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Howard Johnson had “A great name to live up to” per its current campaign strategy, but next year will take a step beyond simply building awareness with the new tag, “A better quality of life on the road” and a partnership with Crayola Kids.

Two special effects-rich TV spots from Christy MacDougall Mitchell, New York, seek to change perceptions about the brand by positioning the mid-market lodger as the standard bearer of quality.

The ads–one targeted to leisure travelers, the other to road warriors–show a so-called Howard Johnson’s “book of quality” against a stark white background with hands reaching into the pages to pull out amenities like a coffee maker and 25-inch color TV and its Crayola-branded Fun Pack for kids.

The leisure spot highlights the Kids Go HoJo program by showing a child running toward the book, jumping into a page and into a pool, with water splashing over the edge. The business traveler execution touts high-speed Internet access, data ports and the SuperMiles loyalty program through a laptop and an airline ticket morphing out of the book.

A voiceover in both spots mentions that HoJo “wrote the book” on quality standards and that all properties are graded three times a year on how well they meet specific requirements. The ads will air in March through summer on the Today Show and on cable sports and news programming. Additional support will continue throughout the year in USA Today, Family Fun, Radio Disney and a Disney-related Web site, (family com).

Ads will account for $5 million of HoJo’s $12 million marketing budget next year. Measured media spending was $4.3 million last year and $3.6 million through July per Competitive Media Reporting.

While the Cendant brand arguably is an American classic with high recognition, consumers perception of the hospitality chain might be three to four years old–back in the days when the company was racing to be a 1,000-property chain and took its eye off quality.

Mary Mahoney now president/CEO, purged more than 200 underperforming properties from the stable starting in 1995 and implemented training programs, customer service initiatives and new products like Home Office Rooms with bigger desks and better lighting, and Comforts of Home (in-room coffee maker, alarm clock and free newspapers) to get back on track. HoJo currently has more than 500 properties.