Situation:

We were tasked by Marriott International to expand their business amongst leisure travelers and drive membership signup for their Marriott Rewards loyalty program. However, young travelers perceive Marriott International as a business travel brand. Thus, it is crucial for Marriott Rewards to engage audience in a relatable manner to recruit younger leisure travelers.

Riding on the trending topic of 2018 FIFA World Cup in APAC, we figured out a way to tap into this global event and communicate with its audience without being an official sponsor.

Brief:

Use Marriott Rewards’ new APAC social channels to position itself as a Destination Travel brand, and showcase its diverse range of vacation properties all over Asia Pacific.

Objectives:

• Drive fan engagement while rejuvenating the brand

• Build social word of mouth to drive buzz around this new positioning.

• Grow followers organically

The idea for the campaign was to give a goal for a goal, a football goal for a travel goal. Whenever a goal is scored, users are encouraged to post about their dream destination in APAC on Instagram with #AsiaTravelGoals. After each game, up to eight lucky submissions were selected to win free nights at the destination they posted about.

This campaign was kicked off by a launch video, supported by live scoring updates on IG Stories as reminders. Community managers engaged with fans as they submitted in real time, asking them to invite friends for more chances to win. Winner announcement posts were made shortly after every round to congratulate winning fans and showcase the amazing properties they will be going to.

All this is done without directly mentioning the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and successfully drove our fans to talk about travel as the tournament was happening.