Marriott Bonvoy harnesses the 'Power of Travel' to quell cabin fever and reconnect individuals

Marriott International's travel program and marketplace, Marriott Bonvoy, has launched a new global campaign named “Power of Travel”. The campaign aims to quell the cabin fever and isolation experienced by all those who are enduring the pandemic due to travel restrictions.

According to the hotel chain, the campaign tagline "Where Can We Take You?" seeks to evoke not only the physical destinations, but the personal and spiritual destinations travel lifts people to. The line and the campaign underscore the brand's belief in travel's ability to help one grow, heal, and find common ground.

The minuted-long campaign video will air during the NBA Finals and also during the Olympics, which Marriott said was symbolic as the Olympics are “the world's biggest stage for global unity and connection”. Additional efforts will span globally over the next few months across streaming and key collective viewing moments on television, in-flight entertainment, digital, social, and OOH placements to spark community and connection. A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE also found that Marriott has released an eight-part video series 12 hours ago on its YouTube channel, with most showing 15 seconds of selected scenes from the campaign video. Each title also followed the format “Travel Makes Us _____”, with different variations of the emotions that the brand said it wants to evoke. 

Marriott is also harnessing the ubiquity of social media channels, inviting people worldwide to join the conversation and connect with one another by sharing their memories of how #TravelMakesUs on Instagram and TikTok, with hopes to reignite the spirit of travel.

Through this campaign, Marriott Bonvoy hopes to encourage the world to embrace the power of travel as a vital pathway to growth, healing, and unity. The brand also added that a year of isolation and separation has reopened societal wounds that left people across the world feeling more distant than ever. Thus, Marriott Bonvoy said it wants to champion travel with a renewed sense of purpose of not just to escape but to discover each other and the world everyone shares as the world slowly begins to reopen. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Marriott for more information

Brian Povinelli, senior vice president, brand, loyalty, and portfolio marketing, Marriott International, said that Marriott Bonvoy has evolved from a rewards programme to an immersive and inclusive travel platform. He added that travel has "an unmistakable impact on the human spirit". In light of the past year, Povinelli said this is a pivotal moment to recognise the importance of stretching out beyond our own small corners in an effort to better ourselves and society as a whole."

The new campaign is in line with Marriott’s previous initiative in November last year, where it recreated signature iconic destination elements of its sister properties across 13 of its properties across Asia Pacific as part of its "#YourDreamDestinationAwaits” campaign. Some of these elements include the distinctive uniforms, music suited to the destination played throughout the lobby, recognisable decor, or iconic food curated and served. More recently this year in January, it also rolled out a "Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy" programme where 15 of its hotels offered curated purpose-driven experiences that focused on three distinct pillars: environmental protection pollution, community engagement, and marine conservation.

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