Best Travel Ads This Week: Brands Try to Prove They’re Cool

The ultimate aim of travel ads is to convince the viewer and potential customer or visitor that the featured destination, airline, or hotel offers the best experience out of their competitors.

Simply put, they’re the coolest.

This week’s featured ads do that a couple of ways. They pay big bucks for big sports stars, brand themselves as the original cool, cast a wide net that welcomes all kinds of travelers, or surprise viewers with a twist.

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

This video is the first of a three-part series in which Visit Holland uses the tagline “Holland. The Original Cool” for the second year in a row. The ad, which received more than 37,000 views in three days, features the country’s food, nightlife, scenery, and art. An accompanying website shows travelers where they can visit to experience the scenes in the video.

Sports stars, especially soccer players, have become common in travel marketing and  Emirates Airlines nails it with two of the best players ever to play the game.

Ryanair released its first TV ads in almost 25 years this week, which highlight the significant efforts the airline is taking in trying to turnaround its image. The ads are uncharacteristically classy and position the airline as accommodating to business travelers and families. Unfortunately, Ryanair needs more action than ads to successfully attract the flyers it turned off with its previous antics.

Visit Florida does a great job of showing parents why Florida is a good choice for families instead of just telling them. The state’s ads have to appeal to two sides of a visitor’s brain — one that wants to pick a family-friendly destination for their child and the other than wants to choose a vacation that they’ll also enjoy. This ad does both — while also touching on the state’s sunny weather.

EasyJet coined the term ‘generation easyJet’ and has used it and a flashing image of flyers that range from grandpas to punk rockers in every ad since. This particular ad focuses on the airline’s mobile app, allocated seating, and track record of timeliness.