EDITORS’ NOTE

In 1974, following a successful tenure at Ogilvy & Mather, Peter Warren established his own marketing agency, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, LLC (WKP), where he currently serves as Chairman and CEO. A former Chairman of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI), Warren also serves as Cochair of the Executive Board of the HSMAI’s Adrian Award competition for advertising, public relations, and Web marketing, as well as sitting on the executive advisory board of New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management. In addition, he is a member of the advisory board of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism. Warren obtained his undergraduate education from New York University and earned his MBA from Pace University.

COMPANY BRIEF

Headquartered on Park Avenue South in New York City, Warren Kremer Paino Advertising, LLC (www.wkpadv.com), is a full-service, fully integrated consumer and B2B marketing communications agency offering services in branding, advertising, sales promotion, direct response, and Internet “buzz” or word of mouth (WOM), among others. With over 30 years of diverse experience in hospitality, travel and tourism, fashion and accessories, publishing, retail, and consumer lifestyle brands such as specialty foods and beverages, it includes among its current clients the New York Helmsley Hotel, the Helmsley Park Lane, The Mark Hotel, The Alex Hotel, Maine Office of Tourism, the Tourist Office of Spain, Bulova/Wittnauer, T. Anthony, Delta Dental, Random House, Doubleday, and Kraft Foods. In 2006, Warren Kremer Paino acquired Spier New York, another full service, fully integrated agency specializing in publishing and related consumer lifestyle brands.

Change being the only constant, how do you lead your clients?

One of the hardest hit industries in recent years has been the travel business. The impact of 9/11, the economy, anti-American sentiment, protracted war, and terrorism in Iraq and the Middle East have all had negative impacts. After 9/11, trips were postponed and travel took a hit for a number of years. When you’re in the airline, hotel, or cruise business, there’s nothing more perishable and less valuable than an empty seat on takeoff, or yesterday’s unsold room, or cabin availability.

As a New York advertising agency specializing in luxury, travel, and consumer lifestyle brands, we are constantly faced with the ups and downs of the business cycle. When our clients’ business is off due to factors beyond their control – such as a declining economy or the current housing slump – our job is to help them find new ways of attracting business, to help them realize that things will turn around, and to remind them that their brand marketing will be an important part of that turnaround.

Likewise, we try to protect our clients from any temptations they may have to cut back on brand advertising support during good times. We put forward a convincing case that marketing dollars spent today, which may not seem necessary to generate immediate additional sales revenue today, will produce greater market share and increased business versus the competition over the longer stretch.

No matter how good or bad the economy seems at any given moment, it will change. Those who remain vigilant in financial support of their brands will surely be the last ones standing over those who went for the easy, short-term money.

Can you cite an example of how you advise clients during good times and bad times?

Well, just look at New York City and the surge in visitors over the past few years. The hotel business has rebounded very nicely, both in terms of occupancy and average rate per room. Because of this, many hotels no longer feel the same urgency to advertise and, in fact, have cut back on their brand support. To bear this out, just look at any recent issue of The New York Times Sunday Magazine or travel section and compare the number of hospitality ads today with those from only a few years ago. It’s easy to become complacent when things are good.

In the same vein but from another point of view, if you’re a hotel where business is really good, and someone shows up who can’t be accommodated at the moment, you need to realize that it’s not the worst thing in the world. People will come away saying, “Wow, that’s a hot hotel!” If they can’t get in now, they may very well try to come back the next time they’re in New York.

This marketing concept and rather obvious consumer dynamic doesn’t only apply to hotels. That’s why sold-out Broadway shows keep on advertising and restaurants that are notoriously difficult to get into keep a continuous presence in the media.

That gets into another area of marketing that we constantly talk about with our clients which is “buzz” or WOM, where you create a future demand based on consumer endorsements and talk among the families, friends, and associates. According to the latest industry research, WOM is the most credible and powerful reason for brand choice. So, I truly believe that the harder it is to get into a restaurant, hotel, spa, or club, the more likely it is that you’ll have people trying. It’s the classic difference between brand push and consumer pull, the latter always being the preferred path by any CEO or CMO who is secure in his future and dedicated to the mission.

Any cautionary words for other brand marketers and their agencies?

While marketers should always be concerned about maintaining current top-of-mind awareness and a relevant personality for their brands, they should also remember that truly successful brand franchises are not built over-night, and the competition is never standing still. So, while taking care of short-term retail marketing objectives, make sure you see where things are going and take a long-term view as well. Ask the question, “If I relax or cut back on my brand image and identity marketing, what impact will that have on the relationship my customer has with the brand?”