Title	THE SOCIAL MEDIA SITTER
Brand	IBIS/ACCORHOTELS SWITERLAND SA
Product/Service	HOTEL
Category	F04. Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight
Entrant	IBIS/ACCOR HOTELS SWITERLAND Zurich, SWITZERLAND
Idea Creation	JUNG VON MATT/LIMMAT Zürich, SWITZERLAND
PR	JUNG VON MATT/LIMMAT Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Production	CZAR FILM ZüRICH, SWITZERLAND
Production 2	JINGLE JUNGLE Zürich, SWITZERLAND
Additional Company	KINGFLUENCERS Zurich, SWITZERLAND

Name	Company	Position
Dennis Lueck	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Chief Creative Officer
Cyrill Hauser	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Chief Client Officer
Rob Hartmann	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Creative Director
Matthias Fürst	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Art Director
Anna Leudolph	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Senior Texter
Frederik Dreier	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Texter
Noemi Russenberger	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Graphic Designer
Emmanuel Denier	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Screendesigner
Michel Nellen	Jung von Matt/Limmat	PR Consultant & Project Manager
Christina Wellnhofer	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Content Strategist
Christian Koop	Jung von Matt/Limmat	Digital Production Director
Fabrizio Rutishauser	Jung von Matt/services	Desktop Publishing
Valérie Eckard	Jung von Matt/Limmat	PR Consultant & Project Manager
Pepe Kägi	Jung von Matt/services	Desktop Publishing

Why is this work relevant for PR?

This whole campaign was completely built around PR. To reach our target groups, genz z and millennials, we needed more than just another advertising campaign. A strong insight, agenda setting, newsworthy headlines, a service that helps the target audience – all this contributed to ensuring the consumer relevance of this PR-centered campaign. Furthermore we chose the topic of a social media service, as this is a very polarizing issue for journalists around the globe.

Background

In many cities, ibis hotels provide affordable accommodation options that offer excellent value for money, making them the perfect choice for young people on a budget. Nevertheless, ibis hotels were no longer on the radar of their young target group. The time had come to change this and make ibis popular with its young target group again. Our insight? Millennials cannot survive without their smartphones – something that causes stress, particularly on vacation. “Pics or it didn’t happen,” is their mantra. To make ibis hotels more interesting for their young target group, we developed a digital detox service. Objectives: to make ibis hotels more interesting for their young target group; to generate reach in their channels such as social media blogs, influencers and in the online press; and to get more room bookings in the target group.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

ibis was aiming to help its young target group address the problem of digital stress while on vacation. That’s why ibis launched digital detox service “The Social Media Sitter”. The 16 most popular influencers in Switzerland took over hotel guests’ Instagram profiles and posted on their behalf during their stay. This allowed guests to enjoy a relaxing city break free of digital stress.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

PR formed the crux of this campaign. After all, to reach our target groups, Gen Z and Millennials, we needed more than just another advertising campaign. A strong insight, agenda setting, newsworthy headlines, a service that helps the target audience – all this contributed to the consumer relevance of this PR-centered campaign. The strategy? Millennials can’t function without social media – something which is scientifically proven to cause a lot of stress. No wonder digital detoxes are trending. ibis hotels had to use this fact to gain recognition among their young target group (Gen Z and Millennials). The solution? A digital detox service was developed. A PR approach was chosen, story pitching with travel magazines, blogs and influencers were tools integrated into this campaign. ibis’ new digital detox service spread like wildfire within the travel industry, gaining international traction and becoming the most used words within the travel segment.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

Service promoted via: – Media work: personal story pitching & a media release publicize the launch of the new digital detox service. – Influencer marketing: influencers announce their new roles as social media sitters on behalf of ibis and take over guests’ Instagram profiles for a weekend. – Social ads: the video is promoted along with links to the “The Social Media Sitter” booking platform. Bookable trial phase for the service: – Public relations: due to the high social relevance of issues such as digital detox, influencers, social media fueled the media interest in the service and the campaign has gone around the world. – Involvement of own communication channels, use of the AccorHotels network to further publicize the service. – Influencer marketing: the 16 social media sitters produce additional content about the service (prize draws, offer pushes in Instagram stories), thus generating reach thanks to the authentic, relevant content

List the results (30% of vote)

– “The Social Media Sitter” garnered enormous media attention with over 14 million contacts (print, online, radio/TV) in Switzerland and more than a billion contacts worldwide. – More than 700 clippings and more than 1.5 million mentions in travel blogs and on social media channels. – We generated earned media worth CHF 11 million. – By involving influencers, over 200,000 relevant contacts were achieved within the target group, with an engagement rate of 4.79%. – During the campaign, room bookings rose by 15.1% in general and by 528% within the target group. International media such as the Daily Mail, USA Today, Huffington Post, China Today, GEO, Vanity Fair, and Lonely Planet picked up on the story. “The Social Media Sitter” taps into the current zeitgeist of an era that is dominated by social media and social pressure to exude an exciting, cool image via Instagram. “The Social Media Sitter” addresses the topical issue of digital detox, the countertrend to the aforementioned social media phenomenon, and provides a talking point on the issue of social media.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

We have to get ibis hotels on the radar of young travelers. During research, ibis found one problem that all young people have in common: Instagram kills their vacations. Studies show that pressure to constantly curate a social media profile is increasing. It is impossible to separate young people from their smartphones nowadays. Every moment has to be photographed and shared with their community on Instagram, something that has been shown to cause stress. The breakthrough approach: ibis was aiming to help its young target group with exactly this problem when it launched its “The Social Media Sitter” service. Established influencers took over hotel guests’ Instagram profiles and posted on their behalf during their stay. This allowed guests to enjoy a relaxing city break free of digital stress.