Mar 25, 2019

HMSHost Recognized as a Leader in Marketing and Social Media Innovation

Moodie Davitt Report and Adrian Awards honor HMSHost for innovative marketing campaigns; PRWeek recognizes HMSHost marketing & communications leader

BETHESDA, MD. (March 25, 2019) – Global restaurateur HMSHost was recognized as a leader in marketing and digital innovation after receiving top honors by The Moodies, as well as the Adrian Awards. Among the awards, HMSHost’s Eat Well. Travel Further., Food Fight for Veterans, and Channel Your Inner Chef campaigns and experiences were recognized.

“While HMSHost is the industry leader in culinary innovation, we're also honored that our creative and authentic marketing efforts to enhance travelers’ experiences are recognized by these awards,” said HMSHost Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Yablun. “We’re grateful to our airport partners for joining with us to bring these unique and exciting experiences to travelers in only a way HMSHost can deliver.”

The Moodies recognize best practices in social, digital media and marketing among global airports and their commercial partners in retail and food & beverage. HMSHost’s Eat Well. Travel Further. was honored by The Moodies as the winner for the Best Key Opinion Leaders Campaign within the Food & Beverage category. Eat Well. Travel Further. is a new wellness initiative created to highlight HMSHost’s commitment to continuously enhance offerings that align with the health-conscious traveler by offering new and healthful ingredients, products and flavors to fuel their journey. To promote Eat Well. Travel Further., HMSHost partnered with key social media influencers in the wellness and travel sphere to further raise awareness about the health-forward offerings including bento boxes themed around current lifestyle eating habits such as the Paleo and Protein Lunch Boxes. Given the tremendous feedback by travelers and airports, Eat Well. Travel Further. is expanding to new airports, along with additional health-forward offerings later this year.

The Moodies also recognized HMSHost’s Food Fight for Veterans for Best Corporate Social Responsibility campaign. Food Fight for Veterans set out to show gratitude for the dedication of our veterans and active-duty military who serve our country every day. The campaign included the debut of the exclusive Budweiser BBQ Cheddar Burger created by an HMSHost chef, who is a military veteran himself. The burger debuted at nearly 50 HMSHost-operated airport restaurants across the U.S. just for November, with proceeds benefiting military charities. As part of the HMSHost Food Fight for Veterans campaign, HMSHost also held special Honor Our American Heroes events at select U.S. airports, inviting travelers to write their messages of gratitude for veterans, which were then compiled and shared with United Service Organizations airport lounges for service members to enjoy.

Additionally, The Moodies awarded HMSHost’s Channel Your Inner Chef as Best Competition. Channel Your Inner Chef was also recently honored for best Experiential Advertising Campaign with a Gold Adrian Award, the largest and most prestigious global travel marketing competition. The Adrian Awards recognize hospitality brands and agencies for creativity and innovation in advertising, digital marketing, and public relations. Channel Your Inner Chef is a one of a kind, multi-phase culinary competition that launched at Chicago O’Hare International Airport in 2014 as the first live cooking competition to take place in an airport. Channel Your Inner Chef, hosted by global restaurateur HMSHost in partnership with the Chicago Department of Aviation, spotlights the spirit of culinary innovation and talent in airport restaurants throughout North America and celebrates HMSHost’s sponsorship of the 2019 James Beard Awards. This year, HMSHost celebrates the fifth annual Channel Your Inner Chef at Chicago O’Hare on March 26.

Further emphasizing the company’s leading position in marketing and communications, HMSHost’s Vice President of Marketing & Communications Atousa Ghoreichi was named by the world's leading Public Relations publication, PRWeek to its Women to Watch 2019 list of trailblazing women who are shaping the future of the communications industry. PRWeek noted that with Atousa “at the helm, HMSHost’s PR and comms have become a benchmark for the industry,” resulting in “award-winning, public-facing campaigns that raise the bar.”