250+ Applications: A Coliving Campaign Success Story
Launching a new coliving space in a new destination presents a familiar marketing problem. You need photographs, stories, reviews and a sense of community before the first guests arrive, but those things normally only exist after the space has opened.
For a new beachfront coliving project near Barcelona, we turned that problem into the campaign.
Instead of waiting until the property was finished and then advertising rooms, we created a co-creation campaign inviting digital nomads to help shape the space before launch.
Selected applicants could stay for free in exchange for their skills, ideas and participation in the story.
The campaign generated more than 250 applications, and from those, 20 people were selected to participate across the three-month co-creation project. They brought a combination of creative, digital and practical skills, helping to develop the space, test the experience and create authentic content around its transformation.
More importantly, it created something a conventional advertising campaign could not: an international group of people who were already emotionally invested in the project and ready to tell others about it.
250+ applications | 20 people selected | Three-month project | Day-to-day on-site delivery
The Brief: Launch a New Kind of Coliving Space
The property was a former beachfront hotel in Caldes d’Estrac, around 45 minutes from central Barcelona by train. The ambition was to transform it into what was positioned as Europe’s first coliving space directly on the beach, with accommodation, coworking facilities and a cafe that could also connect with the local community.
The location was strong, but the project needed more than attractive photographs and a booking page. It needed an identity, an early community and credible content showing what the experience could become.
The campaign therefore had to achieve several things at the same time:
Introduce a new coliving destination to an international digital nomad audience
Attract people with useful creative, digital and practical skills
Build awareness before the formal opening
Generate authentic photographs, video and social content
Test ideas with the type of people most likely to become future guests
Connect the international community with the town and local businesses
The Campaign Idea: Invite the Audience to Build the Story
The central message was simple: Co-create with us in beautiful Barcelona.
Digital nomads and remote workers were invited to stay at the property for between two weeks and two months while the hotel was being transformed. Some could join at a reduced beta-testing rate, while selected contributors could stay free in exchange for their time and skills.
This was not framed as a generic competition or influencer giveaway. It was a value exchange.
Applicants were asked what they could contribute to the project. The campaign welcomed a broad mix of skills, including:
Digital marketing and social media
Influencer outreach and community building
Web development and graphic design
Writing, photography and video creation
Art, music and other creative ideas
Gardening, DIY and practical transformation work
That gave the campaign a purpose beyond free accommodation. People were applying to participate in the creation of something new, not simply to receive a free holiday.
Why More Than 250 People Applied
The strength of the response came from combining four powerful motivations.
1. A location people could immediately imagine
The campaign offered the chance to live and work beside the Mediterranean while remaining within easy reach of Barcelona. The beachfront setting made the idea visually compelling and easy to communicate.
2. A genuine role in the project
Applicants were not treated as passive guests. They were invited to contribute ideas, test the experience and influence how the community developed. That sense of ownership made the opportunity more meaningful.
3. A clear exchange of value
The free-stay element attracted attention, but the campaign made it clear that selected participants would contribute skills and time. This helped attract people who were motivated by the project itself.
4. A story worth sharing
“Help create a new coliving space on the beach” is more interesting than “book a room in a new property and get a discount.” The campaign gave applicants and selected participants a natural story to share with their own audiences.
Turning Applicants into Storytellers
The campaign was designed so that promotion did not end when applications closed.
The application process identified people who could contribute to the physical space, community, marketing and content. The selected co-creators then became part of the launch story as the property was transformed from a beachfront hotel into a coliving and coworking community.
Their experiences provided the raw material for:
Behind-the-scenes photographs and video
Introductions to individual co-creators
Social media updates from the property
Stories about living and working by the beach
Content featuring the town and nearby local businesses
Practical feedback about the rooms, workspace and community experience
Launch content that felt lived-in rather than staged
This is one of the biggest advantages of a well-designed creator campaign. The participants do not simply promote a finished product. Their experiences become part of the product’s history.
Building a Community Beyond the Coliving Space
We did not only create a new coliving space and an international community. We also worked to connect the project with the people, businesses and organisations already active in the local area.
We opened parts of the experience to local residents through free workshops, many of which drew on the skills and knowledge of the co-creation team. This created opportunities for local people and international participants to meet, learn from each other and become involved in the project.
Our wider local activities included:
- Offering free workshops for local residents
- Supporting existing community events
- Organising beach clean-ups
- Encouraging participants to explore and support local businesses
- Arranging weekly social evenings at local bars and restaurants
These activities helped prevent the coliving space from becoming an isolated international bubble. They introduced participants to the wider community, supported local businesses and made the destination an active part of the experience.
The result was a more inclusive form of community building. We were not simply bringing digital nomads into the area. We were creating opportunities for international participants and local residents to connect and contribute to the same shared experience.
What the Campaign Delivered
The headline result was more than 250 applications, but the wider value went beyond the number.
An audience before launch
The project developed an interested international audience while the property was still being prepared. Applicants, their networks and the wider CoWorking Days community all became part of the early awareness campaign.
A pool of relevant talent
The application process identified people with marketing, creative, technical and hands-on skills. It functioned as recruitment, audience research and community building at the same time.
Authentic launch content
Instead of relying entirely on polished promotional material, the project could show real people participating in the transformation and experiencing the destination.
Early feedback from the target market
The co-creators were also potential future customers. Their feedback helped reveal what digital nomads actually valued in the accommodation, workspace, community and local experience.
A stronger connection with the destination
The campaign was not only about a building. It connected the new coliving space with the town of Caldes d’Estrac, the beach, local cafes and the wider Barcelona region. This made the destination part of the product.
Our Role in the Campaign
We created the campaign concept and developed the story used to introduce the project to the international digital nomad community through CoWorking Days.
Our work included shaping the co-creation proposition, developing the recruitment message, defining the types of contributors required, promoting the opportunity, managing applications and positioning participants as future storytellers rather than conventional influencers.
We also lived at the property throughout the co-creation period and ran the campaign day to day. This gave us direct insight into the participant experience and allowed us to coordinate contributors, respond to developments on site, document the transformation and ensure that the online campaign reflected what was genuinely happening at the property.
The campaign combined destination marketing, community building, content creation, partnership development and hands-on delivery. It generated awareness before the official launch while creating an international community and a valuable collection of authentic stories and content.
What Coliving and Hospitality Brands Can Learn from It
The campaign offers a useful model for new coliving spaces, hotels, retreats and destination projects.
Give people a reason to care before asking them to book
An opening announcement is easy to ignore. An invitation to influence a new project creates curiosity, involvement and emotional investment.
Design the campaign around mutual value
Free accommodation can produce applications, but a clear exchange of skills and experience produces better applicants. Both sides should understand what they are contributing and receiving.
Recruit for different kinds of influence
The most valuable participant may not be the person with the largest following. A photographer, community host, web developer, designer or highly connected niche creator may contribute more to the project.
Build content creation into the experience
Content works best when it emerges naturally from the participant journey. Transformation updates, local discoveries, shared meals and honest reflections are more credible than a list of forced promotional posts.
Make the destination part of the story
People were not only applying to join a property. They were applying to experience a Mediterranean beach town with Barcelona close by. Strong destination context expands the appeal of the product.
Planning Your Stay Own in Barcelona
Barcelona combines Mediterranean living with a thriving international community, extensive coworking options, cultural attractions, major events and an excellent food and nightlife scene. It is easy to understand why the city remains one of Europe’s most popular destinations for digital nomads and remote workers.
Start with our complete Barcelona digital nomad guide to compare neighbourhoods, build a productive routine and discover ways to meet other remote workers in the city.
If you are considering a community-focused stay, explore our guide to the best coliving spaces in Barcelona. You can also compare available accommodation in Barcelona before choosing the area that best suits your budget and lifestyle.
Travellers arriving from elsewhere in Europe can compare flights to Barcelona and discover things to do in Barcelona.
Planning to stay longer? Read our guide to the Spain Digital Nomad Visa and discover how learning Spanish in Barcelona can help you connect with the city beyond the international community.
For the practical side of your trip:
Read our guide to staying connected with an eSIM and use the available GigSky discount
Compare cover in our detailed SafetyWing travel insurance review
See our tips for finding low-cost flights
Explore more digital nomad events and festivals
From Marketing Campaign to Community
The success of this project did not come from presenting a finished space as perfect. It came from inviting people into the unfinished story.
More than 250 people applied because the campaign combined a desirable destination, a meaningful opportunity and a clear role for the community. The selected participants could then help shape the experience and create the authentic content needed to introduce it to a wider audience.
For new hospitality and destination projects, that is the central lesson: sometimes the most powerful launch campaign is not about showing people what you have built. It is about giving the right people a reason to help build it with you.
Looking for a Campaign Like This?
We work with coliving spaces, hospitality brands, events and destinations to create campaigns that attract participants, creators and customers while generating useful content and long-term community value.
If you are launching a new space or destination experience, contact us to discuss a campaign built around your audience and commercial goals.
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains travel and partner links. CoWorking Days may receive a commission when a reader makes a purchase or booking through selected links, at no additional cost to the reader.
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