Client: Marriott International
PR Team: In-house
Campaign: Enhancement of Marriott Rewards media briefing
Timescale: September 1999
Budget: undisclosed
In mid-September, Hurricane Floyd ripped through Florida and other
states along the eastern seaboard of the US. Hundreds of thousands of
people were forced to evacuate their homes with several states declared
emergency zones.
In the midst of this chaos, Marriott International had planned a media
briefing in Washington DC for 29 travel journalists, comprising of
meetings with senior Marriott executives, including chairman JW Marriott
Jnr, a visit to the company’s test kitchens and guest rooms of its
different brands and an evening function attended by trade partners.
Poor weather conditions forced Marriott to cancel the visit of 25
US-based journalists, but the company was faced with a fresh problem of
how to deal with four UK hacks who were already on their way from
London.
Objectives
To ensure the UK journalists already en route to the briefing were taken
care of and a fresh programme was hurriedly-rearranged.
Strategy and Plan
At 12 noon US east coast time on Wednesday 15 September , Marriott
executive vice-president communications Charlotte Sterling and her
colleagues decided to cancel most of the programme in the interests of
safety.
International PR manager Maria Teresa Torruella took the lead in
rearranging the programme, aided by two consultants from Florida-based
Zimmerman Agency who were originally in Washington to look after the US
press.
There followed a battery of internal phone calls between executives and
the PR team, including UK media consultant Elaine Ellis in London. Ellis
was adamant that her colleagues had to deliver to a demanding group of
UK journalists. The UK journalists were informed of the changes on
arrival on Wednesday evening with the PR team still working on the final
agenda.
A meeting with JW Marriott Jnr could not be confirmed.
The Thursday morning Marriott Rewards briefing took place with a new
format - it became a round table discussion with questions and answers,
rather than a large media conference. A lunchtime visit to the test
kitchen and a tour of guest rooms took place as planned, with plenty of
free time left in the afternoon. Torruella hosted dinner for the
journalists at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, replacing
the planned reception for 100 people at the Marriott Wardman Park
Hotel.
Measurement and Evaluation
Feedback from the journalists was positive. Despite Marriott’s
last-minute changes, the journalists managed 20 minutes of quality time
with JW Marriott Jnr who shared his thoughts about the company, industry
and trends on Friday. Meeting him was deemed crucial as the journalists
had secured commissions from various publications based on interviews
with him.
Key executive Fred Miller gave one-to-one interviews to the
international journalists. Again, with only a small group of journalists
present, quality time was set aside for individual meetings.
Results
It turned into a hectic few days for Marriott with subsidiary
Ritz-Carlton Hotels making a product announcement earlier in the week,
Floyd causing problems affecting 25 group properties and JW Marriott Jnr
informing employees of the future of company headquarters.
However, Sterling did not perceive changes to the programme as a crisis,
but more of switching gear. The press team played a key role in changing
things around at short notice, keeping JW Marriott Jnr updated regularly
and making sure the journalists were comfortable with the arrangements.
