Situation
NJF was tapped to launch The Shinola Hotel – a first-of-its-kind hospitality experience in downtown Detroit created by two iconic Detroit-based companies: luxury watchmaker Shinola and visionary real estate firm Bedrock. The first foray into hospitality for both companies, The Shinola Hotel would fill a void in Detroit’s hospitality and tourism industry and welcome more guests to experience what the city has to offer. While Detroit had been making many must-visit lists with news of a handful of hotels opening, The Shinola Hotel opening would signal the tipping point in Detroit’s bona fide rebirth with both Shinola and Bedrock – credited as catalysts for Detroit’s recent resurgence – at the helm.
Action
To kick off the multilayered campaign, NJF strategically pursued numerous exclusive media opportunities – strategically parceling out different news hooks in order to place multiple stories. The goal: use the wealth of talent involved in the project as spokespeople to appeal to multiple media segments, including travel, lifestyle, culinary, design, real estate, fashion and trade.
Following the success of landing these initial feature stories, NJF embarked on a robust media tour, meeting with a record-breaking 18 editors at leading publications over the course of two days. Publications included Vanity Fair, T Magazine, Travel + Leisure and Bloomberg – to name a few. Additionally, a second media tour was orchestrated to debut the multiple food and beverage venues opening within the hotel, with programming led by chef Andrew Carmellini of NoHo Hospitality Group. Meetings with Food & Wine, Departures, The New York Times and Architectural Digest were also included as part of the second media tour.
Closer to the hotel opening, NJF coordinated walk-throughs with regional media and executed a press trip with national media.
Results
NJF secured full-page exclusive features in Elle Décor, The Wall Street Journal and WSJ Magazine; sizable property features were also included in The New York Times twice, Architectural Digest, Monocle and USA Today. Top-tier digital stories secured include Vogue.com, WMagazine.com, Condé Nast Traveler, Wallpaper and Fast Company online. Coverage resulted in more than 700 million impressions with a relative advertising equivalency value close to $16 million.
