On a summer afternoon the fig films team met with the GM of The Sheraton Hotel and Towers to discuss a project; an HR message film. The Starwood Journey is an internal HR campaign that communicates to all the employees the mission of the company; presented as text on a large foam core board. This was what the fig team was presented, a text foam core board to breathe life into. The fig films team took the messaging and gave it life through artful storytelling, photography and photomation; celebrating the Starwood employees that were living the journey.

Two weeks, 14 locations, 8,000 photos, endless pots of coffee and a good sense of humor later. The team put together an HR branding film that is now THE example for all Starwood hotels worldwide.

Why does it work?

• A. Great documentary style storytelling created with honesty and relationship.

• B. The affirmation of making an employee a rock star creates good will that spreads- then so does the message.

• C. If you were to meet each person working at these hotels, you would find them as you do in the film, in the spaces they work.

It sounds simple to do- it’s not. The storytelling for The Starwood Journey generated over 7 hours of audio interviews. The fig films team interviews 14 people for the project. Each of the 14 interviews were geared toward each persons story within the organization. Nothing is scripted. The team asks questions and moves the interviews toward what emerges with each person- so when the final story is told, it feels real- because it is.

fig films team

producer- james gustin. producer- andrew ettenofer. director/editor – melissa martens. director of photography- tim musho. interns- mike hyzy, kelly reed.