Reflecting on 2018: A Year of Growth

Looking back on 2018, it has certainly been a year of growth for us. In reflecting on this growth, I wanted to figure out how we achieved it. That’s because figuring out the formula for success will help our clients and ultimately help our travel shoppers have a better experience. In 2018, a large part of that formula was our people at Expedia Group Media Solutions. So, I’d like to take a moment to thank our people and acknowledge how they contributed to our success.

Caring about Clients and Communities

Helping our clients achieve success is at our core. We worked with nearly 32,000 marketing clients globally on over 40,000 campaigns in 2018. Along with helping our clients, we also love helping our communities. For instance, as part of our larger Expedia Cares initiative, we participated, alongside other Expedia Group teams, in a company-wide Day of Caring. Offices around the world contributed to their chosen charity in this volunteer event. It is our shared devotion to our clients and our communities that brings us together. So, even though some of us may be separated by oceans, we are united in spirit.

explore18group

Locally Relevant on a Global Basis

Helping our local communities plays into a larger Expedia Group imperative: being locally relevant on a global basis. I’ve seen the people of our organization take this imperative to heart. For some, this means traveling tirelessly to events around the world to make sure we have a voice and presence in that region. For others, it means being in-market and having those regular conversations with clients to strengthen relationships. Still, for others, it means working with our data to understand local markets more clearly to give our clients an edge.      

Locally relevant on a global scale - Expedia Group Media Solutions  

People Make the Data World Go ‘Round

Speaking of data, we are indeed in the age of big data. And our people use data every day to help our clients meet their goals. With data and data quality being crucial to our business, we continually reinvest in our teams and platforms and ensure that they have the resources they need to stay competitive. This investment has also led to more services for our clients. For example, we delivered nearly 45,000 results reports to our clients in 2018. As we continue to gather and use more data, we will rely on our teams to interpret that data and make sure we use it wisely and responsibly.

Hari Nair selfie at explore 18

Drum Roll Please, Incrementality Is Here!

The expansion of our reporting capabilities is one way we have grown this past year and taking center stage is our new incrementality reporting. We spent countless hours researching and developing this type of reporting. There are a lot of technical details to incrementality, so I won’t go into specifics here. Suffice it to say, it allows advertisers to see the true value of their marketing; we believe it will provide powerful insights to our clients as we continue to roll it out. If you’d like to take a look at our overall reporting capabilities as well as incrementality, download our guide on Using Travel Data at Each Stage of Your Campaign.

Slide on Incrementality Reporting from Expedia Group Media Solutions

Reflecting on these achievements makes me thankful I am part of Expedia Group Media Solutions. With that, I‘d like to wish everyone happy holidays and I can’t wait to see what we do in 2019.  

Hari Nair

SVP & GM Account Management, Expedia Group

Hari is the SVP & GM Account Management with Expedia Group. Previously, Hari was the senior vice president of Expedia Group Media Solutions, the digital advertising arm of Expedia Group for four years. In that role, Hari Nair oversaw all facets of the business globally including product development and execution, engineering, operations, marketing, media sales and business development. Prior to that role, Hari was vice president and general manager of Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com, responsible for overseeing retail operations and profitability of the business, brand strategy, marketing efficiency, and customer lifecycle management. Hari joined Expedia Group in 2002, and has managed and led market management operations in a variety of offices, including Dallas, New York and London. He also oversaw the company’s hotel supplier relations and directed lodging strategy and business for North America. Prior to joining Expedia, Hari worked in corporate training and food and beverage operations at Oberoi Hotels, a leading luxury hotel chain that owns and manages thirty hotels and five luxury cruisers across six countries under the ‘Oberoi’ & ‘Trident’ brands. Hari holds a master’s degree in Hotel Management from Cornell University.

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