The Millennial Generation lives in an expectation economy ­where instant gratification is expected, and so anticipatory service is required. Partnering with HYP3R, the M Live platform would enable Marriott to identify on-property engagement opportunities where guests were not actively engaging or tagging the brand. Once those opportunities were identified, M Live would coordinate with the specific Marriott brands where consumers were staying to create unique and personal engagements. Additionally, we could identify influencers natively staying on property to deliver personal moments that would entice social sharing from users with massive followings.

The innovative nature of this work lies in how the gen-fencing platform is brought to life and M Live activations have spawned thousands of interactions and an array of surprising, delightful moments. They do this in real-time and while considering the positioning of each of Marriott’s 30+ brands and their place in the market to act with authenticity.

We knew that creating meaningful and personal experiences would drive customer loyalty, but with limited media budget for a new team within Marriott, mass awareness was a daunting task. This is amplified twofold when globally integrated, real-time action must be taken and approvals from individual regions and brand teams are required to move forward. Developing the geo-fencing technology and the proprietary user interface that the system relies on was the initial step in the team’s strategy to capture this deeply authentic content but the underlying problem would persist.

As a solution, we created an internal approval process, identifying how opportunities need to be surfaced and the specific POC’s within the organization who can lead the review and approve brand action immediately in order to keep pace with real-time.

The systems and processes are in continuous use, receiving refinements to improve data collection, display, analysis, and activation.

M Live has had more than 43,000 total engagements with guests on Instagram, Twitter and Weibo. This number includes where M Live and the guests exchanged more than 11,800 comments plus the 1,355 guests who followed Brands after commenting, and also includes where M Live content producers and guests engaged with posts over 27,000 times. In addition, guests approved more than 200 user generated content requests.

Marriott is the first Fortune 500 company to utilize HYP3R at this scale, and at an enterprise-wide level resulting in:

- Return on Engagement with Next Gen travelers

- Global reach through five M Live centers (with over 6,000 properties geo-fenced)

- Increased in surprise + delight moments

- More meaningful two-way conversations with our guests (where more than 27K guests post from Marriott Intl. properties globally, every day)

- Fast property line-of-sight around brand marketing initiatives & crisis-related events

Consumer attention comes at a premium. Brands compete for it with impersonal, uninspired campaigns. Cutting through the clutter, Marriott created the M Live platform, a real-time marketing command center. Partnering with Silicon Valley tech start-up, “HYP3R,” we developed a location-based social technology across all 30 of Marriott’s brands, worldwide - undergoing the monumental task of geo-fencing all 6,030 hotels, in 120 countries, on 6 continents. It enabled us to take publicly available, geo-tagged posts on Instagram, Twitter, and Weibo then filter the collected content into a proprietary UI. Marriott was the first fortune 500 company to accomplish such an endeavor.

Marriott customers are already using public technology like Instagram, Twitter, and Weibo to document their daily experiences while staying at related hotels, but were not always tagging or engaging with the brand. A location-based technology strategy was key to bridging the digital divide to elevate guest experiences with surprising and delightful moments which lead to personal fulfillment. When applied successfully, this level of personal engagement creates a lasting impression that results in guests going out of their way to follow and engage with Marriott proactively in the future.

Inspired by increased guest activity on social media, and driven to those platforms by limitations to alternative digital marketing channels with the advent of ad blocking tech, Marriott sought new, highly-relevant ways to reach consumers. To mitigate risk, stakeholders from Brand and Legal teams play a consistent role, lifting barriers and enabling brand-aligned marketing activations safely and creatively in real-time.