Novotel Comes up with the “Best OOO Email Ever” to Help Reduce Envy from People Who Aren’t on Vacation

‘The Best OOO Email Ever’ (Credit: Promotional)

Who’s never felt a twinge of jealousy and the desire to be “out of office,” too, when you get a vacation autoreply? With that in mind, Accor, the world leader in hospitality, and its ad agency, AlmapBBDO, put together an initiative to promote the Novotel brand and its concept of ‘bleisure.’ The result is an unprecedented, lighthearted play on people’s “envy” of their vacationing colleagues, in the form of “The Best OOO Email Ever.”

During the initiative, those dreaded vacation auto replies became coupons to get 20% off stays at Novotel hotels – encouraging recipients to take time off too. All the information you need to participate is on the landing page for ‘The Best OOO Email Ever’. The tool comes up with a personalised away message, inviting the recipient to enjoy a moment of balance between business and pleasure at the finest Novotel destinations.

“The ‘Best OOO Email Ever’ activation is part of a campaign we launched recently for Novotel, which reinforces the brand’s full-service experience, serving both business and leisure travel. We wanted to find a funny, creative way to connect people going on vacation with Novotel-brand hotels, and so we made email auto replies into an advertising space – besides offering a discount on the Novotel network of hotels in the Americas,” said Fernanda Zupo, executive director of marketing for Accor Americas, Premium, Midscale & Economy Division.

"Since everybody wants to be on vacation when they get those ‘out of office’ auto replies, we created this idea to make that feeling a little less depressing, and to make sure that less jealousy and bad vibes are sent in the direction of the people just trying to enjoy their time off,” joked Fernando Duarte, executive creative director at AlmapBBDO.

Everyone who accesses the site will get a discount and a chance to try out the brand’s strategy – making sure they know that with Novotel, balance is the key to success. The communications and promotional strategy also includes content on social media and the brand’s digital channels, generating even more reach and impact.