POPULUS HOTEL

Reimagining Hotel Space Through Programming and Placemaking

Using sound, experiential design, and partnerships to transform Populus into a seasonal destination for guests and locals alike.

‍Populus set out to reimagine the holiday season as a fully immersive experience - one shaped by light, sound, texture, taste, and atmosphere. Drawing inspiration from the hotel’s aspen-like architectural ascent from ground to treetop, the vision centered on creating a winter world guests could step into, rather than simply observe.
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As one of Downtown Denver’s newest hotels, Populus already offered a striking lobby and Upper Lobby environment. The opportunity lay in activating these spaces with thoughtful, recurring programming that welcomed both travelers and the local community, encouraging longer stays, repeat visits, and deeper engagement with on-property culinary and beverage outlets.

Challenge

The primary challenge was speed. The campaign was scoped, planned, and launched in a compressed window—beginning over Thanksgiving and debuting by December 3. This left little margin for experimentation, extended promotion, or slow partner onboarding.

At the same time, Populus was entering an already-saturated holiday landscape. Competing pop-ups and seasonal events across Denver had weeks (or months) of promotional runway. To stand out, Populus needed programming that felt elevated, intentional, and culturally relevant, paired with partners who could immediately activate their audiences.

The client’s goals:
• Introduce on-brand holiday programming that felt native to Populus
• Generate consistent evening foot traffic during the winter season
• Drive incremental food and beverage revenue
• Attract new, aligned audiences while remaining welcoming to locals
• Build stronger ties to the surrounding downtown and creative communities

Solution

Our approach focused on transforming Populus’s public spaces into a living, evolving winter environment—one that rewarded repeat visitation and layered discovery.

Rather than a single-night activation, we designed a multi-week program that blended high-impact weekends with consistent midweek moments. This allowed Populus to maintain momentum throughout December while supporting both revenue and brand-building goals.

HiFi Holiday

Over two weekends, we introduced HiFi Holiday, a pop-up bar and listening lounge that turned the hotel into a high-fidelity living room for the season. Created in partnership with ESP HiFi and High Road Spirits, the experience combined analog sound, curated vinyl selectors, and unique seasonal cocktails in an intimate, design-forward setting.

HiFi Holiday generated over $10,000 in revenue across six nights, welcomed 1,000+ guests, and positioned Populus as a destination for culture-forward holiday gatherings.

Seasonal Soundscapes

Seasonal Soundscapes was a live music series hosted in the Populus lobby throughout December, featuring local Denver artists performing winter-inspired and holiday-adjacent sets from 6–8pm. Paired with Pasque’s seasonal food and beverage offerings, the program activated the lobby during early evening hours, encouraged repeat visitation, provided the hotel with an additional campaign to promote during holidays, and reinforced Populus as a hub for community-driven, culture-forward programming.

Marketing Strategy & Influencer Partnerships

Our marketing strategy focused on maximizing internal resources while engaging local audiences and guests ahead of arrival. This included a press release, a December content calendar with ready-to-use Canva templates, robust pre-arrival email campaigns highlighting on-property programming, and strong organic social amplification.

We also developed a carefully curated influencer campaign. Creators were selected based on genuine brand alignment, audience quality, and cultural relevance—not follower count alone. Content rolled out steadily from opening night through the following weekend, reinforcing momentum and reach. Our influencer partners drove:

TOTAL INFLUENCERS