“The place not the people” the brief from Rembrandt was succinct and clear. The focus for any PR initiative should be on the hotel and the hotel alone-in other words the building, the location and investment. Despite the fact that the 15 room boutique hotel is exceptionally well presented and designed, the opening of a hotel this size in itself is not exactly big news nor worthy of excessive coverage.
This coupled with the fact that ‘not the people” translated into a “celebrity free zone” ensured that this would not be a standard opening and from a PR perspective rather unusual for Romania.
The question then was how could we develop a PR event without the celebrity/star factor (traditionally a prerequisite for an event of this kind) but at the same time generate awareness and create TV and press interest?
The answer came in simply shifting the focus slightly from the opening itself to the political and economic context in which the hotel was opening. There had been much media attention in the previous weeks on the city’s plans to revitalize the historical centre as well as the much publicized fact that this would be turned into a pedestrian area despite some local opposition. The PR then had to be related to what was already a high interest story but at the same time keeping to my clients brief.
Targeting was also of major concern. Although the client had a general idea of the type of customer he wanted and felt was suited to the hotel, detailed consultations were essential to ensure we knew exactly who the customer is, looks, feels and thinks – a critical factor when considering how the opening would be presented.
With this in mind and a general management consensus that “throwing money” at a big glamorous event was not what the hotel was about, we decided upon a low key soft launch strategy. This included press releases prior to the event “1 million dollars invested in the historical centre”, invitations to key journalists, political commentators and local business people for the open house opening. As well as a limited number of paid adverts in a couple of the local English language newspapers had the desired effect of attracting potential expatriate customers.
As a Dutch investment, the opening itself was conducted by His Eminency, Mr. Pieter-Jan Wolthers, the Dutch Ambassador and attracted 100 people. TVR news picked up on the story with the latter conducting an interview with political analyst Iosif Boda in one of the hotel rooms, and press coverage numbered 20 articles. The opening overall was deemed a huge success with the hotel running at a 90% occupancy rate and rated by Trip Advisor as one of the top two hotels in Bucharest.
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