QT Hotels & Resorts’ And Thinkerbell Celebrate Gold At PR Asia 2023 For Curious Currencies

QT Hotels & Resorts, together with creative agency Thinkerbell, has been awarded Gold in the Promotional Activity category for Curious Currencies at the PR Awards Asia 2023, announced on 14 June. In its 22^nd year, the prestigious awards celebrate the Asia-Pacific region’s most outstanding, inspired, and successful campaigns, individuals, and agencies in the communications industry.

Launched in spring 2022, QT forwent cash and credit in favour of a stranger way to pay in a four-week campaign aptly called, Curious Currencies.

QT gave away a year’s worth of free stays in exchange for customers’ most unusual personal belongings, whether it be a returned engagement ring, that t-shirt from a first concert, or the ashes of a beloved family pet. Curiosities that managed to successfully impress or amuse QT’s Director of Chaos were exchanged for a complimentary stay at a QT of choice across Australia (Sydney, Bondi, Newcastle, Canberra, Melbourne, Gold Coast or Perth) or New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington or Queenstown).

Curious Currencies rolled out nationally in both markets with a coordinated earned media push, which detailed the promotion via press releases featuring the campaign film. Additional inspiration for entrants was provided through engaging key influencers to create content around the curious forms of payment they had traded in for a stay, a small buy of rock posters, print placements in travel magazines, and organic and paid social media placements. All assets directed entrants to the Curious Currencies microsite where they could make their submissions.

Explore the campaign in all its peculiarity here.

Over 600 strange and wonderful items were submitted to QT over the course of the campaign which generated 75 pieces of earned media coverage across print, radio and digital, resulting in a combined audience reach of 29 million across Australia and New Zealand with 100% positive sentiment.

Head of Brand & Marketing at QT Hotels & Resorts, Danelle Ayers, said “We are thrilled to be recognised and celebrated at these prestigious awards for this uniquely curious campaign. With a philosophy of ‘expect the unexpected’, QT Hotels has always had a flair for theatrics and isn’t one to shy away from playing up our quirky luxury. We aim to reflect this at every turn of the customer experience and look forward to surprising and delighting our audiences with more unconventional brand moments to come.”

Curious Currencies ran from 29 September until 31 October 2022.

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