In November 2021, when most COVID restrictions were lifted, we were able to get together at the third Convention with our valued partner Palladium Hotel Group (PHG) in what we call deep dive sessions.

A couple of years ago, we started these meetings in order to optimize our collaboration and to work on a prosperous future together. The meetings have proven to be a big success.  We spent days filled with meetings to evaluate the past booking period/season, present our plans for coming seasons, share company updates, and brainstorm together to create new ideas.

Between all the numbers, we got a peek into the marketing kitchen of Palladium. Oh boy, that was really fun. It was announced as: We want to show you a little story. I didn’t feel just ordinary goosebumps. I was totally goosebumped when they showed their strategy movie: ‘turning guests into fans’. It inspired me big time.

When building a new marketing strategy, you always start from the now. And then, you contrast the now with the future where you want to be. Palladium wants to turn guests into fans. In doing so, they couldn’t have compared the status quo, guests, better with where they want to go with fanship.

Guests look for a nice price. Fans look for a job well-done. Guests think. Fans feel. Guests have fun. Fans have the time of their lives. Take a look at this movie.

Palladium succeeded in bringing an emotional layer to their marketing strategy.  This all looks good on paper and in a video, but we had the chance to experience this at first hand. We were given a tour of the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife. What can you expect from that? How surprising can it be?

What we got was a sample of turning guests into fans. How do you put that fan experience into practice? By Miguel. A lively guy who told us very enthusiastically that he was the ‘vibe manager of the hotel’. A what? Yes, you read it correctly, a vibe manager. Someone who walks around the hotel for a whole day, talks to the customers, knows what’s going on and therefore knows how to respond with music so that everyone gets into the vibe.

And honestly? It worked. I can tell you that after the tour I completely became a fan and have told this story to my friends many times.

And so I was inspired. Big time. I started my story with ‘we create memories’, our baseline and also our common creative ground. I told our marketing approach and the way we turn #creatingmemories into action. And off course the very successful cases from the past where we were covered in the national press in Belgium. Curious about that story?

Creating memories is making fans, the strategy outcome of this deep dive. And that’s our intentions of those deep dive sessions, that’s what we mean with ‘understanding each other and brainstorming about new ideas‘.

Stay tuned for the next joint project or activation ‘Fans creating memories’.