hi-gloss

Hi-gloss is an independent brand strategy and creative media agency.

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Meet Me Outside

By: Roberto Villazon Agency: hi-gloss Date: July 31, 2018

The outdoor advertising sector is experiencing a renaissance, where technology is a driving force.  According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, OOH grew 1.2% in 2017 to $7.7 billion compared to the previous year and is projected to grow to $33 billion in the US market by 2121, according to Magna report.

Out-of-home advertising (also known as OOH or outdoor advertising) continues to make a comeback as more non-traditional brands seek new ways to engage audiences and build brand awareness beyond digital channels.  Most “digital first” brands often rely on a mix of banner and video ads, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), and other digitally integrated marketing approaches. More brands are starting to explore and reap the benefits of outdoor advertising. Using a mix of creativity, taking advantage of advancements in smart outdoor displays and screen technology, brands can push the boundaries of what is possible in OOH. Analytical data for measuring the effectiveness of audience reach is becoming more readily available as the proliferation of connected and Internet of Things (IOT) devices are integrated into the lives of consumers and for commercial use cases.

Brands can push audience engagement with Out-of-home advertising in ways not possible with online marketing. Triggering calls to action, offering rewards, and more, all based on the location of the consumer, is now possible with outdoor advertising. Distributing and updating creative in almost real-time is also facilitated by smarter digital billboards, whereas traditionally pushing new brand messaging creatively and in a timely manner would be a much longer process, static, and costlier method of distribution. IOT devices and connected smart phone data can be helpful for tailoring personalized recommendations and interactivity as consumers move about cities. Using datasets from daily weather forecasts, location of your target audience, and other data points, a brand could suggest to a viewer to stop in for a free treat at their coffee shop to wait out the rain or escape the hot sun with a refreshing drink. How creative a brand wants to be is determined by how well they understand the available Out-of-home advertising technological capabilities and knowing how to target the right audience at any given geo-location. 

IOT will continue to change the landscape of OOH. Brands like Plum Wine (smart wine dispensing device) and Amazon’s Alexa both reach consumers in the context of a true captive out-of-home audience, in hotel rooms. The IOT enabled aspect to these type of devices give brands accurate insights for research on how their products or services are being used outside of the home, with the intention of also garnering more in-home adoption of the use of these devices. This type of outdoor advertising marketing strategy could boost a brands’ awareness and sales through deep customer interaction without a hard sell. One can imagine of the possibilities with the future of self-driving vehicles and automation, where drive time opens up the opportunity to read, listen, watch, and interact with everything but a steering wheel. Bus stops, transit terminals, and others, are all being enabled with at minimum some basic IOT capability. This will help take the mystery out of outdoor advertising as it relates to measurability, reach effectiveness, and the speed at which creative is deployed.

Increasingly brands are taking advantage of the unique benefits facilitated by the outdoor advertising media space. Hi-gloss remains committed to creating innovative strategies for boosting brand engagement through multiple media channels, including digital and Out-of-home advertising. Working with luxury brands such as Longines Swiss Timepiece maker, hi-gloss activated a focused key market outdoor campaign, which coincided with a targeted digital campaign to reinforce the Out-of-home placements. An integrated digital and outdoor approach has been a successful offering with creative implementation by hi-gloss. 

Consumer attention span and advertising fatigue (think ad-blocking, opting-out, etc.) in the digital space, continues to be a challenge for fostering brand engagement. A mix of digital screens (smart phones and PC browsers) and Out-of-home advertising could prove a better strategy to buying top of mind real estate among your target audience, while staying ahead of your competitors. Just like with all valuable real estate, it is all about location; geo-location based advertising through OOH, modernized with IOT and almost endless creative possibilities. 

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Jeremy Ford Grounds Roots in South Beach

We’re excited to be working with Jeremy Ford and Grove Bay Hospitality Group on Stubborn Seed, opening on South Beach, August 2017. Check out the video we produced for the launch. 

http://stubbornseed.com/

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A Puerto Rican Icon Taps Hi-gloss as AOR

HI-GLOSS will be unveiling El San Juan Hotel’s new campaign October 2017.

Designed by legendary Miami Beach architect Roy F. France, El San Juan Hotel officially opened to the public on February 1, 1958. One design element that has survived almost 60 years is its stunning lobby, constructed of cherry mahogany from Santo Domingo, all intricately hand carved on-site by Spaniard Jose Laguna and a team of 15 Puerto Rican artisans. Another iconic feature is the oval-shaped, glittering, hand blown chandelier from Czechoslovakia, the third biggest of its kind in the world.

The Banyan Tree is another widely recognized hotel landmark. Over 300-years-old, the tree has survived damaging hurricanes, standing sentinel to witness many wonderful weddings, receptions, and social activities. It is still one of the most requested venues today.

Throughout the 60's, Puerto Rico was very popular with American tourists and El San Juan Hotel was the epitome of entertainment. During the hotel’s first three decades, internationally known headliners performed weekly on its stage: Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, Carol Channing and Liza Minelli among other recognizable celebrities.

Fast forward to today, El San Juan Hotel is still the most seductive and authentic island resort experience in all of Puerto Rico.

https://elsanjuanhotel.com/

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Hi-gloss Adds Shine to Crystal Cruises

Crystal Cruises joins HI-GLOSS’ client roster. Keep an eye out for Crystal Cruises’ new campaign, launching early Q4.

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How Content Can Help Hotels Compete With Vacation Rentals

by Roberto Villazon , Columnist, August 2, 2017

Travelers will mostly opt to experience their destinations as “the locals” do. In fact, myriad destination specific experiences are the main reason for leisure travel. It seems obvious, but hotels often miss that important detail. While hotels often craft polished, streamlined, inclusive and on-premise engagements for guests, it is off the beaten path where the magic is happening.

Travelers crave personal interest-based content within the context of local culture. Airbnb has tapped into this mode of experiential travel, with its new Trips, Experiences and Places features allowing users to choose from curated contextualized travel immersion. Harnessing the many niche resources of locals, Airbnb has tapped into a marketplace where freelance hosts can craft unique and immersive experiences for travelers.

Whether it’s a pub crawl in London or a beekeeping tour and honey-tasting excursion in Miami, now you can find a hyper-local set of experiences waiting for you via Airbnb. How can traditional hotels compete for business within this space in the travel market? Rigid inclusiveness and proprietary experiences can easily make any hospitality business feel dated in a short period of time. A more-of-the-same approach, rinse repeat is not a path to innovation; this is why the travel industry is being “disrupted” by the likes of Airbnb.

Travelers are looking for fresh ideas, personalization, and they need to be inspired. Great restaurants get this principle, they create seasonal menus to keep patrons coming back. Brands lose engagement and people get bored by experiencing the same thing. The element of delightful surprises and access to hidden gems, coupled with peer reviews, is the essence of modern experiential interest-based travel. Adding this external set of experiences is a great complement to hotel brands, both for conglomerates and boutiques alike.

Hotels can become better curators of these unique experiences not by just recommending local things to see and do, but taking inspiration from travel tech companies such as Airbnb and facilitating a digital marketplace built around their brands — serving the same purpose of deeper traveler engagement. By extending their brands beyond the core property to the surrounding area of local service providers, experts, and businesses, there is a great opportunity for hotels to open a new world of leisure options for their guests to explore.

Unlike some apps now taking travel back to a more old-school approach of managed travel arrangements — a la the traditional travel agency — a digital marketplace provides a more scalable business model. Amassing a wealth of locals listing their services, which then gets rated by hotel guests after each guided experience makes for a treasure trove of user-generated content. Hotels can simply charge a small fee for vetted vendors to list their freelance experiential services and businesses on a branded mobile responsive website or app, opening a new stream of revenue while enriching the travelers’ experience.  

Over 35% of the U.S. workforce are freelancers and earned $1 trillion in 2015, according toForbes. This “gig economy” lends itself well to the travel and hospitality industry. However, hotels should improve their pace of innovation and adoption to stay competitive with the likes of Airbnb and startups working to … wait for it … “disrupt” the traditional mindset within this sector. Creating city guides is a great way to help customers learn about things to do in areas surrounding a destination property, but a greater level of engagement is connecting them directly to each service and experience via a well-curated user-generated digital marketplace.

There is a very important difference to note about city guides and curated experiences; having a local expert create or guide you through a personalized unique experience is far more enriching and flexible versus simply following along even a well-written local guide. Hotels have a great opportunity to boost the local economy and their bottom line by extending their services to include small businesses and freelancers. Packaging this branded extension of local experiences for travelers is a win for everyone — the shift has already begun.

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/305239/how-content-can-help-hotels-compete-with-vacation.html

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Thursday Odds and Ends

A late roundup of the day's news.

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Content is ubiquitous. Currently, it seems like everything posted online falls within the category of content. However, content marketing speaks specifically to the multi-sensory messages created by brands for consumption by a targeted audience.

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Social influencer content outperforms designers on Instagram: report

Plus-sized model and social media influencer Iskra lead the way for the top content coming out on Instagram from New York Fashion Week, as influencer content saw the most engagement well beyond designer content, according to Chute.

Michael Kors and Vogue were the luxury brands amongst the top content creators who saw the most engagement surrounding NYFW. Fashion Blogger was the top hashtag discussed in relation to Fashion Week, alluding to the rise of importance of fashion blogger Instagram influencers for NYFW.

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Why live video is right for your hotel brand

In 2006, 65,000 videos were uploaded to YouTube by users daily. That number has grown to more than 300 hours of video uploaded per minute. Where posted pics, text and banner ads, and podcasts tend to...

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Longines tracks athletes with new technology Swiss watchmaker Longines is innovating the timekeeping space with the launch of a new data system that will track alpine skiers’ stats during championships. The Longines Live Alpine Data system is a new form of technology that is a chip, which attaches to the skier’s boot and uses radar and motion detection. The chip will share information regarding the athlete’s speed, acceleration and deceleration to be shared with viewers on television.

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5 Digital Marketing Ideas That Could Improve Your Brand Growth in 2017

With 2016 officially in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to start thinking about how your marketing strategy will evolve in 2017.

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Longines taps local market influencers to spur intimate awareness

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5 Ways to Set Your 2016 Holiday Marketing Strategy Apart

The holidays are upon us, again! No need to panic, there’s still time to get your brand in gear for what promises to be frenzied season of companies competing for consumers’ attention. Here are five ways to sure up your strategy, while setting yourself apart from a crowded field.

 All the Feels

 The holidays are notorious for flooding our souls with all the feels; emotions of all sorts over abound in ways we didn’t realize existed throughout the rest of the year. Be emotionally intelligent with your marketing. Choosing to promote happiness is a smart and seemly obvious choice, but marketers forget to be intentional about this. You have heard “misery loves company,” but companies should avoid making consumers feel frustrated with their brand experience, especially during this season. Know your brand’s emotional intelligence and translate that into your audience engagement; before, during and after the sales funnel.

 All Digital, All Day

 The beauty of digital content creation and distribution is the ability to update, monitor and measure in real time - in most cases; try doing that with print. Doing what makes sense for reaching your audience is key of course, but an all digital strategy should suffice for most communication needs this holiday season. Refresh your knowledge on the capabilities of social networks, distribution channels and devices your target audience uses to engage with your brand, then create content optimized for maximum impact in each of those environments. Whether using Google Analytics or a combination of analytics tools, keep your eyes on the data; monitor continuously and measure your audience impact.

Design Matters

 Yes, it is 2016 and design still counts, but not just any design; designing for maximum brand love impact should be your top priority. Human-centered design is not just some trendy fad, it is human focused art, strategy and experiences created within the context of your brand for audience engagement. Specifically, you should always design for your target audience. Whether you are creating content for holiday revelers or the anti-holiday movement - not everyone celebrates - you should be cognizant of who is consuming your content and on what device. This approach will help you empathize with the user’s context and deliver the best experience. Attention to design details should be applicable in all aspects of your marketing strategy.

 Entertain

 I want to be bored to death, said no holiday audience ever! People are waiting for you to make them laugh, cry (happy tears) and celebrate; place your strategy within the context of their lives. Celebrate alongside your audience. The holidays are all about entertaining and being entertained. Whether you are sparking warm emotions of nostalgia or extracting moments from contemporary culture, you now have the important distinction of being an entertainer. Your content should reflect the experiences people expect to have or suggest new ways to celebrate. Think more along the lines of an immersive show, where the audience will be encouraged to interact and share your content with their friends and family on social networks and via their digitally enabled smart devices. Make your videos, podcasts, snaps, tweets and status updates share worthy.

  Optimized

 Is your website, app, landing pages, e-commerce stores… loading fast? Do you have a reliable host that is ready for web traffic spikes? What about your fulfillment and delivery of goods and services? Optimize for a seamless user experience on all fronts - from internal to consumer facing interactions. The holidays are the worst times to bring anything but your “A” game. Let’s face it, the success of your strategy relies heavily on technology and it being available to deliver the experience your audience is expecting of your brand. So, test early, test often and continuously monitor your infrastructure as much as you measure your campaign's performance.

  The marketing environment is dynamic, because it needs to reflect the movement and behavior of your audience. The ability to pivot on a moment’s notice is key to winning at any strategy, the holidays are no different.

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In terms of fashion collaborations, the big trend of 2016 was cultivating new consumers, as retailers continued to embrace an evolving definition of luxury. The influx of collaborations — ranging from a streetwear line by Alexander Wang for Adidas Originals to designer partnerships among fast-fashion retailers, like Kenzo x H&M — demonstrates an ongoing shift in the high-end market. Names that used to be saved for luxurious pieces at exorbitant price points are being tagged on affordably priced products targeted toward millennial shoppers. According to survey data from millennial marketing company Ypulse, 55 percent of consumers ages 13-34 have never purchased a luxury product, and 60 percent of those who haven’t said it’s because they can’t afford them. Additionally, 65 percent of millennial responders agree that luxury brands should make affordable items so more people can own them.

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The travel industry is constantly being disrupted, which often provides great benefits for travelers and a path to fostering a culture of innovation and new business models. A current trend in hotel and travel disruption is coming from a new breed of unlikely players within the luxury brand space. Over the course of 2015, brands have surprisingly taken the leap into the hospitality industry, from a plan by West Elm to launch a line of boutique hotels, Equinox expanding into hotels earlier this year, and Karl Lagerfeld's decision to launch his own brand of hotels.

Happy to share our article posted on Media Post on Luxury Brands and Hospitality!

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It’s not always enough to be the creative force behind a major luxury fashion brand. Sometimes you have to build your own personal empire.

As seen in Glossy "Though fellow designers like Armani, Versace, Bulgari and Dior have all launched their own hotels, Roberto Villazon, CEO and founder of agency Hi-gloss, said Lagerfeld will be tasked with offering a unique experience that high net worth consumers haven’t yet seen." READ MORE>>

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The increasingly popular social platform Snap (formerly known as Snapchat) has allowed consumers to share their experiences around the world in real-time. It also allows a great opportunity for hotel brands to use the platform to reach consumers in a different, more meaningful way. If done right.

As seen in MediaPost "User-generated content within digital groups is a great way of utilizing social media strategies and serves as a strategic vehicle to deliver content to loyal and emerging brand fans." READ MORE>>