By Kelly Kerruish, Account Director
Are these long dark days of Winter getting you down? Suffering with the Winter blues? Well it turns out you’re not alone! At the end of last year, Publicasity undertook some research with one of the brands within the Wyndham Hotel Group, Days Inn, which found that 58% of the population – that’s up to 38 million Brits – would give up their Christmas presents in exchange for a break in the sun this Winter.
The research also revealed that as many as 63% of people in the UK would be willing to give up a daily indulgence such as box sets or social media for an extra hour of sunlight in their day.
We released the results of the research on the 21st December – the shortest day of the year – in order to support our big consumer promotion taking place on the same day.
We wanted to raise awareness of the refreshed Days Inn logo – a sun – and its brand promise to give guests ‘a fresh burst of energy’ – so, on the shortest day of the year, we decided to treat lucky commuters travelling through London’s Victoria station to a little extra sunshine and rejuvenation.
Members of the public were able to escape the grey and wintery day to take a moment’s break in the #DaysInnergy pod, a sun-shaped haven where they could relax and re-energise, listen to summery tunes and take away a re-invigorating lemongrass tea.
Visitors to the pod were treated to goody bags containing branded gifts and were encouraged to enrol in Wyndham Hotel Group’s award-winning hotel loyalty scheme Wyndham Rewards.
In total, the day saw us welcome over 400 consumers to the #DaysInnergy pod, with coverage of the research landing across trade and national media, including TTG and The Daily Mail. Ensuring that the spirit of the #DaysInnergy pod lives on, we re-packaged some of the research to co-incide with ‘Blue Monday’ – the third Monday of January, widely considered to be the most depressing day of the year.
We are also putting plans in place to take the pod on a regional tour of the UK meaning Days Inn will continue to brighten up the darkest days of this increasingly long cold Winter! Look out for it in a city near you!