JW Marriott creates experiences designed to help guests feel present in mind, nourished in body, and revitalized in spirit—an ethos rooted in well-being and meaningful connection. With the opening of a new property (JW Marriott Reston Station), the brand sought to introduce the hotel in a way that felt culturally relevant while also spotlighting its JW Garden and Garden Party programming to new audiences.
To do this, we partnered with Cherry Bombe, a women-led, mission-driven media brand known for celebrating women in food and fostering community through culinary storytelling. Their audience—passionate, experience-driven, and deeply engaged with food, hospitality, and gathering—naturally aligns with JW Marriott’s focus on intentional connection and culinary exploration. The partnership allows the hotel launch to feel less like a traditional announcement and more like a meaningful cultural moment anchored in shared values and spotlighting three key brand areas: the newly opened JW Marriott Reston Station, its JW Garden, and the brand’s signature Garden Party.
Objectives:
Cherry Bombe spans a collectible print magazine, hit podcasts, and live events, as well as an engaged digital community built by women within the food, drink, and hospitality industry. Known for its editorial credibility and seamless end-to-end execution, Cherry Bombe offers access to top-tier culinary talent.
By partnering with Cherry Bombe, JW Marriott connected with a highly engaged niche community of culinary tastemakers—an audience that naturally aligns with the brand’s focus on elevated food and beverage experiences, and shared celebration.
Phase One: A Well-being Weekend at JW Marriott Reston Station
An immersive well-being weekend hosted at the newly opened JW Marriott Reston Station brought the partnership to life. Together with Cherry Bombe, we invited eight influencers to experience programming that blended the elevated hospitality of JW Marriott with moments of reflection, nourishment, and conversation—like yoga, a sound bath, aromatherapy, and a mixology class exploring teas and herbs in cocktails/mocktails.
At the heart of the weekend were two defining brand experiences — JW Marriott’s signature Garden Party and the unveiling of its Mindful Rooms. The Garden Party was hosted by Romilly Newman (@romillynewman), a chef, food stylist, and social media tastemaker often dubbed the "Gen-Z Martha Stewart.” More than just an emcee, Newman appeared in content focused on intentional hosting and sustainable tablescapes.
The influencers stayed in the brand’s first Mindful Rooms, designed for tranquility with natural textures, soft lighting, and an alcove equipped with a yoga mat, light weights, and other wellness equipment.
Phase Two: Content Creation and Amplification Across the Cherry Bombe Network
Cherry Bombe shared the weekend across its media network, producing social posts, newsletters, podcasts, and blogs to extend the experience to their community. Through thoughtful storytelling and authentic creator voices, the content about holiday hosting, sustainable centerpieces, and on-property wellness offerings positioned JW Marriott as a brand leader in the wellness and hospitality space. This multi-platform amplification ensured the partnership reached far beyond event attendees, embedding the brand within Cherry Bombe’s trusted cultural ecosystem.
Our partnership with Cherry Bombe achieved our key objective of reaching a highly engaged community in the food and beverage space, while simultaneously increasing awareness of JW Marriott’s new Mindful Rooms, the Reston Station property, and the signature Garden Party experience.
The content posted across influencer and Cherry Bombe’s social channels generated 4.8 million impressions, and the content shared on Cherry Bombe’s YouTube achieved 176.8K views, exceeding projections by 77%. In addition to the impact on social channels, Cherry Bombe’s seven podcast ads and five newsletter/blog placements contributed to the 5.8 million total impressions across Cherry Bombe’s network, illustrating the value of expanding to channels the brand had not previously leveraged to reach new audiences.
Rather than serving as a traditional event recap, the content strategically centered on elevating women in the epicurean space—shifting the narrative to feel purposeful and people-first instead of a typical brand-driven marketing initiative. In addition, partnering with individuals featured in the Cherry Bombe podcast gave the audience a tangible connection to return to in subsequent episode drops. Together, this resulted in 8.2K total engagements across likes, comments, saves, and shares. These numbers demonstrate affinity for the content—for example, compared to our standard organic content, Cherry Bombe posts received over 5x as many comments on average. We also saw genuine enthusiasm for the Garden Party experience in comments like:
“Such a stunning celebration of community and elegance—truly inspiring!”
“The table is magnificent!”
“Major Pinterest board inspo”
Further, we have continued to share this content on JW Marriott owned channels as part of an evergreen social strategy, showcasing the Garden Party and inviting audiences to experience the brand’s hospitality firsthand, extending its impact beyond this activation.
