Hyatt India's Amritesh Bakshi tells why hospitality brands need creative freshness

Conceptualised by Animal Advertising, Hyatt India's new commercial showcases how each staff at Hyatt puts themselves in the couples’ shoes to ensure that everything is perfect for their guests on their big day. Image: Stills from Hyatt ad

Breaking the stereotypical image of ads featuring hotel chains, Hyatt India has launched a wedding initiative ‘Perfectly Yours’ along with an ad film. The initiative has been strategically timed with the wedding season so that it gets the maximum attention from the consumers.

Almost every ad film promoting hotels has a similar look and feel. It is usually a showreel of images of happy families, newlyweds, scenes from pool, views from the rooms, shots of drinks and dining experiences. While it has worked well for brands from the category for years, it’s time for hospitality brands to add creative freshness, says Amritesh Bakshi, director of brand and field marketing – India and Southwest Asia, Hyatt India Consultancy.

Snippets from making of the ad film

Conceptualized by Animal Advertising, the commercial showcases how each staff at Hyatt puts themselves in the couples’ shoes to ensure that everything is perfect for their guests on their big day. From checking the pressure of the air blower that provides the perfect lift to the bride’s dupatta, the ideal texture of haldi, or making sure the laddoos are the ideal size. The campaign demonstrates how the brand pays attention to little details. Bakshi, a former ad man, told Storyboard18 that he kept the brief simple for his agency partner.

“Sometimes the simplest briefs can be difficult to slice down. We wanted to come up with answers to how we as a brand can communicate to the modern-day couple along with showing our expertise. We did an extensive internal survey to understand what really has changed culturally about weddings over the years. The responses were interesting,” he says.

Bakshi and his teams visited, Andaz Delhi, Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and Alila Fort Bishangarh various times during weddings to take notes. This along with the internal survey showcases that the modern day couple are slowly becoming the decision markers for their big day. They are not looking for templatised wedding packages. What they want is attention to detailing over all the other things. Which is why the brand featured a lot of their own staff members in the commercial. The film is also an ode to them, Bakshi says.

Amritesh Bakshi, director of brands and field marketing - India & Southwest Asia, Hyatt India Consultancy

“As an industry too we have so many stories to narrate. This communication piece is in a way an attempt to push the envelope. Some of the things we communicate in our film is standard practice but the way we have weaved it is a different take. We want to do communication pieces that create chatter and engagement,” he adds.

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Changing wedding trends

The top Hyatt hotels for destination weddings are Grand Hyatt Kochi, Grand Hyatt Goa, Alila Diwa Goa, Hyatt Regency Dehradun, Hyatt Regency Jaipur Mansarovar, Hyatt Regency Dharamshala, Grand Hyatt Mumbai, and Andaz Delhi. This is an indicator that couples are looking for destinations outside their cities for getting married. Hyatt India’s internal survey suggests that 8-10 years ago weddings in India were intensely traditional affair. Today, couples want experience above everything during their wedding which is why personalisation is a critical element for brands like Hyatt in India.

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“The modern day couple want convenience, ease, and a nuanced approach from hospitality brands. While they want to be involved in process they also want to be stress free about various other things that matter at a wedding. For instance, food and beverages at Hyatt is a highlight, which is why couples give us the confidence to handle those matters by ourselves. Food at a wedding cannot go wrong,” explains Bakshi.

As a former ad man, who worked with agencies like Ogilvy India, Wieden + Kennedy India, Dentsu Marcom India, according Bakshi, working on the other side is a different experience than one would imagine. “First campaigns are always special. It’s becomes even more special if you have set a new creative benchmark for the brand. Working as marketer is different experience all together. It gets better if you from the agency side because then you have world view of things,” he concludes.