Expedia rolls out ad campaign to hook neo-travellers

Conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, the TVC plays on the insight that travel adds to one's social status

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | May 7, 2013

With the travel season kicking off, online travel company Expedia has launched its latest advertising campaign in India. Conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, the campaign is aimed at igniting the hunger for travel. It centres on the insight that the world we live in is rapidly changing and therefore the reasons for travel.

Today, travel is no longer a luxury but deemed as more of a necessity; moreover, it adds to one's social status. In today's stressed world, travel often is the respite that helps people rejuvenate and relax, adding to wonderful and pleasant memories. The campaign hinges on this central theme and has been rolled out nationally across print, digital, radio and television mediums.

Innovation has been at the core of Expedia's DNA. The brand has evolved considerably over the last two years and has transformed into a brand that developed a local appeal for Indian consumers. With each innovative feature introduced, the brand has emerged stronger, forming a close association with providing the best travel experience to consumers. Today more than 31 million people around the globe place their trust on Expedia by making travel related transactions.  Moreover, today the brand enjoys a loaded legacy of the most tie ups with airlines and hotels around the world than any other site.

Manmeet Ahluwalia, Head – Marketing, Expedia India, said, “The campaign has been designed keeping in mind the need for travel and the travel proposition offered by Expedia to consumers in India and globally. The purpose of this campaign is to convey the need to travel for people who often neglect it due to lack of time or not being able to book in advance and end up being the non-traveling population. With 18,000 amazing offers every day, unparalleled in the industry, Expedia ensures that you are never 'the neighbour who never travels.'”

Ahluwalia added, “Our campaign is based on the insight that other people's travel is always a trigger for you to travel. There was a time people travelled to see new places; today the choice of destination is heavily influenced by the 'talk value' on social media platforms. The campaign is focused mainly on neo-travellers from tier 1 cities.”

Sriram Iyer, spokesperson for Lowe Lintas, commented, “The world we live in is rapidly changing and with it, so are the reasons we travel. Today, the act of travelling has tremendous social status attached to it, especially among one's peers. There was a time we took pictures for our photo albums; today we take them so that we can post them on Facebook. There was a time we travelled to see new places; today our choice of destination is heavily influenced by the 'talk value' it will give us once we get back. For the new Expedia campaign, we decided to mine this basic insight – that in today's world there are few things worse than not being able to go on holiday when everyone else around you is.”

Expedia offers a comprehensive inventory featuring more than 2 00,000 hotels and 7,000 holiday activities and attractions from across the world. Also, with its flights+hotels product, travellers can save up to Rs 12,000 on their total travel cost. Airasia's exclusive tie-up with the brand further allows it to provide low cost packages for SEA region.

There has been 200 per cent y-o-y growth in transactions at Expedia.co.in from Q1 2011 to Q1 2013. In the past few months, it has witnessed double-digit growth in transactions and triple-digit growth in standalone hotel bookings. This year, with a marketing outlay of Rs 50 crore, Expedia is focused on further strengthening its position in the industry.

AirAsiaExpedia is the joint venture company between the world's leading online travel company, Expedia Inc., and the world's best low-cost airline, AirAsia. Headquartered in Singapore, AirAsiaExpedia operates Expedia's businesses in India, Japan, Southeast Asia and East Asian markets and the AirAsiaGo.com business across Asia.

The TVCs:

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com