Of course such an amusing and incongruous addition to the building would have been a canny marketing move sure to garner lots of attention even before the internet existed. But these days, which are so dominated by social media, you'd be mad not to use it in a strategic way. And what the hotel did served as a neat little lesson for those interested in how to use a site like Twitter to best effect.
Firstly, the tweets were visual. As we all know, a picture paints a thousand words. People love images -- the more striking the better -- and share them like crazy.
Secondly, the tweets in question told a compelling story, albeit a brief one. The first said that "something is growing on the hotel" and included a photo of the first part of the moustache being, er, uploaded. Subsequent updates continued the process until the addition was complete. Very theatrical.
And it's up! Happy #Movember2014 @MovemberAUS @RydgesHotels @CityofFremantle @In_My_Community pic.twitter.com/a1vnI97eqZ
— Esplanade Hotel Freo (@Esp_Hotel_Freo) October 31, 2014
So, some useful ingredients there. And definitely ones to remember if you are intending to promote your own event or campaign on Twitter in particular and/or social media in general.