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  • SUB CATEGORY :
    LOW BUDGET CAMPAIGN
  • COMPANY ENTERING :
    FORSMAN & BODENFORS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
  • TITLE :
    LETTERS TO NEIGHBOURS
  • BRAND :
    MANDARIN ORIENTAL, SINGAPORE
  • ADVERTISER :
    MANDARIN ORIENTAL
  • AGENCY :
    FORSMAN & BODENFORS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
  • CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER :
    PO KAY LEE
  • EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR :
    FIRRDAUS YUSOFF
  • GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR :
    IVAN GUERRA/GARY LIM/RACHEL KENNEDY
  • ART DIRECTOR :
    FARHAN DARMA
  • COPYWRITER :
    IVAN GUERRA/LENA PAIK
  • AGENCY PRODUCER :
    ALI LOVEDAY-HERZINGER
  • ACCOUNT DIRECTOR :
    VALERIE HO/ADRIAN ORTIZ
  • PR DIRECTOR :
    DEBORAH ABRAHAM
  • PR AGENCY :
    FORSMAN & BODENFORS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
  • PR DIRECTOR :
    DEBORAH ABRAHAM
  • FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY :
    F&B STUDIOS, SINGAPORE
  • DIRECTOR :
    JASON FENG
  • DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY :
    JASON FENG
  • CAMERAMAN :
    JASON FENG
  • POST-PRODUCTION COMPANY :
    F&B STUDIOS, SINGAPORE
  • EDITOR :
    JASON FENG
  • COLORIST :
    JASON FENG
  • CAMPAIGN SUMMARY :
    For 36 years, Mandarin Oriental, Singapore welcomed guests with warmth and sophistication. But on March 8th, 2023, the hotel closed its doors for a 6-month renovation. In the hospitality industry, the usual approach in these cases is to simply shut down all communication until reopening. But we decided to do things a bit differently: as a renowned icon of hospitality in the country and the Marina Bay Area, we couldn’t just leave our guests to fend for themselves. Instead, we left them in the hands of the second-best service in town: our fantastic competitors. We reached out to the General Managers of each one of our 5 leading competitors - Shangri-la, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons, Fullerton, and Raffles hotels - asking them to please take good care of our guests while we were away. We seeded the letters through PR and on social, where people swooned over our gesture. Ultimately leading to a completely new approach to hotel communication that resonated with everyone, including our competitors’ guests themselves, and secured full bookings for the entire reopening week. The idea cost a total of $0 in production as it was all executed by the agency team and had $0 in media investment. But that didn’t stop it from reaching over 3 million people, 90% of which were non Mandarin Oriental followers (new consumers), tracking with a 100% positive sentiment, and resulting in fully pre-booked rooms for the entire opening week. Proving that when you go above and beyond for your guests, your results are above and beyond your expectations.
  • CREATIVITY/IDEA/INSIGHT :
    The most important pillar in the hospitality industry is service. And true service is going above and beyond to ensure your guests always have the ultimate experience. Service is an attribute very dear to Mandarin Oriental, Singapore. So when they closed for renovation, a first in 36 years, we realised we had a unique opportunity to promote this obsession with service. After all, that’s the ultimate challenge: how do you show exceptional service, even when you’re not around? To prove we have our guests in mind, always, we decided to reach out to the second best options in town (our main competitors) and invite them to take our guests while we were away. That’s it, a simple call to action for our competitors, in honour of our most precious assets: our guests. A genuine gesture that proved that to ensure our guests had the best possible service, we’d even go the lengths of asking our competitors to step in.
  • STRATEGY :
    The most important pillar in the hospitality industry is service. And true service is going above and beyond to ensure your guests always have the ultimate experience. Service is an attribute very dear to Mandarin Oriental, Singapore. So when they closed for renovation, a first in 36 years, we realised we had a unique opportunity to promote this obsession with service. After all, that’s the ultimate challenge: how do you show exceptional service, even when you’re not around? To prove we have our guests in mind, always, we decided to reach out to the second best options in town (our main competitors) and invite them to take our guests while we were away. That’s it, a simple call to action for our competitors, in honour of our most precious assets: our guests. A genuine gesture that proved that to ensure our guests had the best possible service, we’d even go the lengths of asking our competitors to step in.
  • EXECUTION/EXECUTION & CRAFT :
    We wrote 5 letters, uniquely crafted to the General Manager of each one of our hotel competitors. The intention was to communicate our initiative, while highlighting similarities between our properties that justified the individual outreach. For example:

    To John Rice, Shangri-la Singapore, we alluded to our hotel’s proximity to a different famous garden: theirs is close to the Singapore Botanic Gardens; ours is next to world famous Gardens by the Bay.
    To Peter Mainguy, Ritz-Carlton Singapore, we referenced how our properties are literally next to each other and the fact we’ve been watching the sun set together for 26 years, like a cute couple.
    We first posted each letter on social media. Then, we released the film chronicling our endeavour, including shots of our bellboy delivering the letters to the GMs. We packaged it all and sent it to media everywhere. Then, we could only hope to hear back.
    And we did. 3 GMs replied to our posts. And one of them, John from Shangri-la, even recorded a video reply, posting it on their owned channels, ensuring our message reached places we could never imagine. We reposted, of course. Media loved the banter and wrote about the stunt. Again.
  • RESULT :
    The idea cost a total of $0 in production as it was all executed by the agency team and had $0 in media investment. But that didn’t stop it from:
    - Getting over 20 Million impressions
    - Worth US$200K
    - Reaching over 100 Thousand people on social
    - 90% of which were non-followers (and therefore, considered new potential guests)
    - 852% reach
    - 8.1% new followers
    - 105 Thousand views of our video
    - And a 100% positive sentiment for the campaign on social media
    Garnering not only great comments from our fans (and other hotels’ fans too)but also fantastic headlines from publications from the luxury, travel, and ad trade sectors:
    “Mandarin Oriental’s charming campaign marks the start of six-month renovation.” - CNA Luxury
    “A bold, sleek show of hospitality and service.” - Travel Weekly Asia
    “Each letter carries content unique to Mandarin Oriental’s relationship with its recipient. Talk about effort.” - Must Share News (Singapore’s leading independent publication)
    “A bold marketing move that raises the bar for a whole category.” - Campaign
    “A tongue-in-cheek break from typically serious and straight forward hotel marketing strategies.” - Marketing Interactive