The travel industry has been one of the sectors most affected by the rise of e-commerce, with customers increasingly doing their booking of flights, hotels, trips, rental cars and transfers online. Expedia, the world’s largest online travel site in terms of booking volumes, is at the forefront of that shift and, as part of its ‘Out There Starts Here’ campaign, it’s created a few good ads for the New Zealand and Australian market. Now it’s launched another one that sees the travel dreams of several characters become a reality.
Developed by DDB Sydney, the new home of Toby Talbot, the campaign focus of ‘finding your somewhere’ is spearheaded by a TVC directed by Sean Mehan featuring a new version of the famous song, ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’. The campaign will roll out across all media.
“At Expedia, we are passionate about helping people get out there and discover – or rediscover – this amazing world we live in,” says Lee-Ann Googan, brand marketing director, Expedia Australia and NZ. “This campaign truly captures the joy of travel … We hope this campaign inspires people that there is no better time to start getting to your ‘somewhere’ with Expedia.”
Talbot believes the central idea of the campaign is really going to resonate with a lot of people.
“We all have a place in the world we desperately want to visit, but life always seems to get in the way (I speak from bitter experience). The TVC in particular really epitomises this, beautifully bringing the whole concept to life.”
Expedia wouldn’t release any specific figures about the New Zealand market or its recent growth (check out the international fourth quarter results here), but, in an effort to expand its customer base and ensure profit growth, it has gone on a buying spree in recent years, picking up Wotif, Trivago, Travelocity (for around $280 million) and Orbitz (for US$1.6 billion last week).
Credits
Agency: DDB Sydney
Chief Creative Officer: Toby Talbot
Creative Partner: Noah Regan
Senior Art Director: Noah Regan
Senior Copywriter: Trent Christie
Head of Onscreen Production: Brenden Johnson
TV Producer: Rachel Solomon
Senior Business Director: Lena Dawson
Senior Business Manager: Alex Clark
Senior Graphic Designer: Domenic Bartolo
Client: Expedia
Director of Marketing Australia & New Zealand Louise Crompton & Lee-Ann Googan
Senior Marketing Manager Vanessa Pearce
Associate Marketing Manager Ashleigh Scanlon
Production:
Production Company: Soma Films
Director: Sean Meehan
Producer: Sam McGarry
Post-Production:
Post-Production: Method Studios
Offline Editor: Peter Sciberras
Colourist: Andrew Clarkson
Online: Jay Hawkins
Producer: Briohny Aldersea
Music Negotiation: Elise Lindsay @ Nylon
Music Composition: Elliot Wheeler @ Turning Studios
Sound Design: Simon Kane @ SongZu