Holiday Inn Express by IHG has teamed up with earned-first agency Enthral to turn one of its guest benefits – a free hot breakfast – into a new sleep experience with the launch of the world’s first Breakfast Pillow.
The custom pillow with hidden speakers that lets guests fall asleep to real breakfast sounds, from sizzling bacon to coffee being poured.
The result is an integrated campaign brought to life through an earned, influencer, owned, and paid media strategy across Australia and New Zealand, supported by a campaign landing page, brand creative video, and the limited-edition Breakfast Pillow itself as the hero experience.
Phase one kicked off with research commissioned by Holiday Inn Express found that 72 per cent of Aussies find breakfast sounds comforting or relaxing when travelling, while 80 per cent say familiar breakfast sounds help them feel calm when away from home. At the same time, 87 per cent rely on something to help them fall asleep in hotels, with 26 per cent turning to background noise to drift off.
The insight provided the creative springboard for a playful new take on the brand’s breakfast proposition and the next stage of the campaign.
The newly launched Breakfast Pillow is a custom-designed pillow with hidden speakers that transforms the sounds of a Holiday Inn Express breakfast service into calming white noise.
The pillow features four breakfast-inspired soundtracks, created using real recordings from a Holiday Inn Express breakfast service, including coffee beans being poured, sizzling bacon, juice being poured and breakfast buffet ambience. Guests can select their preferred soundtrack and playback duration using controls built into the pillow.
The Breakfast Pillow builds on the success of Holiday Inn Express’ Breakfast Alarm Clock, launched in 2025, which similarly found an unexpected way to bring the brand’s free breakfast proposition to life by helping guests wake up to the scents of breakfast. The innovation generated global attention, including an appearance for the scented alarm clocks on The Drew Barrymore Show.
Dean Jones, vice president of commercial, East Asia & Pacific at IHG Hotels & Resorts, said: “Breakfast is an incredibly valuable brand asset for Holiday Inn Express, but the challenge is keeping something so familiar feeling fresh.
“The Breakfast Pillow was designed to do exactly that – take an experience our guests already associate with the brand and turn it into something surprising, playful and inherently talkable. By grounding the idea in a culturally relevant consumer insight, PR gave us a way to turn an everyday brand strength into a story that could travel well beyond our hotels.”
Cameron Smith, Enthral founder and managing director, said: “This really was the dream brief, and for someone who travels frequently, a free breakfast really is the ultimate perk. Holiday Inn Express and IHG have been great partners who have embraced our creative thinking with ideas that captivate and drive earned attention. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love bacon?”
