Marriott International has opened its M Live Asia Pacific real-time marketing and brand newsroom Command Center in Hong Kong, which becomes the company’s epicenter of real-time marketing to customers in the region. Marriott first unveiled the M Live concept at its U.S. headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland earlier this year with plans for a global network. The studio brings together all marketing disciplines to track conversations, trends, global performance, marketing campaign performance and brand reputation on social media, while also proactively creating original content based on what is trending or anticipated to trend on social media.
With full-time staff able to monitor data displayed on multiple screens within the M Live Asia Pacific real-time marketing and brand newsroom Command Center, Marriott will authentically engage customers as relevant social conversations trend.
In addition to responding to social conversations, M Live has created a calendar of topics expected to trend, such as Chinese New Year, the Seoul Marathon, the Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong, and the India Premier Cricket League. By anticipating what will trend, M Live is able to strategically plan its creative and content strategy with the other marketing and brand disciplines within Marriott International.
“The changing consumer is at the center of everything we do at Marriott,” said Anka Twum-Baah, Vice President, Customer Loyalty & Content, Asia Pacific at Marriott International. “M Live is another example of how we are putting our marketing in the context of next generation travelers’ lives that is immediate, relevant and authentic. With the opening of the Hong Kong M Live studio and the building out of a network, M Live will help make our new approach to marketing become truly global.”
M Live allows Marriott to not only seize more chances to engage with consumers quickly, but also identify opportunities by brand, by discipline, by market and by channel to create memorable and shareable experiences.
To date, M Live has created a number of successful real-time marketing efforts. For example, capitalizing on the buzz surrounding Dorothy’s stolen ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Marriott Rewards and our Marriott Hotels brand offered one million Marriott Rewards points for information leading to the return of the missing slippers. The team also utilized the New York Marriott Marquis’ Times Square billboard, placed a story in newsweek.com and amplified the content and creative on Marriott Hotels and Marriott Rewards social media channels. The campaign reached 4.5 million people on Twitter and many more on Facebook and Instagram.
The M Live Asia Pacific is the first to come on board outside the US. M Live Europe, MidEast and Africa, and Caribbean and Latin America all have planned launches in 2016. Marriott chose Asia Pacific as the second location because Asia, with 4.4 billion people and approximately 500 million in the emerging middle classes will provide substantial opportunities for tourism growth. And the region’s next generation travelers are among the fastest growing customer segment within the hospitality industry.
