InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has named interactive agency Zaaz its AOR for brand social media efforts, the company said June 13. IHG hired Zaaz after a three-month RFP process, said Shane Atchison, CEO of the Seattle-based agency.
Zaaz, a Wunderman subsidiary, will oversee the global social media strategy for the company’s seven hotel brands, said Charles Yap, IHG’s director of global brand communications, via email. Zaaz is working with IHG’s InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites chains.
“Zaaz demonstrated a clear understanding of our brand-specific and brand-focused social media engagement needs,” he said. “Their strengths also complement those of IHG brand social media [marketers] well.”
There is no outgoing agency, Yap said.
Atchison said the agency will use its analytics capabilities to measure consumer conversations about IHG’s brands and use those insights to develop the company’s social media strategy. Zaaz will communicate that analysis to IHG’s other digital agencies to inform the company’s “overall vision and strategy,” as well as to determine what teams perform which duties, he said.
A “half-dozen” Zaaz employees are working on the account, Atchison said, but that number will grow as the firm moves past the strategy phase. He said the agency’s first work for IHG will debut by the end of July.
Zaaz’s WPP Group sister agency Mindshare is IHG’s media agency. Zaaz clients include Microsoft Corp., Alaska Airlines and Fortune magazine.
