Hawaii Disaster Relief Co-op Campaign

+29%

YOY Room Nights on Black Friday

+7%

YOY Room Nights on Cyber Monday

+18%

YOY Room Nights over promotion period

Overview

In 2018, the Hawaiian Islands experienced a series of natural disasters including earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tropical storms, and hurricanes. In turn, there was a dramatic decrease in travel demand for the destination, highlighted by a 29% decrease in room nights for the island of Hawaii.

Through the integrated use of compelling offers, co-op display advertising, TravelAds sponsored listings, and a 2:1 disaster relief match, brands including Outrigger, Hyatt, and Marriott were able to recover and help secure room night growth during a rough year for the Hawaiian islands.

The Opportunity

Following a series of natural disasters and a subsequent decline in visitors, the islands of Hawaii wanted to showcase their destination to qualified travel audiences and restore tourism to their state. They knew that by featuring compelling offers in the right place at the right time through a series of digital marketing solutions, they could re-capture the attention of potential visitors and help secure an increase in demand.

The Solution

Various brands including Hyatt, Marriott, and Outrigger came together in collaboration with Expedia Group Media Solutions to create a custom Co-Op Campaign to help restore tourism to the islands of Hawaii. Through combining funds and resources, and utilizing compelling offers, co-op display advertising, TravelAds sponsored listings, and a 2:1 disaster relief match, Hawaii co-op participants experienced room night growth during a year that was filled with natural disasters.

Display advertisements included two destination spotlight sponsorships on Orbitz and Travelocity, respectively, four dedicated emails from Expedia and Travelocity during prime shopping days including Black Friday and Cyber Monday, social media placements on Facebook and Instagram, as well as standard display ads across various Expedia Group brands.

The Results

With the combined efforts of two consecutive Co-Op Campaigns, the participating brands were able to secure 29 percent year-over-year room night growth on Black Friday, 7 percent year-over-year room night growth on Cyber Monday, and 18 percent year-over-year room night growth during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotion period.