Andaz Brand Campaign: The Story of Hyatt’s Luxury Lifestyle Hotels

Hyatt’s luxury lifestyle brand, Andaz, launched a brand awareness campaign in November called Be Like No One’s Watching. The campaign illustrates the many challenges and opportunities that hotel groups face as they market brands in today’s noisy media ecosystem. So Skift checked in to see how it’s been going.

“On the initial benchmarks we set for engagement and viewership, the results have been great so far,” said Crystal Vinisse Thomas, vice president and global brand leader of Hyatt’s lifestyle and luxury brands.

The campaign is the first for Andaz since the hotel brand debuted in 2007. The campaign is the brainchild of Thomas, one of AdAge’s 2023 picks for its 40 under 40 list. Thomas previously did brand work for Apple’s Beats by Dre and Marriott’s luxury lifestyle brand W.

Experiential Travel

Hyatt said it’s making “a seven-figure investment” in the year-long campaign. It has dropped three ads so far, with three more coming soon. The aim has been to break through the noise with a non-traditional marketing approach.

“One thing that was important to me was that — because Andaz is a lifestyle brand — we should talk about the lifestyle and experiences versus the transactional nature of a hotel booking,” Thomas said.

She felt that hotel marketing too often focuses on showing people guest rooms or pools and call-to-actions to book rather than storytelling of the kind that companies like Nike do. Travelers should be able to see themselves in the story, she said.