Marriott International moves global media account from GroupM to Publicis

Marriott International has appointed Publicis Groupe's SapientRazorfish and Spark Foundry as its global media agencies to oversee all media planning and purchasing. The appointment also covers 12 markets in Asia Pacific, including Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and the Philippines. The incumbent on the account is GroupM's Wavemaker.The partnership will be one which is performance-driven and customer-centric, done through a dedicated Marriott One Media team working with Marriott's internal media teams around the world.Publicis Groupe will also optimise international marketing campaigns, personalise and localise targeted media efforts across a diverse set of markets to showcase Marriott's “best-in-class commerce and first-to-market technology”. This includes established and emerging markets such as North America, Europe, China, Africa and Latin America."We are excited to welcome Publicis Groupe in their new, expanded role, and work together to break new ground. I also want to thank Wavemaker who has provided valuable strategic guidance in media, successfully working with us to launch several award-winning campaigns,” Karin Timpone, global marketing officer of Marriott International, said.Andy Kauffman, SVP of marketing optimisation, said that the organisation believes in a media strategy fuelled by authentic connections made at multiple consumer engagement touchpoints to drive business outcomes.“We're delighted to work with Publicis Groupe which complements our strengths and deeply understands our audience, to provide personalisation that elevates our brands, delivers hotel revenue, and deepens member loyalty,” Kauffman added.The past year has seen Marriott has growing to 30 brands with 6,500 hotels located in 127 countries, and more than 110 million members of its loyalty programs - Marriott Rewards, which includes The Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). As a result, the global marketing optimisation team led by Kauffman was created internally to elevate marketing and media disciplines with greater effectiveness.Publicis Groupe has also been working with Starwood Preferred Guest (SGP) for over 15 years. This was prior to Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in 2016 for US$12.2 billion in stocks and cash to create the world’s largest hotel company. This also saw the companies combining their loyalty programmes – Marriott Rewards and SPG. Read also:SG Marriott Hotel gets thumbs up for filling room with Jeff Goldblum picturesMarriott China in crisis comms mode as website gets shutdownMarriott and YTL Hotels partner to develop 2 new hotels in KLMarriott partners with Alibaba to capture Chinese tourism boomMarriott International, Accenture Interactive and 1776 launch the travel experience incubator