In May 2013 Shangri-La’s second hotel in Europe was opened in Istanbul. Famously, Istanbul connects both Europe, the location of the new hotel, and Asia, Shangri-La’s heartland.

The poignancy of this fact was brought to life with a stunningly symbolic event, where personal messages of goodwill, from guests and staff around the world, were handwritten on thousands of lanterns and floated on the Bosphorus straits, which runs between both continents.

This PR event was witnessed on a special boat by a crowd of Istanbul’s high society, as well as by thousands of other fishermen, tourists and dog-walkers on the banks of the Bosphorus.

The event was then turned into a beautiful film, which was distributed around the world online via digital advertising, social media and in-flight. In essence, a collective big hug to the city of Istanbul from the people of Shangri-La.

We sent out eDMs to all 80 Shangri-La hotels and the thousands of members of the Golden Circle loyalty programme, asking them to contribute a welcome message.

We received 2,123 replies in 24 different languages, each one making a profound statement in support of the new hotel, ranging from Shakespeare quotes to poems in Bahasa.

These messages gave us a rich platform to build a beautiful embrace for the city of Istanbul, as every single word was painstakingly written onto Chinese paper lanterns to form a lasting testament.

The words leapt from digital screens and mobile phones around the world onto the Bosphorus, as we launched the 2,123 lanterns on the water in front of 234 assembled VIPs.

The lanterns lit up the Istanbul night on May 14th 2013, as they floated across the famous Straits, drifting from Asia, Shangri-La’s heartland, towards Europe, the location of the new hotel.

234 guests attended the event in Istanbul on 14th May 2013.

We received 2,123 welcome messages from guests and colleagues around the world.

The initial burst of online video seeding achieved 128,000 campaign video views, outperforming our KPI target of 125,000 views.

A second wave of online video seeding delivered a further 150,000 views.

Markets included the UK, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the Middle East and Russia.

Hotel website video views: 27,500 views.

Online flash banners: 95 million impressions and 250,000 clicks.

Online video banners: 2 million impressions and 3,000 clicks.