Sogo Vs Victoria Court -- When Motels Go Digital

Probably the first thing marketing people would ask themselves would be: did these motels hire an agency or is it in-house? Regardless, they've correctly pinpointed college students and yuppies as their major target market (wag na tayo maglokohan) and this is the generation of digital natives (literal naka tira na sa internet). 


The above is Sogo's campaign. I'm not even sure if this is verified as official but I grabbed it from the Facebook page I found.

It's such an unbelievably unusual positioning but quite funny (maybe the goal is merely to go viral?) And hey, there's no such thing as bad publicity, yeah? I absolutely love how they are branding themselves as a place where students can study and bond. I personally think it's brilliant and it did go somewhat viral. 

Cons: caption on their Facbeook page included #HereAtHotelSogo #ItsSogoTime hashtags and were not included in the image/poster. They didn't utilize Facebook ads and other placements. Facebook and other online ad placements are so cheap that this campaign could have exploded beyond viral had they spent more on ads (source).


 Victoria Court, on the other hand, executed using two different directions. One positioning is more subtle -- somewhere you can rest after work or stay-in for a while and let traffic die. And the other is more hard sell -- after clubbing or after a movie you can go to their motel for some good clean fun and play some board games. Just kidding, it's obviously blatant. They want you to have sex in their motels after going out at night with your partner.

And the branding in the campaign doesn't seem tacky. It feels classy and perfectly targeted to the psychographics of the young, wild, and free. Victoria Court seems to be positioning themselves as a more higher-end brand than Sogo.

The core message and hashtag campaign, #WhereNext, seems so effective and in-line with their branding, in my opinion. It's so subtle but at the same time you already know what they're trying to say. It's almost synonymous to placing #AlamNa as their hashtag.

Cons: Again, they didn't utilize paid ads. Ask any digital marketing professional or agency and they'll all be in consensus that social media and online ad companies will limit your reach and click-through-rate unless you get paid placements. Also, more of traditional outdoor (billboards, posters, etc.) would be so effective for this campaign as I find it so witty. But then we live in such a conservative society that it probably won't pass regulation boards (although I saw one tarp by Shaw blvd). 

I'm loving how these motels are utilizing digital marketing and social media and I applaud those responsible for them. I think they're both brilliant campaigns. These will drive consumers to their motels. And the other motel brands that aren't tapping digital? They'll miss out on targeting students and yuppies. Most of the older crowd who aren't on digital already have their own places to do the deeds that need to be done (except maybe for cheating spouses but this is probably a small portion of this age bracket).

If you have a similar target market and you're still not on digital, you're missing out. Cut the crap, brands. Time to invest in digital and social media marketing.

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1 comment:

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