Mercure Kicks Off International Casting for a Trip Around the World to Check the "Six Friends Theory"

Mercure has decided to check the well-known six-degrees-of-separation theory, which claims that we are all only six people away from everyone else on the planet. Mercure is introducing a worldwide digital operation, "The Six Friends Theory", based on this principle and leading to an unprecedented human experience combining the power of social media and candid face-to-face encounters. The worldwide selection process will run on Facebook from January 20th to February 10th, 2015, and an internet user will soon be able to experience the extraordinary!

An unprecedented story

The goal is to select a candidate, somewhere around the world, and take him or her to meet an Aboriginal man from the Bundjalung tribe in Australia, and prove that they are only 6 degrees of separation away from each other! They do not know each other yet but will be meeting via a chain of friends, and of "friends' friends" that connects them.

A worldwide casting for everyone

The process to take part in this all-new experiment is simple. Starting on January 20th, internet users will be welcome to post a video up to 1 minute long on Facebook, capturing their personality, what they like, what drives them, their plans, their talents and so forth. Candidates will need to appear in their videos and explain why they believe they are the world's best friend.
Link to apply : www.facebook.com/MercureHotels.fr

Once the videos are up on Mercure's Facebook page, the 50 candidates with the most votes will be short-listed for the final recruitment phase. So candidates will need to get their networks involved and share their videos to get as many votes as possible! A panel of 6 people including Jean-Fran￧ois Julian (a Film Director) and Isabelle Musnik (Editor-in-Chief of INfluencia) will select the winner among the 50 selected candidates, after a final interview.

The casting will run from January 20th to February 10th, 2015 and the results will be announced between February 17th and February 24th, 2015. So it is time for daring ideas and piles imagination to stand out, and for networks to back up their friends and vote them to the top!

Watch the film teaser announcing the operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-0rO8VTiSg

Friends plotting a trip around the world

This game's first prize is a trip around the world staying in the Mercure network hotels, packed with encounters, discoveries, journeys and all-new experiences!

The winner will spend 7 weeks on the road starting at the beginning of March! "The Six Friends Theory" will encompass 6 encounters, 6 trips and 6 Mercure hotels around the world. At each stop, the Mercure hotelier will welcome the winning candidate and tell him/her where to find his/her next friend. And friends will then treat the candidate on an unprecedented experience, immersed in their local culture, or the friend's pursuits, and then point him/her towards the next step towards the final encounter with the Aboriginal man. This adventure will be creative, human and a lot of fun.

Throughout the journey, the winning candidate will be escorted by a filmmaking team led by Jean-Fran￧ois Julian. This sharp film director has traveled around the world several times and worked on Les Nouveaux Explorateurs, a broadcast on the French channel, Canal+. His job will be to capture these first-ever encounters between the winning candidate and his friends, for posterity.

There will also be something for the other 49 short-listed candidates: they can win nights at Mercure hotels, Samsung tablets or "The Six Friends Theory" prizes.

The more than 700 hotels in Mercure's worldwide network strive to highlight local distinctive features and thereby treat each traveler to a genuine experience in touch with others and sharing with them. That is precisely why this brand has decided to run "The Six Friends Theory", based on a concept imagined by the W&Cie agency. This operation is Mercure's way of showing once again that it is in touch with its time, meaning connected and innovative.

Mercure on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MercureHotels.fr

About Mercure

Mercure is the midscale non-standardized brand of Accor, the world's leading hotel operator with over 3,600 hotels, 460,000 rooms and 170,000 employees in 92 countries. Mercure hotels share common quality standards and are driven by passionate hoteliers. Whether they are located in major city centers, by the seaside or in mountain resorts, each establishment offers an authentic experience for both business and leisure travelers. The Mercure network spans 707 hotels in 53 countries around the globe, represents a real alternative to standardized or independent hotels, and combines the power of an international network with professional and digital expertise. For more information, visit http://www.mercure.com.