Le Meridien Celebrates 10 Years at Starwood With Throwback Advertising

Le Méridien may not be Starwood’s most visible brand in the U.S., but its new look stands out.

At 101 properties its number of hotels currently outnumbers the parent company’s more recognizable W Hotels, the Luxury Collection, Aloft, Element, or St. Regis, and it is trying to hit ‘reset’ on its branding in its tenth year at Starwood. It’s also thinking international rather than market by market.

In a campaign Le Méridien is launching today with Monocle (yes, this media brand’s travel moves have appeared often on Skift lately), Le Méridien is skipping the high-definition photos and videos for illustrated advertisements that evoke 1960s creative work featuring markets both large and interesting. Le Méridien will feature the ad images on LeMeridien.com, across all of the brand’s social media platforms this summer, and in issues of Monocle and its summer Escapist annual magazine. This is no coincidence: Monocle’s sister agency Winkreative developed the campaign.

Le Méridien will announce more details at an event in New York City this morning.

For the campaign, Le Méridien turned to Paris-based illustrator Virginie Morgand, who has done children’s books for book publisher MeMo, illustrations for The Sunday Times, Elle magazine, Barneys New York, and magazine covers for Ballroom Review, The Parisianer and Erratum. Part Mad Men and part Miroslav Sasek, the illustrations, below, are a combination of nostalgia, sophistication, and inspiration that are tailor-made for the urban guests Le Méridien is aiming towards.

This campaign is the result of a multimillion dollar rebranding, repositioning, and guest experience effort that has looked to both Instagram campaigns and eclairs to push what it calls a “Destination Unlocked” theme that focuses on local experiences without beating guests over the head with its ideas.

The current suite of ads appear, below.