Goals: Clearly state your marketing goals. What did you strive to achieve using this piece or program?
After undergoing a $2.5B renovation, we opened the re-imagined Fairmont Century Plaza during Covid-19 and, as a result, we were unable celebrate it with a large-scale community and media event. Leveraging the opportunity to host a Fairmont Beyond Limits event to drive buzz about the re-opening, over President’s Day Weekend 2023, we executed The Vertical Stage, a public art piece of astonishing proportions that turned the concept of performance art quite literally on its side. We transformed our iconic facade into an unforgettable 16-story vertical stage for aerial dance artists BANDALOOP hosting four performances 25 minutes in length, set to original score and live music.
We also engaged with our community through this meaningful piece of public art during the excitement of LA Frieze week and used this program as a vehicle to drive the following marketing goals:
• Continue to position Fairmont Century Plaza as a Los Angeles icon and community gathering place
• Differentiate ourselves from our competition with another unique concept which locals and guests cannot find at other Los Angeles luxury
hotels
• Drive awareness of and traffic to our hotel and outlets by garnering 50 million impressions
• Drive 7500 click-throughs to our hotel microsite
• Build our distinctive narrative and storytelling as the home for entertainment, art and showmanship
• Enhance our reputation with key stakeholders including our neighbors, clients, community members and more
• Utilize this as vehicle to again reach out to press and influencers for additional coverage of the hotel and its outlets including Fairmont Spa
as a Forbes Five-Star 2023 award winner and more
• Drive brand awareness through significant targeted digital outreach (paid, shared, earned, influencer)
• Generate further awareness of the Fairmont brand in Southern California, particularly as our hotel grand opened under the Fairmont brand in
October 2021.
Results: Which of your original goals did you achieve and how? How did you measure the effectiveness of the piece or campaign? Entrants should provide quantifiable results of their tactics or campaigns. (for example, click through rates or ad equivalency)
We met and exceeded nearly all of our original marketing goals. The Vertical Stage truly resonated with both our in-house guests, media, influencers, locals and digital audiences. We achieved these goals through 360 marketing which included the following:
• Employed teaser and 4-week campaigns using stunning photography and video
• Media preview with (10) top tier publications + media alert to hyper-local and domestic and international outlets
• Influencer marketing with (10) key micro-influencers. Included pre-promotion and day-of stories, reels and posts using a trackable ticket
code
• Paid buys with LA Times and Secret LA with targeted admail, newsletter coverage, paid social and IG stories
• Hyper-local outreach to Beverly Hills and Century City chambers, Arts Council, local Councilmember office, Los Angeles arts and theatre
communities, Century Park, CAA, Westfield Century City and high-wealth residential buildings
• Website and email marketing through Hotel, Fairmont, BANDALOOP and partner channels
• Consistent social media build up with a focus on stories, posts and reels with booking CTA, hashtag and tagging appropriate handles for
additional sharing
• Utilized hotel, Fairmont, BANDALOOP and local partner channels as well as user-generated coverage throughout the week of Vertical Stage
rehearsals
• Outreach to VIP, sales clients, residence, long-stay guests and hotel guests
We measured the effectiveness of the program through attendance, earned media coverage, digital reach, engagement, follower growth and click-throughs on paid digital and shared channels, click-throughs to our website and open rate/click-throughs in our email marketing, as well as guest feedback and ticket revenue.
Return on Investment: How much revenue has the piece or campaign generated and how does this compare to your goal? What was the return on investment?
The Vertical Stage was a resounding success! This program was intended to drive brand awareness and buzz about our hotels’ re-opening after the world had spent over two years in the pandemic. The Vertical Stage showcased the iconic beauty of the hotel with the breathtaking performance of BANDALOOP aerial dancers. Nearly 1,000 guests attended in total, with many of them moved to tears by the beauty of these pieces and who were introduced to the hotel and its outlets for the first time. It also drove awareness around Fairmont's Beyond Limits program.
Additional highlights included:
o 600 million earned media impressions for an AVE of $1.14 million, far exceeding our goal
o Reached nearly 13.5 million people though digital promotion
o 15,000 click throughs to our microsite, fairmontcenturyplaza.com, exceeding our original goal by 200%
o Instagram grew +500 followers in a week
Entry Title
Fairmont Beyond Limits - The Vertical Stage
Division
Public Relations/Communications - Special Event
Category
Public Relations/Communications