Ed Valle, Choice Hotels’ new chief marketing strategist, has barely had enough time to catch his breath. Since his hiring four weeks ago, he’s been on the road attending the company’s fall regional meetings. He’s been listening, taking notes and learning as much as he can. Most recently the vice president of marketing for Panera Bread Company, Valle comes to the lodging world after a lifetime in the food industry. 

At Panera, Valle oversaw all corporate and franchise marketing efforts for the $2-billion retail restaurant franchisor and chain. Before that, he worked at Subway and Dunkin Donuts in marketing roles. Now he’ll be tasked with leading Choice’s advertising, promotion and strategic marketing activities, as well as the growing Choice Privileges rewards program. He reports to Chris Malone, chief marketing officer.

 Valle recently took some time to chat about his new position and the unique perspective he brings coming from a different industry.

What is the biggest difference between the food service industry and lodging?

I’ve always wondered about marketing in this world. In this world consumers spend a lot of time with the product, unlike at Dunkin Donuts, where they spend 11 seconds, or the 30-45 minutes at Panera. In this you come back to the room after working and you’re there a while. And maybe for multiple nights. There are a lot of opportunities to message your consumers. A lot of things you can put in play.

Are there similarities in the two industries?

The first big one is both are franchised. In order to be successful and get to your guests you have to collaborate with franchisees. You have to make sure they’re on board. The second similarity is the customer. At the end of the day you have to deliver a great program, the touch points have to be all about your brand. You need to know your customer, their needs and what motivates them.

What have you been doing in your first month with Choice?

There’s a total immersion going on right now. I’ve been sitting back and listening and listening and listening. And taking a lot of notes. I always knew they had great brand names, but what I’m learning since joining is the organization is very passionate around those brands and so are the franchisees. They’ve got great brand names with motivated, passionate people.

How can you take advantage of those strong brands?

They have a very attractive portfolio. I’m just getting into the differentiation and positioning, but there’s a great opportunity with brand positioning to capture consumers on different occasions. As the guy traveling with his family on vacation, we have the opportunity to capture you as a leisure traveler. But then when you come here to meet with executives, I capture you as a business traveler. We have brands for both. We play in the economy and midscale tiers and all the way to Cambria Suites as an upscale brand. That gives me the ability with portfolio management to understand all your occasions.

So where do you start now?

I absolutely love to understand whom our consumers are inside and out and then let the games begin from there. Once we understand that and our positioning, then we can express that through every one of our touch points, whether it be advertising, promotions or wherever. The idea of that functioning together and getting them integrated and firing off the line at once, that’s the power of integrated marketing. 

What’s the best way to use social media?

I think there’s a rush by many companies to use it for advertising. Let’s be honest, the consumer owns that channel. That’s the bottom line. You get to participate in the consumer discussion; you can shape it in an honest and real way. Something that is important is to try not to look overly like an advertiser. You can correct untruths, straighten out negative situations and there’s a role for it around promotions, but it has to be done in a genuine and sincere way. You don’t want to be a blatant advertiser.

How do you approach marketing during these challenging times?

We’re in a recession and the lodging industry has taken a heavy hit. But when in tough times, you really find out how good you are. You’ll find people who just cut spending and contact with consumers. You see people who will if possible increase spending and then some people will hold spending, but become more effective and creative with their dollars spent. These times force you to look more closely at what your message is and how you’re getting it out. It will be interesting to see how it plays out in this industry. I can make that call in the food industry, but I’m only in week four here.