Sheraton Rocks the House to Revamp Image
By Mark Lang
Rock musicians and hotel rooms have a checkered history. For every John and Yoko love-in, there are many more Guns N' Roses bust-ups, leaving a path of destruction and a trail of broken furniture.
But not only has Sheraton -- and parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts -- embraced the concept of rock music in its advertising, the hotel chain commissioned a nationwide search to find a band to star in a $10 million ad campaign, its first television work in seven years.
"Sheraton is an iconic brand," says Florence Buchanan, group creative director at Deutsch in New York. "The idea was to find a classic song, remix it and let it symbolize [the] Sheraton [chain], which is being [physically] redone."
Targeting baby boomers, the campaign needed a 1960s rock anthem. "As I recall," Buchanan says, "a number of songs were considered. James Brown's 'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' also made the short list."
In the end, the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" -- with lyrics that translate easily to hostelry -- turned out to be a favorite of Starwood COO Robert Cotter.
The Stones got the gig.
Picking a song and acquiring the rights was the easy part. Next, a band had to be "discovered" to remake the tune. "We hired several music consultants and watched lots of videos and demos," Buchanan says. More than 150 groups vied to remix the Stones' classic. "We narrowed the choice to five or six tapes, and we chose a San Diego garage band called Convoy," she says.
The four-spot campaign promotes the hotel chain's physical renovations and improved customer services. "Sheraton has a new spin" is the theme, and the five members of Convoy get to act out their fantasies of fame and fortune.
In the 60-second "Epic," the boys frolic like, well, rock stars, parodying the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night and the Monkees in their popular TV show. In-camera effects and wild antics propel the musicians through a grueling night of live performances and media blitzkrieg. Sheraton provides a safe haven, a place where the rockers can rest and unwind, avoid overzealous fans and get help when things go wrong, such as replacing a broken guitar string.
Convoy's remix of "Let's Spend the Night Together" is more sanitized than the Stones' version, lacking the raunchiness and power of Mick Jagger's inflamed vocals and the moaning, throbbing guitars of Keith Richards and Brian Jones. (The song is about getting laid, after all.) Still, the remake possesses a distinct sound, a "lo-fi" approach that stays true to the original. And it's obvious these guys are having the time of their lives.
"Since [the five band members] were not actors, it was important they had a connection as a group," Buchanan says. "From a casting point of view, we liked their look and we liked the way they interacted with each other. They had a good spirit."
Too good to throw a chair through a TV set or a table out of a penthouse-suite window, evidently.
The only thing Sheraton broke was the mold in the hotel-advertising category, according to Buchanan. "This is not music for music's sake," she says. "There's an idea behind it."
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