Skift Take

It's hard to tell whether travelers' desire for deeper experiences or the proliferation of branded experiential content came first, but each now drives the other leaving the reality of costs and details out of the picture.

Travel ads today are more about spreading the image of a certain experience than informing potential customers of the actual services provided. Each of these ads paint a rosy picture of travel with just snippets of the providers creating the content.

FOR ALL OF OUR SKIFTADS OF THE WEEK COLLECTION, CHECK OUT OUR ARCHIVES HERE.

British Airways encourages its countrymen to go on holiday with a new video featuring Oxford University’s all male a cappella group Out of the Blue. The airline flew the 14-person group out to the Corinthia Hotel in Malta where they recreated the music video for Club Tropicana. This is a good example of a large brand finding creative ways to create online content and driving it back to their website.

Visit Holland enters its third year with the campaign “Holland. The Original Cool.” with two new videos. The first shows the campaign’s primary character Pim walking through an Amsterdam overlooked by Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night.’ The second shows Pim and an American ice skating in an attempt to show the still pleasant side of the currently chilly city.

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts recently launched the new “Secrets of the City” campaign, which positions the hotel group as the platform through which travelers can get to really know a city. To this end, it’s created Insider Experiences that take guests on unique cultural and culinary experiences. This ad doesn’t say much but spreads the overriding message of mystery and adventure.

Air New Zealand draws parallels between the adventures available on the land and the experience that flyers can expect in the skies. It purposely shows a breadth of activities highlighting how many activities are available in the country and then prompts viewers to build their own itinerary for a chance to win a trip.

Scandinavian Airlines is making its final play for winter vacations in this new ad that insists there is still time to enjoy the Alps. Gorgeous scenes of white snow and blue skies make up the majority of the video, which a strong call to action — “Book Now” — at the end.

smartphone

The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: marketing, skiftadsweek

Photo credit: Visit Holland starts the third year of its "Holland. Cool." ad campaign. Visit Holland / YouTube

Up Next

Loading next stories