Creative Execution

The online game was split into 2 phases. In Play Period 1 between 7 and 23 March, 2 participants with the highest scores were awarded with a pair of entry tickets to Hong Kong Sevens respectively. In Play Period 2 between 24 March and 20 April, 10 participants with the highest scores were awarded with stay vouchers from 5 Marriott Hotels across the region including Fiji, Sydney, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok which also appeared in the game represented by different levels. During the event from 6 to 8 April, we also activated the game at the Marriott Rewards Booth in the Hong Kong Stadium by projecting the browser from iPAD to a large TV screen. Everyone could try (children under 12 years old accompanied by adults) and have fun watching other people playing. The daily highest-scoring player was awarded with hotel stay vouchers sponsored by Marriott International hotels.

The online game reached a total of 486,000+ audience in APAC of which 3,360+ were unique players with 12,200+ times of playing. The Game Ads generated total 9,519 game page landing views, exceeding KPI by 376%. 218 Marriott Rewards enrolments were recorded from the game as well. During the 3 days of the HK7S game, 750+ participants played the Mini Game in the stadium. The brand has gained high awareness across the region and the world, however, there has been a perception that the brand is very much business-focused. The Rugby Sevens was a great opportunity to strengthen the perception and consideration of the brand as preferred hotel choice for leisure travelers. Also a great example of how we are using our brand to connect with people then demonstrate the benefits of our loyalty programs.

The HK Sevens audience was diverse - with locals, expats and foreigners who flew in for the event. For this particular brand engagement, we decided to focus on Hong Kong locals - both English and Cantonese speakers. Through customised targetting on Facebook with an ad, we reached our audience who are: 1) Interested in Rugby, Sports, Game, Marriott Rewards, Marriott Hotels, Technology and Invention 2) Frequent travellers or Frequent international travellers 3) Leisure Travellers or Business Travellers We also partnered with a popular Hong Kong based KOL, HappyMabo to create a game demonstration short video on her YouTube channel to engage Cantonese-speaking locals (video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1NmcTtsFDw). All players were directed to a unique Marriott Rewards enrolment page after the game which was managed by our headquarter and regular weekly reports were shared to track results.