THE CHALLENGE

Kimpton Fitzroy London is a hotel full of stories that have yet to be told. Our challenge was to bring to life an aspect of the hotel and use it to story tell how the hotel offers the best of both the 19th and 21st centuries in a distinctly cool way.

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THE SOLUTION

On the floor of the lobby of Kimpton Fitzroy London lies a beautiful astrology mosaic that was completely covered until Kimpton took over the hotel. This story became the inspiration for our idea, alongside the fact that Tarot, although popular in the 19th Century, was having a massive resurgence in popular culture. 

To bring this theme and current trend to life, Kimpton Fitzroy London launched “Time to Tarot” a bespoke Tarot hotel package, that included a specially designed pack of Tarot cards, and a Tarot reading at the hotel by contemporary reader Fiongal Greenlaw-Meek.

The cards were created in collaboration with London-based queer artist and tarot illustrator, Ari Wisner and inspired by the magnificent architecture and rich history of Kimpton Fitzroy London and the contemporary flare of the hotel’s interior and artwork. Iconic cards in the Major Arcana deck were reimagined to tell the stories of the hotel. For example, the hotel’s resident dragon, ‘Lucky George’ was referenced in The Wheel of Fortune card, so named because the hotel architect Charles Fitzroy Doll designed an identical dragon for the staircase of The Titanic.

Kimpton Fitzroy London’s vibrant and swanky bar, Fitz’s, also dived into the transcendental experience, by launching a menu of cocktails inspired by 19th century occult trends. Fitz’s Drawing Room Divination menu included drinks inspired by fortune telling Victorian parlour games, including tarot, crystal gazing and tea leaves. The new menu launched with a bar takeover, Fitz’s Presents Casa Noble for one night only, where the cocktails Hidden Truth, Crystal Clear and Ask The Leaves were unveiled.

To launch, we invited hotel guests, media, influencers and friends of the hotel, to a night of the Occult, which took the form of a candlelit talk with Dr. Christina Oakley- Harrington, author and owner of Bloomsbury’s Magic bookshop, Treadwell’s. They also had the chance to speak to Ari about his designs and get a live reading from Fiongal.

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THE RESULTS

The campaign secured coverage across consumer, art and trade publications, in titles such as Metro, Hello and In London, with a reach of over 176 million and estimated coverage views of 207,000. As well as a social media reach of over 600,000 from influencer hosting. 

The Time to Tarot  campaign was enjoyed so much by hotel guests that it has now become a permanent package offering at Kimpton Fitzroy London. 

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