InterContinental Hotels
Group’s Holiday Inn Express has signed on Jason Jones of "The Daily Show" as a celebrity spokesperson.
The comedian, who appears regularly as a correspondent on the late night talk show,
will lead the launch of the “Smart Thinking” online platform, StaySmart.com. Visitors to the site are invited to upload videos, images and tweets to become part of the story.
StaySmart.com is the digital extension of the brand’s “Stay Smart” advertising campaign, with the tagline “But I did stay
at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”
"The campaign is a fun and humorous exaggeration of how smart it feels to stay in a Holiday Inn Express hotel, and Jason Jones embodies
the humorous ingenuity that perfectly aligns with the brand's personality, making him the ideal brand spokesperson," said Heather Balsley, senior vice president, Americas Holiday Inn Brand
Family. "The ‘Smart Thinking’ platform gives us an opportunity to invite guests to be part of the ‘Stay Smart’ story, all while showcasing the Holiday Inn Express
brand in an entirely new way."
Consumers can submit their Smart Thinking content in just two easy steps. First, create and post a Smart Thinking Vine video, 15-seconds or less YouTube video,
Instagram photo or Tweet. Then, tag content with #staysmart, so the content can be featured on StaySmart.com.
Jones will share his own smart and funny advice in the form of short videos and
photos, as well as a call to action for consumers to share their Smart Thinking in return. While on the site, visitors will also be prompted by weekly Smart Thinking questions such as "What's the best
advice your dad gave you 100 times?" or "What's the smartest way to wrap a present?" to encourage participants to help make the world a little wiser, and grab a few handfuls of inspiration at the same
time.
The Holiday Inn Express brand is also collaborating with other humorous powerhouses, including creating highly shareable and engaging Smart Thinking posts with BuzzFeed,
a series of CollegeHumor original Smart Thinking videos, and several comical Vine videos with improv comedians from Second City Communications, with content for all partnerships scheduled to launch
later this summer.