Their Instagram reel got right to the point: “Our boss said he’ll take us to Disneyland if we hit 10K followers in the next 10 days.” The communications trio made their ask in April while doing the trendy “Fireball” dance, urging viewers to “get these queens to the castle.” And Instagrammers answered their call.
Screenshot: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
In just two days, @hawaiian.host.group acquired 10,000 followers and continued on to 100,000 after the dancing trio told followers that “Boss Man” would wear a princess dress on the promised Disneyland trip if they hit a six-digit following. They surpassed 200,000 followers two days later.
Screenshot: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
All the while, the communications team—consisting of Associate Corporate Communications Managers Ruby Lee and Raquelle Pendleton, intern Lauren Miral and Director of Corporate Brand Strategy Stijn Spaas, aka Boss Man—were brainstorming and putting out more content leading up to the trip. They even organized an event in Anaheim to meet their new followers and do the big reveal of Boss Man’s dress.
It’s a social media dream come true. Having followed their Instagram journey since the first reel, we caught up with members of the comms team to hear their behind-the-scenes story.
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Q&A With Ruby Lee and Raquelle Pendleton, Hawaiian Host Group Associate Corporate Communications Managers
In right photo, from left to right: Ruby Lee, Lauren Miral and Raquelle Pendleton. Photos: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
How did the idea for the first reel come about?
Ruby Lee: We had this goal of reaching 10,000 followers by May 1, but we were stuck around the 1,400 mark. Ten days before our May 1 deadline, we had a team meeting to brainstorm how to make this happen. And Lauren, our intern, she actually wore a Disney sweater. That’s when Stijn said, “OK guys, if we do this, I’ll take you to Disneyland.” And that just incentivized us even more. We all worked together on the Fireball dance video and filmed it in our office downstairs. Then it blew up.
Raquelle Pendleton: We had no idea it was gonna be viral. It happened so organically.
After you hit the first goal of 10,000, what happened next?
RP: We were like, we have to continue this momentum. So we were thinking, what’s the next challenge? That’s how we got the 100K and Boss Man would wear a princess dress, tying into a Disneyland theme. The internet ran with that. It helped us hit that goal really fast—unfortunately for our boss.
RL: We didn’t think it would keep going. But I feel like the internet just loves to prove people wrong, so we ended up tapping into that challenge. He did agree to it. He wasn’t under duress.
Screenshots: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
Have you looked at the demographics of your followers?
RL: It’s pretty global. Our top cities are Honolulu, LA and New York. But there are also people in India and other countries. Age-wise, it’s pretty millennial, and it’s like 75% women. A lot of women like our boss.
Photos: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
What was your favorite part about going to Disneyland?
RP: Everything was awesome. The churro? And I was looking for the Mickey Mouse ice cream for the longest time.
One of our fans recognized us there—that was also cool, just seeing the impact that social media can have. Everyone was just so stoked for us to get there.
RL: I feel like it happened so fast that I still can’t wrap my head around what happened. It was so much fun. Space Mountain was awesome.
The guests at the dress reveal event. Photo: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
How did the dress reveal event go?
RP: It was very cool. It was at a wedding venue close to Disneyland since Disneyland has a rule that adults can’t dress up as princesses. The wedding venue was just beautiful and idyllic. There were fountains and a balcony, and that’s where he did the reveal. We gave away a ton of products from Mauna Loa and Hawaiian Host and did a giveaway for a trip to Hawai‘i. It was pretty crazy. There was a line out the door.
How long have you been working together?
RL: I joined in March 2022. Raquelle is much newer. And Lauren, our intern, she’s been with us for almost six months. She’s a true Gen Z, and her perspective really helps. She’s so good at editing reels.
Photo: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
Could you talk about how you come up with ideas for social media content?
RP: For our social media, we’re always going to be about the people, not the brands. Having that as our focus helps us hone into what we’re going to post.
RL: We’re all different people with different perspectives, and our personal feeds are different, so we’re inspired by different things. We figure out how we can make our own versions or just create our own original content.
Like the video where we’re pushing Stijn in a cart, it was really unexpected, and that’s what the internet loves, the unexpected or entertaining or educational, those pillars.
And we have fun with it too. I think that comes through, that we’re genuinely having fun together. That resonates with people.
Photo: Courtesy of Hawaiian Host Group
For other local businesses that might be looking at your social media as a prime example of what they should be doing, do you have any tips to help them step up their Instagram game?
RP: You want to always stay true to your brand and company. Our Instagram is really about the people, and we barely show our brands, but now, because people see our company culture, they want to work with us. And they do want to know what we do even though we never talk about it. Doing everything organically does translate when we do a reel.
RL: Adding on to that, consistency is key—consistency in how frequently you’re posting and the type of content you’re posting.
For us, we leaned into that corporate humor side of the internet. So even though it looks like we blew up overnight, it actually was months of work. Having all the videos on our page previously helped with the “stickiness” of our new content. People would see one video, then maybe the next video would pop up on their feeds, so they’d get curious and look at our profile, and they’d see all the other videos and find them engaging, funny and entertaining.
And always stay authentic. There might be trends booming, but if it doesn’t feel true to who you are, maybe it’s not worth pursuing.
Also, take risks and try new things. Social media is a bit of a gamble, like sometimes you spend hours on a post that gets five likes. And sometimes the scrappiest video that you could do in five minutes can go totally viral.
RP: That really does say a lot about consistency. You don’t know what’s gonna pop off, so you shouldn’t be riding on one piece of content. It’s a continual journey of it may or may not happen, but you never know.
RL: And the last thing, people on social media like to look at other people and hear from them. It can be uncomfortable to get in front of the camera. But that’s what makes people connect with your brand, especially now that social media is so person to person. It’s just human nature to be drawn to that.
hawaiianhostgroup.com, @hawaiian.host.group
