W To Bring On Fashion Director, Music Curator

Back in February, Starwood named Eva Ziegler global brand leader for W Hotels. Prior to this appointment, Ziegler was global brand leader of Le Méridien, responsible for defining the vision and brand strategy across disciplines (Ziegler continues to oversee Le Méridien).

So why is this "something to talk about" now?

Because in my conversation late last week with Carlos Becil, vice president of brand management for W Hotels, he mentioned that W will be bringing on a fashion director and a music curator in the coming months.

This is a move directly out of the Le Méridien playbook, and it has Ziegler’s fingerprints all over it.
 
In 2007, Ziegler engaged Jérôme Sans, an acclaimed innovator within the art world, as cultural curator for Le Méridien, re-positioning the brand as a cultural hub for the creative mind.

The move has worked well for Le Méridien, and Becil concedes that W adding a fashion director and music curator is indeed similar to Le Méridien’s addition of a culutural curator. 

But he notes that the areas of focus are different: while Le Méridien is focused on art, culture and sense of discovery, W is all about design, fashion, music and entertainment.

Still, the strategy is familiar, and now Becil says W’s marketing focus will move even further toward events, with more fashion programming (like W’s backstage lounge at New York’s Fashion Week) and music release parties in cities across the globe. 

In addition to coordinating such release party events, W’s music curator will produce the next W CD.