Starwood’s Sheraton debuts WiFi-enabled platform for location-targeted ads

By Dan Butcher - August 9, 2010

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts has launched a public WiFi network at more than 200 locations nationwide on which brands can run location-targeted advertising.

Sheraton tapped location-based mobile media company JiWire as its exclusive advertising partner to power the ad-supported WiFi platform. Advertisers also have access to The Link@Sheraton featuring localized content and search from Microsoft's Bing, a lounge that enables travelers to stay connected with access to information and technology for work, leisure and social networking installed in approximately 200 properties.

"Sheraton thinks a lot about the consumer experience in their hotels, and one thing that is incrediblly important is connectivity, so what Sheraton has done is a major investment and revitalization—in fact, it has spent about $6 billion," said David Staas, senior vice president of marketing at JiWire, San Francisco.

"With that, the company has created a bunch of great consumer experiences in the lobby and connectivity throughout the hotel as well, thinking first and foremost about what makes a great customers experience, and advertising has to be integral to that as well," he said. "We bring the right advertising that is relevant to the consumers that are staying in Sheraton's hotels.

"Because of the ability to get much more location-specific, particularly with WiFi, every time we deliver an ad, we are able to tell advertisers 'You are reaching a consumer in this particular Sheraton Hotel,' which lets brands get creative with how they reach that audience."

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's largest and second-oldest brand, with Westin being the oldest. Starwood's headquarters are in White Plains, NY.

JiWire operates a location-based interactive media channel, enabling advertisers to identify and deliver ads to audience segments based on a person's physical location while taking the venue type and brand into account.

Reaching affluent travelers
Hotel guests are an extremely desirable audience for advertisers, spending an average of two hours connecting over WiFi and consuming content across multiple devices, according to JiWire.

This partnership with Sheraton gives advertisers one of the few opportunities to reach these guests with localized messages based on their exact physical location.

This level of context is critical as advertising undergoes a fundamental change toward location-specific engagement with audiences outside of their home or office.

In addition, JiWire and Sheraton provide a cross-channel experience that lets brands be the first message a user sees every time they connect throughout the hotel, whether over a laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Sheraton claims that more than 50 percent of its guests spend time in the Link, which is more than eat breakfast, use the gym or visit the bar, making it one of the brand's most valuable assets.

The partnership extends the reach that advertisers have access to with JiWire, especially as major brands seek highly contextual location-based advertising opportunities to reach people when they are on the go, including business travelers, affluent consumers, technology influencers and C-level business decision makers.

JiWire is also powering location-based campaigns from brand advertisers such as UPS, Verizon and Cisco's WebEx via Borders' in-store WiFi (see story).

For advertisers, knowing that someone is physically in a Sheraton, and knowing the exact location of that Sheraton, is valuable as location-specific engagement becomes a must-have on every media plan, per JiWire.

"We've seen the use of public WiFi in hotels going up dramatically—45 percent of the hotel audience spends more than two hours online," Mr. Staas said. "That gives advertisers the opportunity to reach them and influence how they spend their time.

"We found that 51 percent have a household income of $100,000-plus—many are executives and business decision-makers," he said. "There is a range of ways advertisers are using the WiFi footprint, from branding to very specific location-targeted messaging.

"Location is being used to define audience in the way that demographic or behavioral targeting has done in the past—location has shaped campaigns from branding to direct response."


http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/7030.html