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 exposure, engagements, and results, expanding its continuous commitment to placemaking and investing in communities.

BACKGROUND

PMIY was first commissioned in the UK in 2008 and became a global movement with over 2000 street pianos in 70 cities, played & listened to by 20m+ people; since bringing PMIY to Shanghai in 2018, 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.

OBJECTIVES

1. Exposure: double media buzz & PR value from PMIY 2022 
    
2. Engagements: engage its consumers in-store & online
    
3. Loyalty: double traffic & achieve sales growth 

DEVELOPMENT

HKRI Taikoo Hui enhanced PMIY 2023 through 3 key features:

1. Musical theme
   1. Creative idea: multiple touchpoints (instore/online/O2O integration) and varied interactive activities (co-creation, art installation, mobile game) – offering more ways of engagements
       
   2. Appointed Victor Ma, Chinese-American singer/songwriter with a fanbase of 16.5m, as campaign ambassador – enhanced PMIY’s 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 art piece featuring iconic Harrods bear to target high-income customers, PMIY-themed afternoon tea, and a cross-over candle collection – converting popularity to brand loyalty
       
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 –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 remove the piano-playing barrier & fulfil the brand’s ESG promise through upcycling into handbags
       
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