Holiday Inn Express Berry Farms
- Client
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Franklin, Berry FarmsDirect client
- Year
- 2020 and 2026
- Role
- Creative Direction, Cinematography, Photography, Aerial Pilot, Editor
Overview
In 2020, a Franklin, Tennessee chamber of commerce held a ribbon cutting for this hotel's grand opening. I asked the general manager and the owner if I could film it by drone, and volunteered. I also shot the rest of the hotel and cut it into a short video, which I delivered at no charge. They put it on the lobby TV on a loop. Six years later, with Citadel focused on premium hospitality and travel, I reached back out and found the video still playing in the lobby. The team offered to help with my industry research and invited me back to shoot the rooms and amenities in video and photography.
The challenge
Anything that does not meet IHG's brand standards cannot go on the hotel's website. Beautiful work that misses the standards is work the hotel cannot use.
Creative approach
I made learning IHG's brand standards part of the job. I studied the technical requirements, then decided how to capture each room to hold my own quality bar and meet theirs the first time through.
I turned that research and the shoot into a field guide and checklist that any shooter at my company can follow.
I also started from the hotel's marketing. Group sales and conference room bookings are a core business, so I made animated GIFs that sit directly inside an email and show a group what they are booking, with motion like a video and no click to a separate page.
Reducing friction is the number one thing you can do to help a sale happen.
Call sheet and field guide
Call sheet and IHG field guide
The call sheet for the 8 October 2026 shoot, with my IHG standards field guide as its appendix.
Names and phone numbers redacted.
Open the full PDF (5 pages)What I personally owned
- Volunteered to film the hotel's 2020 grand opening ribbon cutting by drone
- Creative strategy built around the hotel's group sales
- Video and photography of the rooms and amenities
- Animated GIFs for group sales emails
- A field guide and checklist for meeting IHG brand standards
Production and logistics
- 2026 shoot
- Rooms and amenities, video and photography on one twilight shoot
- Next
- A second shoot is planned for the pool, fire feature, parking garage and other amenities
- Formats
- Hero film, lobby version, animated GIFs for email, photography
Deliverables
- Hero film for the hotel website
- Alternate version for the lobby screen
- Photography of the rooms and amenities
- Animated GIFs for group sales emails
- Field guide for meeting IHG brand standards
Outcome
- Six years after delivery, the 2020 video was still playing on the lobby TV.
- Photographs from this work appear in the hotel's photo gallery on IHG.com.
- The work continues with a second shoot of the pool, fire feature, parking garage and other amenities.
Credits
- Relationship
- Direct client
- Client
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Franklin, Berry Farms
- Creative direction, cinematography, photography, aerial, edit
- Kyle Redstone, Citadel Creative Studios
Unpaid work. The 2020 ribbon cutting was a volunteer project and the 2026 shoot is a free case study.