The Four Seasons Orlando goes viral

I have a question for everybody.

Who wants to go to the Four Seasons Orlando!??

If your algorithm is anything like mine, you already heard a resounding “meeeee” in your head.

That’s because Conscious Baby has been dominating my feed for well over a week now.

But what I didn’t know is this video actually transcended space, time, and meme-dom. Because this turned out to be a sick story about how the Four Seasons Orlando used this video to build their brand reputation.

If you don’t know the video I’m talking about (come out from under that rock), let me inform you.

The viral video was posted to TikTok 2 weeks ago. It features a dad holding his one-year-old daughter while his other kid plays in the background. The woman recording, who I can only assume is their mother, asks who wants to visit the Four Seasons Orlando. And both kids yell, ‘meeee!’

And the internet became captivated by the baby’s reaction. There's something about the way she puts her little hand in the air and stares into the camera. The look of excitement and desperation to go to The Four Seasons Orlando. The way she comprehended the question so well.

The video raised the question of how much infants understand about the world around them.

'That baby looks like she pays taxes!' one user wrote. 'Is this a real baby?' asked another. There are thousands of comments like this, and they’re all hilarious.

'That baby booked the trip.' I freaking love the internet sometimes.

While the mysteries of human consciousness remain unknown to me, the video did numbers. It got nearly 8M likes and a whole lot of adaptations. Conscious Baby became a sensation.

And now, THE FOUR SEASONS ORLANDO is actually hosting 13-month-old Kate and 4-year-old Madelyn. 

Along with their parents of course.

Her aunt, Stefanie O’Brien, originally shared the video. She recently spoke about how surreal the whole experience was. 'You tag Starbucks in a video and you’re like, "Oh, maybe the brand will respond, maybe they don’t." You never picture that it would turn into something like this,' O’Brien told Ad Age.

'I can’t even wrap my head around it, to be honest. Brands pay millions and millions of dollars to get this kind of exposure. And this is all just so organic and authentic, and it’s just really cool to see how people are responding to it.'

She began exchanging DMs with the Four Seasons account four days after she posted the video. Then they began corresponding via text, then Zoom. That was when the company invited them to stay in the presidential suite instead of the standard room they had already booked.

The Four Seasons Orlando even gave the family Kate's favourite snacks and prepared her favourite activities for her stay.

And it gets even crazier.

The Four Seasons team fully leaned into the way people were personifying the conscious baby video to be this grown up, fancy, baby.

So they fitted her out with a custom tuxedo, a robe and pool towel embroidered with the words 'Boss Baby.' They also prepared boujiee meals like gold flake truffle pasta and served her milk bottles on a silver platter.

Love how they used this viral video to showcase everything their hotel offers. Pretty smart if you ask me.

So what can we learn from this as marketers?

• Ask and you shall receive. Tag that brand. You’ve got nothing to lose and you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

• Know an opportunity when you see one. Many giant brands like the Four Seasons wouldn’t have even taken notice of Conscious Baby. But in doing so, have created this whole universe on TikTok. Keep your ear to the ground as to how you could do the same.

And one more takeaway: Conscious Baby deserves all the good things in life. That is all.

-Sophie, Copywriter