Draft FCB secures 2.1m luxury hotel group brief

Luxury hotel group Dorchester Collection has appointed Draft FCB as its first advertising agency ahead of a celebrity-led campaign later this year.

Draft won the £2.1m account after a three-way pitch against two undisclosed agencies. It has also appointed Initiative to handle media planning and buying.

Dorchester Collection is a portfolio of five luxury hotels – The Dorchester in London, The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, Le Meurice and the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris and the Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan. All five are owned by the Brunei Investment Agency.

Formed in 1996 as Dorchester Group, it rebranded in late 2006 as Dorchester Collection to reflect the individuality of the hotels.

Each of the hotels will continue to market itself independently, but the decision to hire an agency for the parent company was taken by marketing director Helen Smith, who joined Dorchester Collection last year.

Draft FCB is working on a press campaign, which is due to break later this year and will run in Condé Nast titles and the Economist. The aim is to position the Dorchester Collection as a brand in its own right and to promote the different hotels.

Enda McCarthy, managing director of Draft FCB, says the campaign is likely to be celebrity led and there will be different executions for each of the hotels.

He says: “The hotels are all iconic brands in their own right and Dorchester Collection is a high-end brand that has real cachet. We are looking at the character of each of the hotels and the work is likely to feature celebrities.”