Bangkok--11 Sep--The Peninsula Bangkok
The Peninsula Hotels’ new advertising campaignshowcases hotels and destinations in a glamorous new light
The Peninsula Hotels today introduces “Peninsula Moments”, a new, global brand campaign using video and photography to demonstrate how The Peninsula Hotels brings the very best and unique aspects of each destination to its guests with style, sophistication and elegance. Moments and memories to remember, reflecting an authentic sense of destination, are brought to life by the stunning architecture, thoughtful design, local insight and the genuine desire of Peninsula staff to showcase the very best of their cities.
Conceived and developed in house, the creative brief and aim is to showcase the magic that The Peninsula brings to its guests with photography, video and going “behind the scenes” — in short, each image and scene tell a story.
The Peninsula Hotels’ previous campaign, “Portraits of Peninsula” shot in black and white by celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz, showcased staff going about their daily tasks to create the Peninsula experience, while the new “Peninsula Moments” campaign features the special memories created by staff members. Shot in colour, it encompasses iconic elements of the hotels and their destinations, with the compelling images making the viewer stop, look and reflect.
“As one of the world’s oldest hotel groups, Peninsula icons throughout our hotels showcase the brand’s heritage, personal service and continued commitment to inspire, surprise and delight, and these new images and videos capture this spirit perfectly”, says Peter C. Borer, Chief Operating Officer.
The Peninsula Moments images are shot by photo-journalist and portrait photographer Russel
Wong, a Singapore-based photographer known for his portraits of celebrities ranging from Jacky Chan and Michelle Yeoh to Tom Cruise, together with his work in Hollywood as a stills photographer for motion pictures such as Underworld, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and The House of Flying Daggers.
“I wanted to be able to capture specific moments that are unique to each Peninsula property and at the same time be able to show some of the people and aspects of service that make The Peninsula Hotels tick. I wanted it to appear very narrative, almost like scenes from a movie,” says Wong. “I tried to inject a romantic notion into the overall campaign, and hopefully it’s all uniquely Peninsula.”
The stills photography is complemented with a series of short video vignettes in various formats, with one video per destination released month by month on various digital marketing platforms. The creative direction is stylised and dynamic, evoking a sense of destination and luxury, driving aspiration and inspiring the viewer to see the destination as they have never done before, through scenery and music. Produced by Ridley Scott Associates, the videos are directed by Jean-Claude Thibaut and Antony Crook, whose previous work includes videos for Louis Vuitton, Herm?s and Boss.
“My main objective was to amaze the audience with real stories and authentic moments to capture the overall magic of The Peninsula Hotels, fuelled by the staff’s genuine desire to inspire, both on and off each hotel property, with their unique approach to their work giving an original view on each city, “says Jean-Claude Thibaut. “My approach was simple — documentary style with particular emphasis on the photography, inspired by the Italian Neorealist movement in cinema with non-professional actors — the staff of each individual hotel — and filming on location without set decoration. Overall I’ve tried to introduce a more human quality to luxury, with more human behaviour such as humour or scenes from daily life to my films, while paying strong attention to the photography and the creation of beautiful images”.
A “behind the scenes” shoot for both still and video photography comprises the story behind each shot and scene. Used across a variety of media and channels, “The Making of Peninsula Moments” affords deeper engagement with guests and prospects, more effective story telling through various tools (photos, video, interviews, facts and figures) and really highlights what makes Peninsula unique.
Videos and images are available online at www.peninsula.com/moments
PENINSULA MOMENTS — THE CREATIVE TEAM
Short Film Series :
Jean-Claude Thibaut, RSA Films
Jean-Claude Thibaut’s first foray into film directing was with much-acclaimed experimental shorts, featuring soundtracks by Philippe Cohen-Solal of multinational musical group Gotan Project. After these creative successes the French filmmaker was approached by Armani to shoot a fragrance commercial. Other prestigious luxury brands followed, with Thibaut directing film and photography campaigns for Dior and Louis Vuitton, among others.
As a director, Thibaut explores and defines his particular fascination with women, and his wider response to people, places, history and situations. His style embraces the glamour and twist seen in his portraits of the beautiful, the talented and the notorious, like Naomi Campbell, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sophie Marceau, Kristen Davis, Ethan Peck, Julian Perretta and others.
Thibaut purposefully forces his viewers to feel and not passively observe his work. In addition to beauty and fashion, the main source of inspiration for Thibaut’s imagery is contemporary pop music, cinema and international youth culture.
Antony Crook, RSA Films
Antony Crook began his career as a photographer before recently taking on the challenge of the moving image.
The New York- and London-based British photographer and filmmaker has had his still work included in numerous public and private collections, as well as for commercial clients Nike, Orange, Microsoft, British Vogue, Interview, The New York Times and i-D — giving him the opportunity to work with some of the world’s iconic figures in music, art and fashion, including David Bryne, Tim Burton, David Hockney and Malcom Maclaren.
Crook’s stills work has been described as “gentle, filled with a quiet sense of stillness. It’s the kind of quietness that breathes a sense of wonderment and mystery”. This same style has served him well crossing over into moving image.
Still Images :
Russel Wong
Singaporean photographer Russel Wong is noted for his images of celebrities — from movie stars to rock musicians, sports personalities, politicians and fashion gurus — but his varied portfolio also includes still-lifes, nudes, landscapes and conceptual pieces. He is also branching out into the filmmaking arena.
Wong’s first break came when at 19 he photographed runner Sebastian Coe for the cover of Track & Field News. A student at the University of Oregon in the United States at the time, Wong was also carrying out work for Nike, photographing athletes such as Carl Lewis, Mary Decker and John McEnroe.
Los Angeles Times Magazine assigned Wong to photograph fashion spreads of Hollywood celebrities. Since then, his photographs have featured Joan Chen, Isabella Rossellini, Oliver Stone, Paloma Picasso, Michael Jackson, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Glenn Close, David Lynch, Bruce Willis and Jackie Chan.
In the film world, Wong has photographed on the sets of such motion pictures as Zhang Yimou’s “House of Flying Daggers” and Ang Lee’s “Lust Caution”. Russel recently attended the prestigious New York University Film Program and plans to direct his first feature film.
Visit The Peninsula Hotels’ new Media Room on www.peninsula.com/mediaroom — press releases, images, broadcast quality video, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and more.