
Holiday Inn Express | Melbourne
Cutting through the competition in busy Melbourne










COTA SA | The Plug-in

Mercedes College

Cutting through the competition in busy Melbourne
Holiday Inn Express is IHG’s fastest growing hotel brand. It has continued to expand in Australia since its launch in 2016.
Within three years, Pro-invest Group developed and launched four hotels – Sydney Macquarie Park and Brisbane and then Adelaide and Newcastle, which communikate et al executed.
The opening of the flagship property, Holiday Inn Express Melbourne Southbank, saw the hotel group take on the competitive Melbourne accommodation market. With this decision came a need for a strong integrated marketing strategy.
We needed to:
The ‘simple, smart travel’ brand was showcased for the first time to a Melbourne audience through a combination of:
Our team developed the campaign tagline “Less boring, more exploring”. This alludes to the endless opportunities to explore what Melbourne has to offer and also incorporates the brand premise of ‘simple, smart travel’ – we give you what you need so you can spend more time on what’s important to you!
The campaign included a public activation, held in Queensbridge Square in the Southbank precinct. We had a greenscreen photobooth which allowed people to select their favourite Melbourne event, grab some props and get snapping! The photos were then printed out, sent via text and broadcast on a digital billboard in the Melbourne CBD.
There were also free iced coffees, snacks and a live DJ, creating a fun atmosphere for everyone to enjoy while relaxing in the styled event space.
Other elements of our campaign included:
These activities resulted in a very effective opening campaign, with the hotel enjoying strong visibility in the market and experiencing strong bookings throughout its opening period.
The greenscreen booth was an absolute hit at the public activation, with:
The social media campaign was also a great success, leaving Holiday Inn Express Melbourne Southbank with powerful marketing assets. Some key stats include:
When commenting on the campaign, the client noted “we absolutely smashed it out of the park” and “we should all be really proud of the activation and the amount of positive traction we received.”
We have been hugely impressed with the way communikate et al have immersed themselves in learning our brand and respecting our approach. It felt like they just ‘got us’ from the start! It has been such a pleasure working with their professional, smart and dynamic team.
Could not be happier with the team at communikate et al. They understand us, and that is reflected in the brand assets they crafted for our business. The positive feedback has been overwhelming.
communikate et al has been our trusted partner for strategic communications and advice over a number of years. The team is always responsive and reliable, and the quality of work is first rate.
We turned to communikate et al to rename and rebrand our organisation following a change in ownership. Within a tight timeframe, the team got up to speed quickly and delivered on a brand strategy that set the foundation for the new identity. From an interim website, corporate signage and collateral, merchandise, uniforms, property signage and our rollingstock, communikate were strategic, creative and responsive, and became a genuine part of our team during the transition period. We’re proud of our new brand, which is bold, confident and successfully reflects who we are today and will serve us well into the future.
communikate delivered a significant and memorable milestone in the 108-year old story of Kennett which is no easy task! The entire branding process was robust, enjoyable, thorough and could not have been executed by a more practical, engaging and selfless team than the one at communikate et al. My favourite part however was that at no time did they ever talk a big game, it was just all actions.
Following the successful development of our new website, communikate et al has maintained a proactive approach to the refinement and improvements of content and key messages in collaboration with our team. They embraced and supported us in all communication relating to the impact of COVID-19. They’re a friendly and responsive team with all requests being eagerly supported.
We trust our reputation with communikate et al.
They understand our philosophy of care and strategic direction and work with our executive team to navigate complex situations to provide responsive, robust internal and external communications advice that builds and protects our brand.
They are also adept at developing content and telling stories that bring to life our point of difference in the aged care sector. Not only are they skilled at what they do, they are great people to work with.
communikate bring a valuable offering to project delivery mainly due to their industry experience in navigating through complex situations by providing balanced points of views with focused outcomes.
We have really enjoyed partnering with communikate on some key projects and appreciate their responsiveness and the quality of service they provide. communikate’s ability to be agile and quickly act on changes to strategy has been impressive and has resulted in us being confident in the fact that they keep the best interests of our campaign front of mind. The level of detail they provide in their reports has ensured we’re able to learn from our hits and misses and adapt our future strategies accordingly.
We love the Daily Moves branding that communikate et al created. It is friendly, flexible for different applications, and our marketing collateral stands out from the rest. We have received a lot of compliments from participants and stakeholders who love it just as much as we do.
Head Office
Upstairs 200 The Parade,
Norwood SA 5067
Get in touch
Telephone +61 8 8331 1444hello@communikate.net.au
We recognise and pay our respect to the traditional custodians of the land we live and work on and acknowledge their rich heritage from which we can all learn.