Conversation analysis surrounding artists, live music, concerts and SXSW showed a resounding sense of FOMO and envy for those who could attend and experience these events firsthand. Therefore, Marriott Rewards sought to not only bring these live music experiences directly to consumers wherever they were providing them unfiltered and unparalleled access, but to also relinquish control letting consumers dictate the end result.

Three emerging Universal Music Group artists were then strategically selected to broadcast live from SXSW on Periscope based upon two critical factors: (1) their community scale and engagement and (2) their “buzz” factor, or total online share of voice.

As a first time sponsor of SXSW, Marriott would leverage their global partnership with UMG to bring their offline activation online, scaling reach and access from thousands to millions in an instant, all in an effort to shift perception of their loyalty program amongst Gen X/Y consumers.

Implementation

It all started with a crowd-sourced vote leveraging Twitter's poll tweets that let the people decide which songs would be broadcast live on Periscope. This led to a social execution directly impacting a real-time event.

Next, Marriott Rewards promoted teaser “tune-in” tweets using Twitter’s CPM beta product to maximize awareness before the live show.

Then, Marriott Rewards leveraged two “firsts:”

(1) The first-ever dual camera broadcast on Periscope providing intimate vantage points from the artist's mic stand or guitar.

(2) The first-ever Twitter campaign that promoted a Periscope broadcast in stream.

Once the live broadcast was complete, Marriott Rewards dark posted Periscope replay streams further amplifying highly relevant video content to engaged users.

Media Channels and Integration: Twitter & Periscope

Timeline: March 15-18, 2016

Scale: The campaign successfully scaled against all target audiences reaching 4.62MM unique users over the course of a four-day flight at a frequency of 2.5x.

Action/business results – sales, donations, site traffic, achievement against business target

The campaign:

-reached more than 7.5MM unique people, 150% above goal

-generated more than 200MM social media impressions, 300% above goal

-caused nearly 300K social media engagements, 200% above goal.

Outcomes/awareness – change in behavior, reach, public opinion, content response.

Marriott Rewards introduced their award-winning loyalty program to a new generation of travelers, with a passion for music, sparking never before seen levels of positive sentiment for the brand including:

-Brand mentions increased by more than 340% MoM

-Positive brand sentiment increased by more than 45% MoM

Marriott Rewards was also recognized as one of the top six brands that dominated social buzz at SXSW by Adweek, "Marriott's partnership with Twitter and Periscope to livestream its sponsored music this weekend bears watching."