Objectives

If you throw a concert in the middle of the Indian Ocean and there’s no one around to hear it, does it still make a sound? You bet it does.

W Hotels is a brand with a long-standing history of blending music and travel. In 2021, we wanted to bring both to W travelers and fans around the globe, showing them that while live music experiences and travel to far-flung destinations were at a temporary standstill, we could still experience them together, albeit virtually (for now). 

Strategy and Execution

Enter our collaboration with Cercle, the ground-breaking French media company known for filming and broadcasting music performances in the world’s most awe-inspiring places, to host an unforgettable live-streamed concert at Gaathafushi—a private castaway island at W Maldives.

LIVESTREAMING IN A REMOTE DESTINATION

Live streaming a concert from a private island in the Maldives is about as simple as it sounds.  From acquiring travel visas, to transporting music equipment by land, air, and sea, and ensuring we had the proper internet & electricity on a private island to pull off a livestream of this magnitude—practically every complication imaginable arose.  But if anybody had the tenacity to pull it off, it had to be W Hotels and Cercle.

PROMOTING THE CONCERT AROUND THE GLOBE

From posts across W Hotels and Cercle social channels, to paid media to viewing parties at our hotels around the globe, we took a 360-degree approach to promoting this livestream. Key distribution tactics included:

• OWNED: 
  • Posts across W Hotels social media channels, with “Tune-In” posts coordinated with our 60+ hotels around the globe
  • Outdoor viewing events at select W Hotels in Asia Pacific on a similar time zone to W Maldives
• PAID:
  • A robust tentpole paid social campaign across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to both drive Tune-In for the livestream, and to promote the performance video posted to YouTube after the event
• EARNED:
  • Posts from Cercle partner channels across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Twitch

Results

On July 26, 2021, we successfully livestreamed a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute set by Berlin-based electronic musician Monolink with W Maldives’ white sandy beach and turquoise lagoon serving as the stage. 

To date, this performance has amassed over 3.6M views across Facebook and YouTube, with another 11.6M Impressions and 2.5M Engagements across our post-performance paid social campaign, successfully bringing the power of music and travel to our community in a year when many of us needed it most. 

This collaboration was so successful for both W Hotels and Cercle, that we are extending it into 2022.

Media