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Holiday Inn Express relaunches the Stay Smart ad campaign that made it famous


Skift Take

The Express brand was lost in IHG’s efforts to promote its larger Holiday Inn properties, but is now facing a significantly more competitive mid-scale market than was present during its former glory.

Holiday Inn Express, one of the fastest-growing chains in the U.S., is hoping that reviving its once-popular Stay Smart campaign will prove a smart move in the ever-competitive midprice hotel market.

Holiday Inn Express today will attempt to bring its brand back to its glory days by re-launching the TV advertising campaign that was a hit from 1998 to 2008.

The commercials showed people successfully completing extraordinary tasks that they weren't trained for, then explaining it with the punch line: "But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express hotel last night."

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