Objective

Last summer, jetsetters once again savoured the good life with Le Méridien with new additions to the beloved Au Soleil programme. Over the years, Au Soleil has evolved to celebrate the leisurely aspects of the summer season which include the perfect sunscreen, the ease of golden hour and, of course, a glass of crisp rosé. In 2023, we reinvigorated the programme with Whispering Angel Rosé. The French rosé was toasted across properties and, in partnership with TikTok-famous chef Meredith Hayden, its flavor profile was reimagined in the form of rosé sorbet for another one of Le Méridien’s signature programmes, Le Scoop. 

This campaign was designed to achieve the following: 

• Drive awareness of Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts’ seasonal and F&B programming. 

• Shape a compelling narrative around a new signature rosé sorbet offering  

• Reinforce the brand’s positioning of “Savour the Good Life” which celebrates simple pleasures and nostalgia. 

Strategy

To drive buzz around the Au Soleil program, we teamed up with social media’s favorite chef and tastemaker - Meredith Hayden (@WishBoneKitchen) - to create a rosé infused sorbet as a nod to Le Méridien’s ever-present invitation for travellers to chase an endless summer. Meredith traveled to the heart of Provence where the Whispering Angel vineyards reside to seek inspiration. She then partnered with Le Meridien Monaco’s executive chef to develop the recipe and later debuted the limited-edition rosé sorbet to media and influencers at Le Meridien Lav Split.   

Meredith documented the sorbet recipe development and her accompanying stays at Le Méridien properties across Instagram in the form of 3 reels, 1 carousel and 3 story sets. 

• Reel 1: Finding Inspiration – Meredith toured the Whispering Angel vineyard and pulled inspiration from the signature Whispering Angel rosé with its medium to light body with subtle notes of fruits and florals. This then led to the rosé sorbet development with the Le Méridien Monaco executive chef where the pair chose a strawberry base to complement the rosé. 
• Reel 2: How to Make a Sorbet Sidecar – Meredith demonstrated how to use the new sorbet sidecar, featuring both Whispering Angel rosé and the new rosé sorbet in a unique presentation vessel.
• Reel 3: Unveiling the Sorbet – Meredith then documented her travels to Split, Croatia where she helped kick off the Au Soleil season – sampling Le Méridien’s petit plates, sipping on rosé at golden hour, spending time soaking up the sun, and, of course, debuting the new rosé sorbet presented in the sorbet sidecar. 

Additionally, Meredith participated in brand-led video production which fully integrated her into the Au Soleil story.  

Meredith’s rosé sorbet was available at more than 30 Le Méridien properties, extending the partnership’s impact and engagement across the globe.  

Results

The campaign exceeded expectations across all key performance indicators: 

• 28.8M Social Media Impressions 

• 1.02M Engagements 

• 988K Video View-Throughs 

• 8.8% view through rate of all social video content, on par with benchmark performance 

• Brand Lift Study results also showed that the campaign generated statistically significant lift in Campaign Awareness, exceeding the North American Benchmark 

• 933M PR Impressions 

• Lifestyle Feature Highlights: Travel & Leisure, DuJour, Forbes, Coveteur 

The content generated positive sentiment from Meredith’s audience/reach with comments supporting the partnership and rosé sorbet launch:

• “This is the most iconic partnership of all time” 
• “Where do we get theses wine/sorbet glasses??!❤️” 
• “Amazing idea, looks delish! 🌸” 

Media