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ibis Music - Sziget Activation

Accor Hotels – ibis MUSIC

Emotional musical experiences with true support for emerging talent


Challenge

Ibis enjoys high awareness but sliding consideration and brand margin among their core target audience of millennials, who we found perceived the brand as ‘functional’. As a consequence, a concerted effort has been made to transform their hotels into vibrant social hubs by introducing a range of new design concepts and removing traditional receptions. 

To help counter this further, a new brand passion was assigned and adopted – music. FRUKT’s brief was to bring this passion to life. 

Our primary objective was to increase association with music, driving awareness and familiarity through footfall at in-hotel and engage our audience through digital content. 

Catalyst

Millennials value unique live experience above all else, whether it’s gigs in unique locations or deeply immersive events that place fans at the centre. We knew developing a unique “had to be there moment” needed to be at the heart of the idea.

Further research we found 75% of 25-34 year-olds said brand involvement with music needs to feel authentic - many brands in the category use up-and-coming talent without giving back to the industry.

Considering our audiences’ love of unique live experiences, identification with purpose and entrepreneurial spirit, we wanted a programme that didn’t simply provide a stage for live performances but also gave artists genuine developmental opportunities. 

Therefore, our strategic proposition revolved around ‘inspiring unexpected connections through music’ for both fans and artists, as well as between the artists and the music industry itself.

How We Pressed Play

Our response was ibis Music – a global, live music programme and activation platform in partnership with Sony Music and Spotify, designed to bring emotive consumer experiences to the heart of the brand and give emerging musicians true career support. The programme connected established musicians, up-and-coming artists and fans to one another through an in-hotel gig series, digital platform and an unforgettable culminating live moment.

44 intimate in-hotel gigs

A series of intimate in-hotel gigs took place across 17 countries, turning communal spaces into vibrant musical experiences featuring the hottest local artists. These artists were identified via a partnership with Spotify which included access to their data services, a global media campaign and a dedicated ibis MUSIC Spotify page featuring artist-curated playlists.

Sony Music UK’s 4th Floor Creative Group helped provide four headline acts to perform in ibis hotels across 6 countries, including Tom Grennan, Lucas Lucco, OK KID and Boulevard des Airs.

ibis presents Europe Stage

Following the in-hotel gigs, nine finalists were selected to represent their country at Sziget by performing on the Europe Stage presented by ibis. By programming the first day of the stage and sponsoring it for the remainder of the festival we were able to showcase some of the world’s most exciting emerging artists whilst driving association between ibis and music.

ibis Open Studio

Across the festival site we created the ibis Open Studio. 

The bespoke build was designed to foster social interaction through social seating and an open structure, inspired by ibis’ new design concepts. During the daytime it was a relaxed hang-out with warm grooves perfect for the hot afternoons. At night, it came alive with the hottest DJs bringing the party, dropping upfront hip-hop and fresh pop to an always packed crowd. 

In addition, festival goers could ‘Become the Band’ through a recording studio photo opportunity and the ibis Mash Machine where they could create their own track.

Results

While overall perception change will be measured through a deeper brand tracking study next year, we were able to track association with music across the period and combine that with other more specific measurements around core activity for the inaugural activation:

Brand perception

  • Association with music: 6% uplift from 4% to 10% from August 2019 to September 2019

 In hotel and on site activation

  • 44 in hotel gigs
  • Attendees of in-hotel gigs: c 3,000
  • Total footfall through ibis Open Studio at Sziget: 37,1000
  • Total festival reach at Sziget (digital and physical): 865,000

Reach and engagement

  • PR reach : 205 articles across 18 countries including Rolling Stone and NME
  • Total reach of content: 131M impressions and reached 50M people on social media
  • Total views of video content: 12M
  • #ibismusic used 3,238 times on Instagram 
  • 1 x Artist collaboration (Nxdia’s DJ and Qaayel) so far! 
Tom Grennan
An unsigned act at Sziget

“We’re excited about working with FRUKT to build our global music proposition for ibis – our ambition is to build a more emotionally charged brand to resonate with younger audiences, leveraging the brand’s passion: music.” Martine Gorce-Momboisse, Senior-Vice President at Accor


“We’re so happy to have been part of this and so grateful for the memories and friendships that were made! It was an outstanding experience! So glad that our paths have crossed” – Qaayel, 2019 ibis MUSIC Finalist

So Flow at Sziget Festival
Tom Grennan
ibis Music in-hotel gig
Sziget Festival
Crowd at Sziget Festival

Results

Emotional musical experiences with true support for emerging talent

131M impressions
12M content views
3,238 hashtag uses