It is inescapable every time you open your social feed. The secret envy after seeing your friends post their amazing vacation pics. The side-eye feeling when you know they’re just out for likes, but you double-tap it anyway. For the first time, Hotels.com is giving this ubiquitous but unspoken behavior a name and calling it what it is–the “hate-like.” In a new campaign, “Be there. Do that. Get Rewarded.,” launching next week in the U.S. and U.K., Hotels.com pokes fun at this universal truth and offers people a solution to their travel envy.
The “Be there. Do that. Get Rewarded” TV spots include “Romance” in which a woman soaking in a bathtub looks longingly at a couple’s romantic getaway pic on her cellphone–the camera then revealing that her significant other, her romantic interest, is nearby sitting on the toilet. Then another player enters the bathroom–Captain Obvious who comes to the rescue, pointing out the painfully obvious reasons why they hate-like their friends’ vacation posts and reminding them that Hotels.com can help them book brag-worthy trips of their own.
JJ Adler of m ss ng p eces directed “Romance” as well as other spots in this campaign from agency Crispin Porter+Bogusky (CP+B).
Credits
Client Hotels.com Agency CP+B Alex Bogusky, chief creative engineer; Johan Eghammer, executive creative director; Quinn Katherman, creative director; Ryan Contillo, Donny Brunner, Mike Motch, Austin Mankey, associate creative directors; David Carr, Dana Buckhorn, copywriters; Martins Miller, Steph Langan, art directors; Adam Skalecki, co-lead of design; Karin Schwartz, designer; Corey Blade, sr. studio designer; Bryan Sweeney, director of integrated production; Sloan Schroeder, group executive producer; Dan Corken, group executive interactive producer; Mimi McCormick, interactive producer; Lisa Lee, group executive art producer; Rosie Ollero, sr. art producer; Antoinette Rodriguez, art producer; Daniel Arnone, assistant producer; Jeffery Garland, content creator/DP; Kelly Mertesdorf, strategy director; Katie Sherman, sr. strategist. Production m ss ng p eces JJ Adler, director; Damien Acevedo, cinematographer; Ari Kuschnir, managing partner/founder; Kate Oppenheim, Brian Latt, managing partners; Dave Saltzman, exec producer/partner; Edward Grann, exec producer; Rebecca Davis, head of production; Greg Jones, producer. Finishing/Color MPC Ricky Gausis, colorist; Claus Hansen, Flame artist; Robert Owens, managing director; Karena Ajamian, producer. Editorial Cosmo Street Lawrence Young, editor; Kacie Gomez, producer; Marie Mangahas, head of production. Audio Post Lime Susie Boyajan, exec producer; Matt Miller, mixer.
Dancer turned director Ezra Hurwitz collaborates with Ailey II artistic director Francesca Harper, featuring movement as museum pieces against the Whitney Museum of American Art’s striking architecture for this short film titled Echoes of Ailey. Commissioned to celebrate “Edges of Ailey” at the Whitney Museum, the film accompanies the first large-scale exhibition on the life and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey. “Edges of Ailey” is currently on view at the Whitney until February 9.
Animating iconic images from Alvin Ailey’s 20th-century repertory, the film expands on the exhibition by constructing a visual narrative around his storytelling and influences. Set to Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place,” dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School capture the emotional core of the company’s history--physically situating Ailey’s masterworks amongst the Whitney’s collection.
“As a child, my grandmother took me to Ailey’s Revelations once a year,” said Hurwitz. “No matter how often I saw it, the work captivated me. There isn’t one specific thing I hope viewers take away from the film--or one way to interpret its images. It’s meant to be an abstract work, like Ailey’s creations.”
Turning to his archive, Hurwitz and Harper illuminate key sequences symbolic of Ailey’s profound legacy, closing on an uninterrupted sequence from "I’ve Been Buked," the opening movement of Ailey’s legendary "Revelations." Carrying a watershed moment back to its own medium, Echoes of Ailey captures the multigenerational impact of Ailey’s work, continued by his organization. The short film first premiered on Nowness.