Background & Context: Activate A New Platform on a New Platform

While the rest of the travel industry is fixated on where you’re going, Hilton decided to stand “For The Stay” in their first-ever global brand platform. We launched the “It Matters Where You Stay” campaign in traditional media channels in June 2022.

However, these traditional efforts were less likely to engage one priority audience. 16-34-year-olds have a higher potential customer lifetime value and are more passionate about travel than other generations.

Even better than engaging these younger travelers was driving sign-ups for Hilton Honors, our loyalty program. Hilton Honors members are worth +20% more than non-members and are more likely to have come back year after year, so the earlier someone joins Honors, the higher their lifetime value to the brand.

Creative Challenge: Bring The Stay to a Go-Go-Go Scroll

We were tasked with developing an unmissable idea that will make Hilton and our campaign internet-famous; one that would invite everyone with a phone to experience The Stay for themselves and get them talking about it.

But how would we get an audience with tiny attention spans to care about The Stay? We knew that, on average, they watched over 20 videos per minute. Instead of catering to that behavior, we wanted them to stop scrolling and experience our brand belief: That wonderful things happen when you stay.

Solution: Reward TikTok Users for Staying With Hilton

To prove that wonderful things happen when you stay, we pioneered a new type of social asset that rewards people for staying with an ad. At a time when the most engaged videos on TikTok range between 21 to 34 seconds, we invited users to slow down and get a taste of the Hilton Stay.

To further incentivize this new behavior, those who watched the whole video could enter our sweepstakes to win Hilton Honors points, swag, experiences, and more.

Execution: Engage through Influence, Storytelling, and Humor

Our 10-minute TikTok post was made specifically for TikTok. Since recommendations are so impactful both for travel inspiration and in TikTok content, we partnered with Paris Hilton and 7 of the most influential creators on the platform to star in the video.

TikTok is a platform that thrives on authenticity. Each creator showed up in a way that stayed true to their style, from dueting a cooking video to remixing our TikTok into an original song. We wrote specifically to the influencers’ tone of voice and collaborated with them to bring the script to life. We also played into TikTok’s strengths by leaning into the natural storytelling model of TikTok, using TikTok-specific editing techniques, and integrating fonts that are native to the platform.