HKRI Taikoo Hui, Shanghai, China: Play Me, I'm Yours: a musical journey through Shanghai

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Jun 12 – Aug 13, 2023, HKRI Taikoo Hui carried out its 6th ‘Play Me, I’m Yours’ (PMIY) campaign with unprecedented results using various forms of entertainment.

GENESIS: GLOBAL PHENOMENON, LOCAL RELEVANCE

PMIY was a UK-born global movement with 2000+ street pianos played & listened to by 20m+ people in 70 cities; since exclusively bringing PMIY to China, HKRI Taikoo Hui had partnered with artists, brands, schools, and charities for 5 years and donated 57 pianos – its growing momentum & recognition made 2023 the ideal year to flourish.

GOALS

1. Performance: double traffic & achieve sales growth 
    
2. Influence: double media buzz and PR value from PMIY 2022
    
3. WOM: achieve social media growth

DEVELOPMENT

HKRI Taikoo Hui’s PMIY 2023 had 3 key features:

1. Musical theme
    
   1. Creative idea: multiple touchpoints (instore/online/O2O) and varied engaging activities (co-creation, art installation, mobile game) – offering more ways to enjoy music
       
   2. Appointed Victor Ma, Chinese-American singer/songwriter with a fanbase of 16.5m, as campaign ambassador – enhanced local relevance and widened reach
       
   3. Expanded how music could be interpreted by working with 2 tenants, Harrods (exclusive prestigious club) and driverpro lab (hi-tech lifestyle brand), developed ‘London Calling’, a unique artpiece featuring iconic Harrods bear to target high-income customers, PMIY-themed afternoon tea, and a cross-over candle collection – elaborating musical theme and converting to business success
       
2. Artistic creation/installations
    
   1. Endorsed by Luke Jerram, British artist, father of PMIY – demonstrated HKRI Taikoo Hui’s accelerated influence as a globally recognized brand & creative partner
       
   2. Invited 6 international & local artists to create and donate 5 decorated pianos to 4 cities, bringing the joy of music to a diverse profile of audiences from HNWIs to underprivileged children – echoing its original idea & expanding influence
       
   3. Collaborated with French artist/architect Cyril Lancelin for CUBE PIANO: a visually striking 10m installation and maze for immersive experiences at ultra-busy West Nanjing Road crossing for maximum exposure – key to entertain more people by removing the piano-playing barrier & fulfilled the brand’s ESG promise as materials used were repurposed into handbags as members’ rewards
       
3. Gamified experiences
    
   1. Mobile game: integrated music into everyday life with easy piano-playing & podcasts – expanding reach
       
   2. ‘A musical journey through the city’: co-designed a special tour with local partner along donated PMIY pianos and leading traffic back instore – contributing to footfall & sales

OMNI-CHANNEL COMMUNICATIONS

• Social: published 46 posts on WeChat/Weibo/RED/Douyin, covering all major Chinese social media
   
• Advertising: WeChat ads and RED/Douyin influencer campaign, 82 entries in total
   
• PR: sent press release to 50 media

RESULTS

Besides achieving an impressive 91.9x ROI, HKRI Taikoo Hui also saw significant growth in all key metrics:

1. Sales: up by 16.3% YoY, with 27% of total sales from members – higher customer loyalty
    
2. Traffic: 2.3x of previous year 
    
3. Social media: owned accounts gained 2.5 million total impressions & 255,951 engagements, up by 75.8% and 59.6% YoY respectively, acquiring 40,452 new followers 
    
4. Advertising: 25.6 million impressions, up by 352.7% from PMIY 2022, with 83,237 engagements
    
5. PR: 839 stories published, valued at USD3m – media buzz and PR value were 2.31x and 2.54x of PMIY 2022 respectively