The Hyatt Place hotels and Hyatt House extended-stay brands in the US have found a way to make their latest digital marketing campaign stand out.

The campaign uses three-dimensional (3D) printers to build figurines of respected business travelers who have been nominated by travelers through an internet contest.

Through the 25th of October, people are invited to submit images of inspiring travelers through the brands’ Facebook pages, tagging the nominee’s name along with the hashtags #WhySettle and #Entry.

Hyatt has hired a digital manufacturer, Capture Me, to build Oscar-style statuettes of these road warriors, one layer at a time, from standstone (rather than chiseling, drilling, nailing or otherwise machining them).

The third-party creates 3D figures by using multiple images of a person – front, back, profile, and so forth, because each additional angle provides an additional level of accuracy when designing the physical figurine.

During the process, a design team views the images of the travelers and works on key details. Once this is finished, a designer will produce an optimized digital render to send to the printer to create the final 3D product.

The campaign is using the theme of ancient Roman senators, and so the marble-like statues put the likenesses in the poses of toga-clad people carrying smartphones and toting suitcases.

The printing process works by printing each figurine out of binder material into a bed of gypsum-based powder. Once printing is complete, an even layer of a wax-like sealant is applied over the surface to provide a smoother finish.

From start to finish, each figure takes a few weeks to create. It makes for an unusual marketing spiff.

The contest is open to people in the United States to nominate persons who meet the requirements.

Up to 30 winners will be selected. Each will receive a roughly six-inch-tall likeness, plus a two-night stay at a Hyatt Place or Hyatt House.

To illustrate the concept, Hyatt is featuring a few stories of amazing individuals, such as Morris Robinson, who despite achieving All-American recognition as an offensive lineman in college football at Citidel, was overlooked by the NFL. He’s gone on to have a thriving career as an opera singer.

Ultimately, the campaign is an illustration of how 3D printing, once an exotic technology merely five years ago, can now be affordably used to personalize a travel marketing effort.