December 11, 2018
UPDATE: If you’re looking for information on explore ’20, please visit www.exploreexpediagroup.com.
Last week, Expedia Group Media Solutions, along with others across Expedia Group, gathered in Las Vegas for the annual partner conference. We hosted an Insights Summit for more than 1,000 attendees and global partners, essentially selling out our event. During the session, we shared insights from our latest custom research, an overview of our latest advertising tools and solutions, and the pivotal role of data across Expedia Group brands, all of which help our advertising partners more effectively reach, engage, and convert travelers from around the world.
Wendy Olson Killion discussed our robust reporting capabilities, and how our advertising partners can take advantage of these reports to better understand how their campaign is performing across our global network of sites. Wendy also announced the availability of incrementality reporting from Expedia Group Media Solutions, which will provide advertising partners with enhanced visibility into campaign performance and effectiveness, as well as the real impact of an advertising campaign. Our team has been working on this for two years – building prototypes, testing the methodology, and getting feedback – and all of those efforts will help illustrate how marketing is moving the needle. Incrementality reporting measures the conversion lift of an advertising campaign and demonstrates the direct impact, or additional business, driven by a campaign.
Expedia Group Media Solutions is uniquely positioned as an ecommerce and digital media platform, so we have visibility into the full traveler shopping journey – from inspiration to booking – resulting in powerful and actionable first-party data. This end-to-end view, along with sophisticated targeting capabilities and custom audience segments, is a core component of our incrementality reporting. Underpinned by a rigorous and proven methodology, our incrementality reporting is accurate and reliable, and the results will empower partners to make future marketing decisions with absolute confidence. You can download more information on incrementality reporting here.
We use our proprietary first-party data and insights to help our partners inspire and engage travelers, while also driving demand and delivering impactful results. To further understand consumer behaviors online, how people consume travel content, and how they make booking decisions, we often enhance our internal insights with custom research. Generation Z is an audience that all of us should be paying attention to today, as they will soon be the largest generation in many markets, and they are quickly gaining financial independence and asserting their spending power. This signifies a powerful opportunity for marketers around the world to get in front of this growing audience and understand their purchase behaviors.
Even better news? Gen Z are prioritizing travel, and they are more open to inspiration and information than other generations. To help marketers engage with this valuable audience, Jennifer Andre shared generational excerpts from our recent Multi-National Travel Trend Study. Check out some Gen Z highlights below, and make sure to download the full Younger Generations study.
- Destination indecisive: two-thirds of Gen Z travelers are undecided on a destination when they first start planning a trip and 77 percent are open to inspiration.
- Trip types vary: Gen Z travelers are more likely than other generations to take an activity-based trip or travel for a special event or party, but they’re also visiting and traveling with family – and influencing their family’s travel decisions.
- All about experiences: While deals and value are important to Gen Z travelers, activities and experiences are at the heart of their travel decisions.
- Open to influence: 84 percent said social media can be influential, particularly deals or promotions and travel pictures or videos from friends or experts, and more than 60 percent of Gen Z travelers said advertising can be influential.
We share these insights with partners in the industry to not only help inform and improve the broader travel ecosystem online, but also inform our own product development to better serve our partners through strategic, data-driven solutions. Tammy Snow, director of user research at Expedia Group and Christine Walker Scarce shared a product overview, including a spotlight on some of our leading solutions, and how we work with marketers of all sizes to develop campaigns that help them engage with consumers throughout the travel shopping journey.
Did you know? In 2018, Expedia Group Media Solutions executed more than 40,000 campaigns and collaborated with nearly 32,000 marketing partners.
We showcased some of this great work during the Insights Summit and co-presented partner case studies to illustrate how Expedia Group Media Solutions helped Instituto Guatemalteco de Turismo (INGUAT) and G6 Hospitality achieve their marketing objectives, including driving passenger demand and room night demand.
- INGUAT tapped our Creative Partnerships team for a campaign that would highlight a variety of exciting regions throughout Guatemala and diversify travel within the country. Using the power of photography and inspirational content, we developed an interactive microsite that helped potential visitors discover and immerse themselves in hidden Guatemalan gems, such as the Mayan Ruins of Petén and Huehuetenango and historical sites in Atitlan and Izabal, as well as plan and book a trip to these destinations.
- G6 Hospitality wanted to drive exposure for its more than 1,400 properties across its brands, including Motel 6 hotels and new inventory in the Anaheim market. Using our TravelAds sponsored listings, G6 Hospitality increased visibility through top placement and first-page listings, while strategically highlighting hotel proximity to attractions, various locations in the market and property renovations.
To close out the Insights Summit, we welcomed top marketing talent from across Expedia Group to highlight how marketing partners can tap into our global platform of travel brands and vast global audience. Josh Belkin, global vice president at Hotels.com brand, Andrea Nino, head of creative agency for Travelocity brand, Orbitz brand, CheapTickets brand, Wotif brand and ebookers brand, Ramses Meijer, general manager of Orbitz brand and CheapTickets brand, and Vic Walia, global vice president of marketing for Brand Expedia shared how they attract, retain, and delight travel shoppers around the world. The marketing leaders then came together for a discussion on the future of travel marketing, moderated by our own Hari Nair. The conversation covered the latest trends, technologies, and reporting capabilities that are shaping the future of travel marketing.
Finally, congratulations to our marketing partner Brand USA for winning an Expedia Group EPIC award, which recognizes partners for demonstrating engagement, partnership, innovation and collaboration. Learn more about our Partner Award winners and 10 additional award recipients in our recent blog post, 2018 North America and Latin America Partner Awards at the Annual Expedia Group Partner Conference.
