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Branding Bonanza At IHG The company is rethinking how it defines each of its nine brands. Here’s what the company plans to do. Monday, October 29, 2012 Glenn Haussman

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We’ve said it before and now InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is saying it too: Branding is everything.

These days in a world of heightened competition, shortened attention spans and a deeper connection between people and the products they use lodging companies need to get more serious about how their respective hotel flags are associated with guests.

It’s why IHG is busy rethinking how it approaches all its stable of brands to ensure they are not only clearly delineated from each other but also from the hotel brands they compete against. It’s also why CEO Richard Solomons hired a branding expert Larry Light last April -- who has worked at places like McDonalds and run his own company that worked with companies such as Mars, Nissan, 3M and IBM.

At IHG Light has instituted what he’s dubbed a “new marketing mindset” called Brand Leadership Marketing.  He shared his thoughts on branding and how it affects IHG properties at last week’s IHG Americas Investment and Leadership Conference.

What the program is meant to do, says Light, is to “clarify the relevant, differentiating vision for each of our brands, including our two new brands [EVEN Hotels and Hualuxe, a midscale brand designed for China]. These brand visions are our guiding-stars.”

The company will then develop brand frameworks, which are boundaries that “define the guardrails” of the brand to make keeps its essence. The idea is to allow separate regions and properties within each brand to be expressed organically in each locale but still keep the entire brand a cohesive experience. 

Already “brand framework” for Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express while Crowne Plaza Hotels  and InterContinental Hotels are nearly done. The remaining flags are still undergoing the process.

“As the world becomes more global people will become more committed to cherishing local and personal differences,” said Light. “Bringing the brand to life in local markets is a local responsibility. Localization of brand relevance demands local market creativity within the boundaries of the brand framework.”

Light said Holiday Inn was restructured to give each member of the family more focus while Crowne Plaza Hotels will see an “effective brand-building action plan going forward.”

And Crowne Plaza needs it too. It’s the one IHG brand industry insiders feel is the weakest in branding definition and one IHG’s execs know need clarification.

“Let’s face the fact that for Crowne Plaza Hotels we have lost trust with guests and with you,” said Light who also added Crowne Plaza has great potential in the future. “It is an important profitable growth opportunity. We are committed to Crowne Plaza Hotels.

We have verified that the Crowne Plaza Hotel brand has enormous global potential. We recognize that the Crowne Plaza Hotel brand has different challenges and opportunities in different markets.”

Crowne Plaza is being geared toward a specific traveler personality IHG executives have dubbed “the striver.”
“These are the people who are climbing the ladder of success and they see travel as a necessary, and important, part of advancement,” said Gina LaBarre, vice president, Brand Delivery, for the Americas. “For these business travelers, travel is not the goal. Success is their goal. But the hotel options they value, and can afford, don’t meet their needs.

“There’s lots of opportunity for us to deliver a hotel experience that meets the specific needs of these travelers. And that means lots of opportunity to drive performance,” Labarre added.

The company as identified six areas to focus on for Crowne Plaza including improving quality, delivering a unique and consistent service experience, refreshing  the sleep experience, consistently delivering our meetings experience, updating our brand look and feel; and implementing Green Engage, which is about improving our impact on the environment. Now specific action plans are being developed.

On the Holiday Inn family or brands Light said, “Let’s face the fact that there is confusion between Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. The brand differences have become blurred. The intentions were good the goal was to be more efficient in our media expenditures. We will clarify the separation between Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn Resorts and Holiday Inn Club Vacations brands. This separation will be reflected in the brands’ strategies, in the brand frameworks, in communications, and in our organizational structure.”

“Each of our brands shares the same DNA from our powerful parent:  Holiday Inn. But like all siblings each one is distinctive. Each one has its own identity and each one appeals to different needs on different occasions, said Verchele Wiggins, VP, Global Brand Management- Holiday Inn Family of Brands with IHG.

IHG operates InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, EVEN Hotels and HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts.