Accor Hotels ‘Thanks From Iso’ Campaign Earns Spot in the Beehive

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Accor Hotels ‘Thanks From Iso’ Campaign Earns Spot in the Beehive

It’s not often that a brand initiative ends up on display in parliament, but Accor Hotels’ Thanks from Iso campaign has achieved just that, earning a spot in New Zealand Parliament’s visitor centre until May.

 

Since March 2020, over 100,000 New Zealanders have experienced 14-day managed isolation in hotels around the country in order to safely complete their return home. As the Government’s largest managed isolation facility partner, Accor Hotels wanted to celebrate and commemorate the efforts of their incredible essential workers, and the countless everyday Kiwis who have played their role in keeping us all safe through managed isolation.

Through an exhibition and 14-day artist residency in December, Accor Hotels partnered with celebrated Kiwi artist Ruby Jones to capture the experiences and emotions of their frontline workers and guests in isolation.

Accor Hotels ‘Thanks From Iso’ Campaign Earns Spot in the Beehive

As part of her residency at a gallery in Auckland’s CBD, Jones interviewed dozens of Kiwi workers and residents in isolation, creating a body of artwork capturing the bravery and solidarity shown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Also on display were genuine artworks, sculptures, poetry and letters of gratitude produced by guests in managed Isolation – the same works that are now available to view in Parliament.

Each day of the December residency, Ruby’s works were displayed on high impact digital billboards near managed isolation hotels, delivered in partnership with QMS.

The exhibition caught the attention of national media like Stuff and the New Zealand Herald, and attracted a broad cross section of visitors, including our Prime Minister.

Accor Hotels New Zealand regional director of sales and marketing, Iain Ganner, says the response to Thanks From Iso has been incredibly gratifying: “This project began primarily as a way to acknowledge our heroic staff and the wonderful returning Kiwis who have been isolating in our care. The empathy, creativity and passion that Ruby brought to the project was inspiring and the efforts of our agency partner Mango in helping make this project a reality were immensely appreciated.”

Mango Communications Aotearoa managing director, Claudia Macdonald, says it’s not often projects like this come along and working with Accor Hotels on an initiative of national significance was a privilege: “This project, more than any other we touched in the past year, gave us humbling insight into the efforts some Kiwis are making to keep us all safe,” says Claudia. “Our hotel workers have copped a lot of flak but I can confidently say that when we look back on this period in 10 years’ time we’ll all agree that without them we’d have been in serious trouble. We’re proud to have done our bit to help recognise their unbelievable efforts.”

The Thanks From Iso exhibition is now located in the Visitor Centre at Parliament. It’s open every day between 10am and 5pm until Sunday, 2 May.

Accor Hotels New Zealand
Iain Ganner, Regional Director, Sales and Marketing
Julie Lumsden, Marketing Manager
Katharine Broughton, Communications Consultant

Mango Communications Aotearoa
Claudia Macdonald, Managing Director
Chloe Leuschke, Group Business Director
Max Burt, Senior Account Director
Isabelle Clarke, Account Manager