Sir Lenny Henry Returns for Premier Inn's Latest Brand Platform Urging You to 'Rest Easy'

 Premier Inn is revealing the launch of its new brand platform – Rest Easy – in its first fully integrated campaign since appointing Leo Burnett as its advertising partner in 2020.

London-based Leo Burnett was appointed to handle all aspects of the Premier Inn brand, from above the line advertising to activation.

Excitingly, Rest Easy will see Sir Lenny Henry make a return to ad breaks as the voice of the brand following a several-year hiatus, as part of a wide-ranging mission to reconnect the UK’s biggest hotel company with the great British public - comprising leisure and business travellers alike.

The campaign is significant not just through virtue of the fact it marks a major return to brand-building advertising for Premier Inn, which hasn’t been on TV screens for three-and-a-half years. It also marks major investment and signifies confidence at a time when many are looking at ways to cut spending.

Rest Easy launches as the business prepares to fully re-open Premier Inn hotels to all guests – offering the brand prime-time visibility at a crucial pre-summer booking moment as well as an exciting internal rallying cry for its 30,000-strong team members as they gear up for re-opening.

As the public begins to dust their suitcases off ahead of a predicted summer staycation boom, Rest Easy doubles down on what sets Premier Inn apart as a beacon of comfort and certainty, such as its choice of locations, suite of flexible booking rates, famously comfortable king size beds and the option of a delicious cooked breakfast where kids eat free.

To bring the concept of ‘Rest Easy’ to life, Leo Burnett looked to highlight the emotional benefit of the true comfort guests get from Premier Inn by tapping into humorous insights and moments we can all relate to like pressure selling tactics when booking a hotel on aggregator sites or the uncertainty when plans are forced  to change -  something everyone has been familiar with this year.

At the centre of the campaign - which also covers OOH, social, print and radio - is a 60 second TV spot, shot in a COVID-secure environment in-between lockdowns.

Directed by Partizan's Ally Pankiw, who is famed for her role as a writer on global TV hit ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and for directing Netflix’s ‘Feel Good’, it tells a range of character stories as they journey from booking to bed. In keeping with the down-to-earth tone of the campaign, some real-life team members star on the screen.

Both the TV and radio ads are narrated by the well-loved voice of the returning Sir Lenny Henry, while the print, social and out-of-home elements build on the character stories and showcase more specific moments and occasions, showing how Premier Inn customers can rest easy. 

Along with the traditional communication elements of the campaign, Leo Burnett and Premier Inn’s internal design team undertook a full revamp of the Premier Inn visual identity. This ranges from the ‘Rest Easy’ sign-off, which was designed by world-renowned typographer Alison Carmichael, to the bold new expressive type principles that run across the whole campaign to humanise and dial up the personality of the brand across every customer interaction.

Tamara Strauss, Global Customer Director, Premier Inn said: “We all love to get away and it’s safe to say that for many people this year the prospect of a holiday can’t come a moment too soon. But a trip away often goes hand-in-hand with a feeling of uncertainty - a hotel lottery with all the middlemen, fake reviews - the risk that plans may change and of taking a punt.  Understandably today, these concerns have never been truer which is why trust has risen up people’s agendas. At Premier Inn, we don’t just offer a comfy bed for a great price – we enshrine rest easy every step of the way, including through our enhanced CleanProtect hygiene regime, to help guests stay with confidence and the warm welcome from our teams. From the moment you book, to the moment your head hits our fluffy pillow, we provide comfort everyone can count on - a feeling of certainty and knowing you can rest easy when you choose to stay with us.”

Chaka Sobhani, CCO at Leo Burnett, said: “Hundreds of thousands of different people pass through Premier Inn’s doors each year, some for leisure, some for business. But despite each customer’s differences, they all come for the same thing: that familiar aaaah feeling. Affordable, dependable and quality-focused, Premier Inn is any creative’s dream, a brand truly for the many not the few and with limitless opportunities for fame.”

Media agency UM is handling all media planning and buying for Premier Inn; leveraging the power of agile planning and people-first analytics to target custom audiences across offline and online channels. The strategic and data-driven plans are designed to maximise growth and futureproof the business, activating content and connections along the full consumer journey.

Golin remain Premier Inn’s retained PR agency. The campaign will run initially for twelve months after which Rest Easy will continue indefinitely.