City Lodge Hotels wins Grand Effie Award for SOS!

The Effie Awards celebrate marketing excellence that drives real business results, recognising creativity proven to deliver measurable impact.

In addition to the Grand Effie, the SOS campaign also won the following awards:

• Gold Effie: Travel & Tourism
  
• Silver Effie: Media Innovation/Commerce & Shopper
  
• Silver Effie: Marketing Disruptors

Also credited as contributing partners on the campaign were PHD South Africa, OnPoint PR and Lifestyle Management, and Instreem.

City Lodge Hotels launched the 'Save Our Stay' platform for when guests find themselves in a tight spot and feel those common frustrations of having made a bad accommodation booking. Consumers got to hit the 'panic button' by simply clicking on the link and this online service would instantly find and connect them to their closest hotel across the group’s four brands – Courtyard Hotel, City Lodge Hotel, Town Lodge, and Road Lodge – and offer savings to boot.

City Lodge Hotels’ divisional director of sales and marketing, Zuki Jantjies, and group marketing manager, Colleen Goodman, were thrilled by the recognition, which follows hot on the heels of the campaign’s eight Loeries wins earlier this month.

“Marketing today is a complex, layered craft with many moving parts as we strive to capture potential guests’ attention and imagination across multiple platforms, above and below the line. However, the best messages remain those that connect us, moments that make us laugh and bring us together. When creativity, comedy, and effectiveness come together and are recognised in this way, we’re all winners,” says Jantjies.