This week on Earned, Conor sits down with Christina McCarthy, Vice President of Global Media at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Tune in to hear offers an insider's perspective on the innovative marketing tactics that distinguish the brand in the luxury hospitality industry.
To start, we dive into Christina’s impressive career journey from fashion and beauty giants like Victoria's Secret and MAC. We delve into Four Seasons' strategic shift from traditional marketing to crafting rich, brand-building experiences that resonate with audiences. Christina highlights the pivotal role of high return guests (HRGs) and the tailored strategies that ensure their loyalty. She also explores the impact of social media influencers and user-generated content on guest perceptions, detailing how platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube are leveraged for global branding and local engagement. Listeners will gain insights into the integration of SEO and OTA (online travel agency) advertising and how Four Seasons harnesses cutting-edge technology to enhance customer experiences. The discussion extends to the allure of luxury travel destinations, emphasizing the brand's commitment to exceptional service and personalization. To close the episode Christina offers an insider's perspective on the innovative marketing tactics that distinguish the brand in the luxury hospitality industry.
Check out highlights from the episode below, or or tune into the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!
The following interview has been lightly edited for concision.
Conor Begley: Digital was so conversion focused for so long and that was all anybody paid attention to. Now they're saying, ‘well, how can we use this as a brand building opportunity as well?” One of the other things I'm really curious about that we've been really monitoring is the types of assets that are being used in paid media strategies. I'm coming from a social media influencer and user-generated content perspective. I'm curious from your perspective, is that something that you know as a luxury brand? In fact, luxury brands have been some of the last ones to start using that kind of content. Have you guys started using it? What's worked for you?
Christina McCarthy: We've been building this paid media capability in-house and with that there's the operational and the mechanics of paid media. So setting up campaigns, deploying it, et cetera. We always say, ‘media is the pipes and creative is the water,’ so you can't have a stream without having those two pieces together. We've been building our content paid media strategy and what that looks like across the funnel. I'm taking a lot of the insights that I had from Victoria's Secret and MAC Cosmetics. We’re building awareness assets. Not that it's easy, it's just easier to understand because you're growing awareness. So how do you make sure you're doing that with your content? Then, conversion drives assets, again not like they're easy to build and create, but hard hitting elements to make sure you have that CTA and you're getting that user or guest to essentially make that action. Where we spend most of our time, and where I used to spend a ton of time at MAC Cosmetics, is that consideration funnel and how we make sure that we're building assets to change someone's mind. We could be in the consideration set, but we need something to make that hook to really push a user to be interested. So we focus on experiences, destinations, and the offerings within the destination. We do use video assets and make sure we're merchandising that experience or destination and really lean into that communication and content.
We have been testing more so into UGC, content creators, incorporating within TikTok and really understanding how that changes the decision-making process. Similar to how we had these conversations at MAC [Cosmetics} a few years ago when we were incorporating creator content. Whether it was how-tos and makeup tutorials, to really make sure that that user was bought into whatever product we were trying to sell at the time.
It gives a sense of realism and some sort of reality of what we're offering. If you look at TikTok now, even organically, and you search Four Seasons, so many people are talking about the brand from an earned perspective. We've kind of tapped into this content out there. How do we use creators that are posting this beautiful content on behalf of us and start to incorporate within our paid media strategy as well as creating our own content? It follows a similar theme but also speaks about our destinations. We've been building that into our paid media strategy, while we've been developing our larger paid media capabilities.
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