Our research revealed a real complexity to people’s feelings about business travel. Many recipients loved their downtime during business trips, viewing it as an opportunity for sightseeing and personal growth. Parents particularly relished the chance to relax free of the usual distractions and responsibilities. But people were also sometimes frustrated by how often work-related activities spilled over into that downtime. There was a creative tension in this, and many of the other insights, that lent itself well to comedy.

We knew the audience was typically busy and only consumed content in short chunks. This made online video the obvious choice, particularly for busy professionals operating almost exclusively in urban environments with good 4G coverage. To fully capitalise on the humour while also making a connection with the brand, we opted to make a series of five short mockumentary videos, entitled ‘Downtime’, each shot on location in a Crowne Plaza hotel.

To achieve the humour in each video, we commissioned award-winning comedy writers Matt Morgan (Very Important People, Russell Brand’s Ponderland) and Sarah Morgan (Not Going Out, The Tracy Ullman Show) and director Tom McKay (Drunk History UK, Ten O’Clock Live).

Each episode illustrated a familiar scenario from our research that would resonate with the target audience. The liberated parent who just wants to be child free, two colleagues trying to relax without really getting on each others nerves and the assistant who desperately wants to experience culture rather than en-forced cocktails with the boss.

To star in the series, we recruited some of the UK’s top comic talent, including Lydia Rose Bewley (Plebs, Drifters, Inbetweeners), Sarah Alexander (Coupling, Green Wing) and Hugh Dennis (Outnumbered, Mock the Week). Production was handled by award-winning video agency Oath.

The campaign has seen total view of 11,739,850 so far. The overall campaign engagement rate is an above-industry-average 4.62%. Users are also viewing the videos at an average view-through rate of 35%, well above Oath and industry benchmarks for branded content.

Viewers show a considerable shift in brand perception. Almost 87% think Crowne Plaza understands the needs of business travellers, up from 61% previously. The numbers saying they think Crowne Plaza staff will take care of them, that staying at the hotel will enable higher productivity, and that Crowne Plaza can help them maintain work-life balance are also higher than before the campaign aired.

This is consistent with the research which prompted us to choose video as the primary medium. It showed that online videos would be the most effective to illicit an emotional response from the target audience and shift brand perception.