Ogilvy Taiwan collaborates with Hotel Royal Chiaohsi to end 2020 with ‘Farewell in Poems and Salt’ poetry festival
For the third consecutive year Hotel Royal Chiaohsi, is collaborating with Ogilvy Taiwan on an annual branded theme campaign. This year, they are turning the pandemic-driven tourism crisis into an opportunity for inspiration, with the Hotel Royal Chiaohsi Poetry Festival, “Farewell in Poems and Salt,” employing the world’s most gentle form of language to muse on the purifying imagery of “salt.”
Harnessing the literary powers of 12 contemporary Taiwanese poets, the festival offers healing texts and heartwarming services, integrating online and offline poetry events, including three exclusive themed Poetry Rooms at Hotel Royal Chiaohsi. The festival encourages everyone to use words and actions to defeat the uneasy feeling about travel and accommodation during the epidemic, say goodbye to the unhappiness of 2020, and welcome the New Year.
For the whole world, 2020 seems to have proceeded in a state of suspension, and the tourism industry has been hard hit. The year has reached its conclusion in what seems like an open-ended question mark. But Hotel Royal Chiaohsi invites everyone to say goodbye to troubled 2020 with a rite of purification. In traditional Taiwanese culture, salt is believed to remove bad luck and purify the soul. In the modern era, we know that salt also removes excess keratin, a source of aging, from the body. With “Farewell in Poems and Salt,” Hotel Royal Chiaohsi uses poetry, the most beautiful form of language on earth, to bring everyone positive energy through words.
“Even though 2020 has been a difficult year, we’re infusing the spaces of our hotel with the world’s most powerful source of encouragement—poems,” says Winston Shen, CEO of the Hotel Royal Group and General Manager of Hotel Royal Chiaohsi. “We’re thrilled with the privilege of gathering together with all the poets and welcoming people to the hotel to experience the fantasy journey of ‘Farewell in Poems and Salt’ at the Hotel Royal Chiaohsi Poetry Festival!”
12 poets and Hotel Royal Chiaohsi add an elegiac touch to the final days of 2020
Believing that 2020 needs to be rung out with a touch of class, Hotel Royal Chiaohsi has stepped outside the box of conventional hospitality, joining together with 12 poets, including established masters and members of the new generation: Hung Hung (Yen Hung-Ya), Ho Ching-Chwang, Peifen Hsu, Yu Kwang-Chung, Hsiang Yang, Song Shang-Wei, Lin Wan-Yu, Tsao Ni, Pan Bo Lin, Ren Ming-Hsin, Luo Zhi-Cheng, and Zheng Chouyu. The common themes of their works are the healing image of salt and bidding farewell. On December 20th, Hotel Royal Chiaohsi’s official Facebook page began publishing 12 countdown poems, one poem per day through the end of the year. Their words made peace with 2020, allowing readers to let the year go in their hearts, and find hope and courage between the lines.
A poetry festival with no restrictions in space—a confluence of online and offline events
During the festival period, travellers’ can enjoy a limited poetry exhibition in the famous reading corridor of Hotel Royal Chiaohsi, while poetic messages of farewell designed by Ogilvy Taiwan can be encountered throughout the entire holiday experience: on the shuttle bus to the hotel, in the hotel restaurant, and in unexpected places throughout the property. But the poetry festival is not confined to the premises of Hotel Royal Chiaohsi. On the “Farewell in Poems and Salt” festival website, visitors can not only read the 12 “salty” poems of parting, but also interact digitally to learn how to create their own farewell poems. In addition to the beautiful text and visuals, Hotel Royal Chiaohsi is joining with Taiwan’s most popular poetry community, Goodnight Poem ( Facebook, Instagram ), calling on everyone to submit their own original poems as part of the festival.
Exclusive themed Poetry Rooms offer guests a new form of accommodation and shared reading experience
The Poetry Festival at Hotel Royal Chiaohsi endows the spirit of poetry with concrete form, inviting three contemporary Taiwanese poets—Hung Hung (Yen Hung-Ya), Ho Ching-Chwang and Peifen Hsu—to create their own unique expressions in three specially designed theme rooms:
– Hung Hung (Yen Hung-Ya): “Melody Nourishes the Soul.” Vinyl records, turntables, classical music and jazz. Experience the rich world of art, the richest nutrient of life.
– Ho Ching-Chwang: “The Everyday Span between Brush and Ink.” With her renowned original calligraphy and poems, the artist expresses her love for her hometown and reminds guests, “Everyone has a child inside them.”
– Peifen Hsu: “Nocturnal Animal Fantasy.” A deconstruction and exposé of the nocturnal poet, a discovery of sleepless nights, and a celebration of the darkness.
As part of the Hotel Royal Chiaohsi Poetry Festival, from now until February 7, 2021, Poetry Rooms afford everyone the chance to experience a Japanese-style poetic atmosphere. The package includes two meals, special salty cocktails, and a limited-edition “Farewell in Poems and Salt” poetry gift box. Opening the gift box, guests will discover a “not-for-sale” book of poetry, and bath salts to wash away the dust of the world.
Credits
Agency: Ogilvy Taiwan
Group Creative Director & Head of Social: EJ Chiang
Senior Digital Art Director: YiShiun Chen
Copywriter: Szhui Liu, Harper Chuang
Video Production: Morning Rain Studio
Photography: Henry Wang/ Ogilvy Taiwan
