The Campaign

Fans are known to party and drink hard throughout the Sevens festivities, so quite a few of them struggle to wake up early in time for the following day’s rugby. We partnered with Sebastien Chabal, a rugby icon in his own right to bring to life how Marriott allows all our fans to travel brilliantly. In our films, Sebastien wakes a hotel guest up by crashing through a wall, he teaches him how to eat local, and gives the luck hotel guest unique ‘beard massage’ to help him recover from his Sevens hangover. While renowned as the ‘Caveman’ and for his aggressive playing style, we paired Sebastien’s gentle side as a contrast for some truly entertaining spots.

Creative Execution

On the ground activations in prime Hong Kong high-traffic areas leading up to the big event, as well as in-stadium events on the day got fans spending precious time with the Marriott brand in fun and unique ways. Pop up food stalls showcasing yummy, local cuisine, a “cash grab” for awesome prizes and an online rugby game kept fans wanting more and more. Paid social media, plus earned (PR) and owned channels (Marriott Hotels & Marriott Rewards social channels, and youtube leveraged retargeting data to ensure we were reaching our very innovative and creative target audience throughout their online journey. Media ran from 13th March for 5 weeks with a budget of just under $60k USD.

Our campaign results were very positive, and surpassed our going in goals; • Campaign drove 265,826+ video views and 2500+ loyalty program enrollments. • We outperformed the primary video goal by 96% with CPV of $0.16 . The most positive result was the fan engagement over the tournament when Sebastien’s rendition of “Hey Baby” played in stadium. Everyone got up to sing and dance with Sebastien, and you could over-hear people saying “how did they get him to do that?! Amazing!” We also got picked up in industry, as well as local and international press (in both Hong Kong and France (Sebastien’s home town). Safe to say we stood out from the crowed space, on a shoe string budget.

As part of our Hong Kong Rugby Sevens campaign for Marriott Hotels, we created three online films and music video that aired on the in-stadium big screen during the three day sporting event. Fans could see Sebastien Chabal crashing through a wall, giving a beard massage and singing the Rugby Sevens anthem in all its glory. The films were also shared on and across owned social channels before, during, and after the Rugby Sevens tournament.

Marriott Hotels is no longer just the typical business hotel that people think it is. We needed to show Sevens fans the modern experience of Marriott, and the ingenious ways it helps people to travel brilliantly, - and stay brilliant during the Sevens. We wanted them to get to know the brand in a different, modern light, and ultimately think of Marriott for their next trip.