Marriott International's real-time command center, M Live, wanted to enhance our Marriott Bonvoy members’ experience in unique and memorable ways on social media. Throughout the year, we curated experiences with exclusive access in partnerships with our Marriott Bonvoy Social, Co-Brand Credit Cards, Marriott Bonvoy Tours + Activities, and Partnership teams.
M Live leveraged its unique “Surprise+Delight” capabilities to identify members in real-time, stemming from public, geotagged property social posts. The primary objective for these “Surprise+Delights” was to create authentic brand ambassadors through, “Wow” experiences that enhance our members’ experience and deepen their relationship with Marriott...all while spending $0 in paid media.
M Live delved through public social posts to identify and engage with members who were posting publicly on social from our hotels. The Marriott Bonvoy members were “Surprise+Delighted” with “Always On” enhanced experiences through Marriott Bonvoy Tours + Activities including zipline excursions in Costa Rica, helicopter tours over Maui, and ATV tours in Aruba. Additionally, we leveraged our access to the Final Four, Coachella, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card portfolio's "Dream Party" at the W South Beach during Art Basel, and W “Wake Up Call” Dubai.
The Surprise+Delight activations provided elevated experience to our Marriott Bonvoy members. Our message, enhanced experience, and access provided a story that our guests willingly and without being asked posted on Instagram thus amplifying the value that being a Marriott Bonvoy member offered to a broader audience. When our guests posted about the experience, the @MarriottBonvoy social handle engaged with these comments to encourage the dialogue with the guest and deepening the relationship.
We captured the authentic real-time moment of our members’ enthusiasm and excitement without traditional influencers, actors, or paid media spend. Our Marriott Bonvoy members were the stars, and we created true brand ambassadors as a result. Our members’ experiences were elevated and some of these members’ experiences we took to center stage by showcasing the members themselves as part of our content creation for all our guests to see via Marriott Bonvoy TV. Those stories were then curated and included in Marriott Bonvoy TV which allowed these stories to continue to create FOMO and inspire other guests to post on social and have a chance at an amazing experience.
This approach creates broad inspiration through powerful channels, reaching travelers via social media and at our hotels globally. In turn, this generates awareness of the unique and personalized benefits of being a Marriott Bonvoy member.
We successfully achieved our team’s objectives for this initiative.
M Live engaged with our members via our brand social handle
We elevated their experience, and in turn inspired them to share with their followers on social and espouse the benefits of our loyalty program. They became true Brand Ambassadors for $0 paid media spend
Our overall metrics for Surprise+Delight recipients were as follows:
Of our Brand Engagements with guests, we received a 63% Response Rate
After the Surprise+Delight experience our recipients posted on social to their network of friends, family, and followers on average 3.6 times. They became our influential advocacy for the Marriott Bonvoy program.
The average Engagement Rate per member Post was 9.4% which far exceeds the industry benchmark of 2%
