Four Seasons is extending the “Golden Rule” positioning and brand platform it launched in 2022, to tout the benefits of kindness.
The brand has revealed the latest iteration of its “Based on a True Stay” campaign, in which staff in a hero spot learn that a small guest lost her first tooth before check-in, and create an elaborate scavenger hunt culminating in a special appearance by the Tooth Fairy.
It’s centered on acts of love and care employees deliver to guests daily, amplifying the kindness message.
According to Four Seasons, last summer’s “Based on a True Stay” campaign garnered 715 million paid media impressions and helped drive new bookings across its properties globally. The integrated campaign effort also contributed to “strong lifts” to Four Seasons brand awareness, search, target guest acquisition, earned media impressions and social media engagement efforts.
“Our new positioning launched in 2022 and represents an authentic evolution of our brand,” says Four Seasons’ executive VP and chief commercial officer, Marc Speichert.
“Our founder and chairman, a Canadian and global icon, Isadore Sharp, grounded our company culture in the Golden Rule, to treat others how they would want to be treated. This ethos inspires our interactions with our guests, residents, employees and the communities in which we operate, and places kindness, empathy and care at the heart of who we are at Four Seasons.”
The campaign was a follow-up to Four Seasons holding a World Kindness Day kickoff event in Los Angeles earlier this month, with help from Toronto-born comedian and TV host Lilly Singh. The event unveiled custom artwork made by surrealist painter Camilla Engström (above, left), which was auctioned in support of the International Child Art Foundation.
Singh also took to social media to showcase different acts of kindness she was creating throughout the day, and shared what the idea of kindness means to her on her YouTube channel, which has 14.5 million subscribers.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler also activated as part of World Kindness Day this year by offering a complimentary hot chocolate station and a chestnut roasting experience, while also inviting guests to participate in an art class led by a local artisan to create postcards for loved ones.
Speichert tells strategy the brand hopes its messaging and activations resonate with communities as it looks to make a positive impact through these efforts, and “with our audiences who are engaging with us digitally, ultimately inspiring others to lead with kindness.”
He adds that the brand is renewing its focus on luxury amid an evolving consumer landscape, and as the world begins travelling again following the industry impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Consumer wants and needs have shifted, with many craving a sense of belonging and yearning to experience the joy and wonder of luxury in new ways,” Speichert says.
At the same time, Speichert notes, Four Seasons hopes those interacting with the hotel feel a greater sense of brand preference and awareness knowing where its values lie.
We Are Social is the social media AOR for Four Seasons’ global brand, and played an “instrumental role in the strategic and creative development” of the World Kindness Day initiative, together with its corporate public relations and social media team, as well as fellow AOR for PR, KWT Global.
