Inside Hilton’s 10-minute TikTok, inviting Gen Z to get comfy and stay a while

TikTok minutes are like dog years—you don’t get too many of them before the party’s over. But Hilton ignored the best practices on the short-form video platform last week, rolling out a TikTok that was absurdly lengthy—and all but daring users to get on board with it. The 10-minute clip drew attention to its own ridiculousness from the start. It begins with an intro from Paris Hilton herself, and then dives headlong into self-parody—making fun of its own length, and for being an ad in the first place, in comically self-referential fashion. Along the way, it used a lineup of TikTok influencers, along with an amusing script, to impart an impressive amount of brand and product info—becoming a place, much as Hilton positions its hotels these days, where you wouldn’t mind staying a while. @hilton Unexpected & amazing things can happen when you stay, and we want you to stay with us for 10 minutes. Yup, we made a 10-minute TikTok AND we’re giving away 10M Hilton Honors Points + more. #HiltonStayFor10 #HiltonForTheStay ♬ Hilton’s 10-Minute Stay - Hilton Along with Hilton, the video stars Chris Olsen, Kelz Wright, Baron Ryan, Boman Martinez-Reid, Samyra, The Gregory Brothers (the group behind last summer’s viral remix of “It’s Corn”) and GirlBossTown. In the first 48 hours after launch, the video got almost 4 million views and over 200,000 engagements, including 12,500 saves and 5,000 shares. When the sad-sack advertising exec at the end of video laments, “Why can’t we just make normal TV commercials?”—well, that kind of engagement explains why.Related: Top 5 brand TikToks to know about right now Navigating the cringe meter Amy Ferguson, chief creative officer at TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, which came up with the idea and executed it, said the agency was excited to try something so upside-down on the platform, but a bit nervous as well. “It’s hard to undo and regain trust once a brand comes across cringey on social media,” she told Ad Age. “The cringe meter is extra strict on TikTok. This was even more amplified because we have a 10-minute video. The risk we were taking was that viewers would leave in the first 10 seconds if we couldn’t capture their attention.” Paris Hilton certainly helped in that regard, as did the promise of a chance at Hilton Honors points, experiences and swag for those who stuck around until the bitter end. (This shameless bribe gets skewered in the video, too.) Mostly, it was the influencers who kept viewers engaged—not just who they were, but how they were used. Influential helped select the creators who appeared in the ad. “A 10-minute video with a bunch of celebs/influencers isn’t going to guarantee someone staying to the very end,” said Ferguson. “We had to identify a diverse set of high-reach and niche creators who resonate with the audiences most active on TikTok, and instead of casting them to play a part in a script, build our concept from what they are best known and adored for.” Ad Age events Sign up for events and awards Learn more here Then, the copywriters built in enough self-deprecating humor and self-awareness that it didn’t feel like hardcore selling. This meant having Chris Olsen—in a pretend stitch—saying he wouldn’t watch a 10-minute TikTok at all, followed by the other influencers alternately dissing and embracing the idea in their trademark humor. (Baron Ryan is particularly inspired in seeming traumatized by his greedy side’s decision to sell out). “We wanted people to simply take away the feeling of being entertained by staying with Hilton,” Ferguson said. The right message on the right platform The campaign connected in part because it’s platform specific, creating tension and engagement by disrupting expectations. TikTok is the last place you’d normally find long-form video, which frames the video’s point of view from the start—and it riffs from there. “We spoke to a ton of platforms about how to best bring the idea to life in a way that people would notice,” Ferguson said. “We quickly knew TikTok was the place to do it—especially because, if our idea was good enough, we might be able to convince Paris Hilton, who has a truly epic TikTok presence, to do it.” Including Paris Hilton clearly panned out. But one other insight about the TikTok platform convinced the agency that the idea was solid. “Our team saw a gap in brand creativity, with people increasingly forgetting what they just watched immediately after swiping away,” said Ferguson. “What better way to prove out the value of a stay than to get people who can’t sit through a 15-second TikTok to stay for 10 whole minutes? Ten minutes on TikTok is like three years in real life.” ‘For the Stay’ Conceptually, the project fits nicely within Hilton’s current strategy of focusing on the stay—being at the hotel itself—rather than the destinations and experiences beyond the property that many hotel and home rental brands focus on. The McLean, Virginia-based company launched its first global platform, “Hilton. For the Stay,” last summer. That included a marketing campaign themed “It Matters Where You Stay,” which included TV spots with Paris Hilton—a great-granddaughter of Hilton founder Conrad Hilton. Ferguson said the agency had the idea for a long-form ad early on in the concepting—an ad “that people actually wanted to spend time with—or stay in. We wanted to bring the stay to life in new, disruptive ways to dimensionalize our message—and, especially on social, ideally connect with a younger consumer who, although familiar with the Hilton brand, don’t identify it as a brand relevant to them.” “In launching Hilton’s first-ever brand platform, ‘Hilton. For the Stay,’ we broke the mold. We turned away from the sea of sameness many are used to and instead leaned into our biggest strength—providing a great stay experience for our guests,” said Mark Weinstein, chief marketing officer at Hilton. “In a world of short attention spans, and even shorter content, our team took this innovative approach a step further by working with top creators to develop an attention grabbing 10-minute story using their unique styles that entertains viewers and reminds them that wonderful things can happen when you stay with Hilton.” The result, Ferguson added, is a piece that’s just anti-ad enough to be relatable on the platform. “The thing we know about our audience,” she said, “is that they may hate ads, but they don’t hate brands.” Hear about Hilton's approach to wellness travel when VP of Wellness Amanda Al-Masri speaks at The Wellness Revolution on March 7 in New York.

Inside Hilton’s 10-minute TikTok, inviting Gen Z to get comfy and stay a while

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