Marriott Reprises Humorous HK Sevens Campaign; Overall Portfolio Grows

In its latest Sevens’ campaign, the revamped loyalty travel program Marriott Bonvoy was plugged by French rugby legend Sebastien Chabal in a hilarious, bite-sized content series. The videos included the 41-year-old former French lock in a drag alter ego, going gaga over favourites Fiji and a spoof of The Proclaimers’ “I Would Walk 500 Miles”.

The tongue-in-cheek humour echoes a similar approach in Bonjour! starring Sebastien Chabal, a short film backed by Marriott for last year’s Hong Kong Sevens.

Speaking on the campaign, Reed Collins, Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy Hong Kong, “Last year’s campaign featuring Sebastien Chabal really struck a chord with the audience in Hong Kong and beyond. It was recently voted ‘Best HK Rugby Sevens Ad of All Time’, so we’re hoping to repeat this remarkable success for Marriott Bonvoy at this year’s Sevens, and get everyone singing, dancing, and talking about the launch of the world’s biggest travel programme. We really love the work, and we’ve had a blast working with the whole client team during this process.”

This is Marriott’s fourth year of sponsorship of the Hong Kong Sevens which is concluding this weekend. According to ASN data, Marriott has a 3.2% market share (the 6th largest) – investing almost US$4.6m for its category since Q316 and its spends in 2018 have grown by over 2.8x to US$2.72m compared to US$958k in the previous year. It typically spends in the second quarter and our forecast indicates Q219 to be a lively one seeing investment worth almost US$830k.

Some of its major investments — a well-diversified mix in both sport and entertainment platforms – across the region since Q216, include a recent global deal with Manchester United as well as IPL’s Rising Pune Giants (US$500k), NBA China (US$318k), Borneo Music Fest (US$200k), reality show Asia’s Next Top Model (US$200k) and the Hong Kong (Golf) Open (US$115k).