Air Canada uses native advertising for Black Friday campaign

The airline partnered up with us to showcase their special deals to a key travel audience.

Air Canada has been partnering with Expedia Group on campaigns for several years and it seemed like a natural fit for us to highlight our special Black Friday & Cyber Monday offers and stay front and center among a key travel audience during these key shopping dates.

– MARK MEES, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL OTA & FULFILLMENT SALES, AIR CANADA

Overview

Air Canada, the largest airline in Canada, has been a long-time partner of ours. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday approaching, Air Canada wanted to stay top of mind with travelers looking for deals during one of the most important sales events of the year.

The Opportunity

According to a study from Simon, Kucher & Partners, price is the first thing travelers scrutinize when booking a vacation. In fact, one in three survey respondents said the choice to skip travel this year was due to finances. 

Yet the same study revealed that 63% of people — compared to 47% last year — see a trip as a special treat they’re looking forward to the most.

With price having such a significant impact on traveler’s decision to book a trip, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become key dates for advertisers looking to inspire and engage travelers looking for deals.

Air Canada launched a Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotion targeted at Canadian travelers to promote its special deals during one of the busiest online shopping times of the year, when shoppers are actively on the lookout for deals.

The Solution

The campaign’s main objective was to increase awareness of Air Canada’s special Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers in the Canadian market and inspire travelers to take advantage of the new deals and purchase flights.

To make sure the campaign reached the right audience, it ran on Expedia’s Canadian site to target Canadian travel shoppers. Compelling images and copy on the ads ensured travelers knew about Air Canada’s exclusive deals, which included 30% savings on more than 1,000 flights and discounts for certain long-haul flights during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

In addition to the copy and imagery, our native advertising solution was key to the campaign’s success. With ads running on some of our best-performing placements for airlines and using a native marquee card on flight search pages, travelers saw ads that were seamlessly integrated into the site, inspiring them to take advantage of Air Canada’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday special deals.

The campaign also ran standard IAB ads on flight results pages, which are highly visible ads that appear on key pages when travelers are selecting a flight.  

The Results

The campaign was highly successful, with an overall 0.14% CTR. The highest engagement was seen on the standard IAB flight placements, which had an average CTR of 0.28% and on the native marquee with an average of 1.39% CTR.

Connect with our digital media consultants to learn how to best engage, influence and convert travelers to increase your bookings.