Getting ready to travel and being on the road puts people in a shopping mood – and not just for buying travel-related products.
According to research released by TripAdvisor last month, 84% of travelers are actively in the market for electronics, streaming services, food, booze and financial services.
This tendency creates a unique opportunity for brands that are non-endemic to the travel industry, says Christine Maguire, global VP of commercial business at TripAdvisor, on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks.
Traveling “intensifies emotions, excitement and joy,” Maguire says, which leads people – millennials and Gen Z, in particular – to direct their disposable income toward affordable luxuries.
For example, younger travelers are 62% more likely to watch streaming content to get themselves psyched for a trip and five times more likely to try new beauty products when they’re in an airport or at their destination.
Meanwhile, travelers in general are five times more likely to buy alcohol and cocktails. (Yep, that checks out.)
Netflix was one of TripAdvisor’s earliest non-endemic brand partners, but it has also run campaigns with DoorDash, Staples and even paint brand Sherwin-Williams, which involves an online hub that matches its most popular paint shades with cities based on their vibe.
Clicking on “dragon fruit” pink, for example, brings up information about “romantic” destinations, such as Key West, Paris and Santorini. “Pewter green” links to “rustic” ports of call, including Faroe Islands and Nosy Be, a tropical island off the coast of Madagascar. And on and on.
“You’d never think of this kind of execution or collaboration between a travel company and a home goods company,” Maguire says. “But it’s been an incredible success for us.”
Also in this episode: TripAdvisor’s first-party data strategy, how it selects which third-party ad tech vendors to partner with and dealing with disruptive changes to Google’s organic search algorithm. Plus: an update on TripAdvisor’s self-serve ad platform and pandemic lessons learned.
For more articles featuring Christine Maguire, click here.
