Create a stand-out sociable campaign as part of W Hotels ongoing support for The Human Rights Campaign (HRC). W Hotels has always been 'out' about its support of the LGBT community and last year the brand joined forces with HRC in the fight for marriage equality. While it was successful with the Supreme Court's landmark decision, the fight for true equality is still far from over.

The aim for 2016 was to support the LBGTQ community as PRIDE celebrations took place across the country. With LGBT people in the United States and around the globe continuing to face significant discrimination, W Hotels set out to create an initiative that offers individuals a creative way to show, share and celebrate their support for equality – in a fun, sociable W brand way.

Strategy

Following a successful Snapchat campaign in October 2015, when W Hotels became the first hospitality brand to launch their own Snapchat Sponsored Geofilters on the popular social media platform, the engaging, creative social media platform Snapchat became the center of the W Hotels PRIDE strategy.

The team brainstormed how take the October 2015 filters which allowed Snapchat travelers at W hotels to humblebrag like never before through a series of three rotating filters (playful, tongue-in-cheek spins on the traditional postcard like "You Wish You Were Here") to the next level.

The strategy was to commission an eye-catching, standout artist to create the filter images; and add a fundraising mechanic to support long-standing partner HRC.

Tactics

Create something innovative and artistic. To do so credibly, partner with an artist to create a trio of exclusive Snapchat filters to support the ongoing efforts of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Every time a filter is used, W Hotels donate $1 to the Human Rights Campaign.

Create further buzz with an unveil event at W Hotel location(s).

Alert press, social media influencers and bloggers to the activity. Encourage them to write-up the story, use the filter, or attend the installation event.

Execution

W Hotels teamed up with irreverent multimedia artist Baron Von Fancy to create three equality inspired pieces of art which were then turned into 'W Hotels x Baron Von Fancy PRIDE Snapchat Filters'.

Von Fancy created the original art in his signature bold graffiti lettering. The filters included:

'Love Won'

'I Am What I Am'

'The Road to Equality Has Never Been Straight'

The original, full-size commissioned works were then unveiled on June 16 at W New York - Union Square, before staying on display for the public until the end of June.

The original artwork then headed to W Atlanta – Midtown and W Austin for installations around each city's PRIDE festivities. At each stop, W, HRC and Von Fancy celebrated with guests and locals in an effort to raise additional funds for HRC.

The initiative was shared with press, bloggers, LGBTQ community and Instagrammers to create buzz and support for the campaign in an effort to raise as much as possible for HRC, as well as give people a way to celebrate and show their support for the LBGTQ community.

The Baron Von Fancy filters were applied to photo and video snaps 19,893 times throughout the month of June 2016 at W Hotels nationwide.

The filters were viewed within snaps 2.1 million times. This exposure was increased with the support of influential Snapchat users like Baron Von Fancy, Human Rights Campaign, Pyper and Daisy Smith, blogger PeaceLoveShea and media such as GuestofaGuest.

Most importantly, W Hotels also donated $1 for each snap taken. In total $19,893 was donated to the Human Rights Campaign. W Hotels additionally also donated $19,893 to the Orlando Victims Fund.

Media outreach was targeted at travel and LGBTQ press, as well as NYC listings for the unveil event. There were 16 pieces of coverage in tier one target targets, including: Gay.com, Passport's blog GlobalCocktails.com, Observer.com, Out.com, OutTraveler.com, TravelDailyNews.com, HotelsMag.com and Guestofaguest.com.