hopes to create a series of branded videos focused on story rather than traditional advertising, which he said is no longer resonating with consumers.
