Café Causette Campaign Latest Use Of Social Media By Mandarin Oriental#
With the luxury hotel marketplace becoming more crowded in cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing over the past three years, several five-star properties have turned to social media to interact with potential guests and encourage more two-way communication. Recently, Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental kicked off a marketing campaign harnessing the power of its more than 11,000 Facebook fans, encouraging them to vote on a new menu at the hotel's Café Causette. As part of its promotion of Executive Chef Uwe Opocensky's mini-pulled burgers at Café Causette, the hotel asked guests to vote on the burger variety they'd like to see added to the menu on a permanent basis, helping the restaurant gauge local interest in different ingredients.
As voting continues, the hotel is offering a tasting menu of five mini burgers from March 12-25, priced at HK$88 (US$11.33) between 7:00-9:30 PM. The five burgers on the current tasting menu include braised pulled pork with BBQ sauce and XO mayonnaise; short rib pulled beef with rib sauce; stewed pulled lamb shoulder with BBQ sauce and mustard mayonnaise confit; corn-fed pulled chicken leg with hot pepper mayo and BBQ sauce; and kimchi with freshly shucked oysters.
At the end of their meal, diners are asked to vote on Facebook for their favorite burger by scanning a QR code printed on the menu, or -- if they don't have a Facebook page -- by filling out a questionnaire. The two burger varieties with the most votes by April 2 will be added to the Café Causette menu, with the hotel then choosing one Facebook fan at random to win a grand prize mini-burger dinner for six, including drinks. A second-prize winner will receive a dinner for four, and a third winner will win a dinner for two. To help drum up additional buzz, the Mandarin Oriental has also leveraged the influence of Hong Kong's food blogger scene, bringing in additional interest via Twitter and Sina Weibo.
This campaign is the latest in a string of Facebook-focused croud-sourcing efforts by the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. Last year, the hotel held a popular photo competition, encouraging Facebook fans to upload photos of what they considered the most romantic place in Hong Kong. The best photos, as voted on by other fans, were showcased in the hotel lobby. During this campaign, the hotel's Facebook page saw thousands of new fans.
Following the success of last year's photo-voting competition, the Mandarin plans to hold another similar competition this May around the time of the Hong Kong Art Fair (ARTHK12), for which it is the official hotel.
