Results and Effectiveness

We received over 2,000 email responses containing messages of goodwill from our colleagues and valued guests around the world. Pictures and videos of the event were shared on social media channels, talked about in local media and by prominent local bloggers, and 200 special guests and staff on the Bosphorus were treated to an evening they will never forget.

Creative Execution

The celebration witnessed by 200 guests and staff on the Bosphorus has been magnified to spread the magical experience of the event to the world. An emotively crafted short video was at the heart of the distribution plan: eDMs to guests and trade partners carried links to the video; it was showcased through seeding on targeted websites in Europe, Middle East & Asia; Shangri-La’s Facebook, Youtube, Weibo & Youku channels posted the film and it was of course given pride of place on Shangri-La.com.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Shangri-La Istanbul is only the second location in Europe for the brand, after Paris. The challenge was not only to launch the hotel but to do so in a way which strongly conveyed the essence of the brand, with hospitality from its heart, in a region where it is not well-known. The answer lay in the map of the world: Istanbul is a city straddling Asia and Europe and Shangri-La is a brand reaching out from one continent to the other: a heartland in the East and a new frontier in the West. Lanterns represented a rich symbol of oriental celebration. Illuminating them with messages of goodwill from staff and guests around the world showed the brand’s heart. Floating them from the Asian side of the Bosphorus to the hotel on the European side was a beautiful metaphor for the journey the brand was making.