Skift Take

Encourage your audience to revel in summer fun and dare them to broaden their cultural horizons.

YouTube turned nine on May 29th and just days later the video for “Gangnam Style” became the first video to hit two billion views.

Psy’s success turned him into an ambassador for everything, including Korean tourism (read more about viral videos in “The Rise of Destination Marketing Through Movies and TV”), but he wasn’t the biggest travel success on YouTube this month.

According to the 2,000 brands that SkiftIQ tracks, 42 more brands published videos this month, up from 348 in April. The total number of videos increased from 2,221 to 2,626 in May.

Similar to last month’s findings, the destinations sector produced the most videos industry-wide, while airlines came in second with 278 more videos, totaling to 672. Surprisingly, airports — not airlines nor destinations — reported the highest average approval rating in May. Schiphol Amsterdam Airport published over 20 videos that averaged 2,700 views each.

The More, the Merrier

Turkish Airlines had 13 Euroleague basketball players in a backyard hanging out at a barbecue pool party and contributing to one epic dunk. (Ironic, considering the Turkish government’s recent ban of YouTube.) KLM collaborated with Heineken and DJ Armin Van Buren to surprise ten lucky New Yorkers with a trip to Amsterdam to celebrate the biggest Dutch street festival of the year.

Learn More on SkiftIQ

Campaigns That Dare

For Airbnb‘s second ad campaign it went global (and avoided infringing on rivals’  trademarks) to promote the idea of being open-minded. The dreamy narrative, collection of unusual homes set to inspiring indy rock music was an instant hit. What is beauty? South African Tourism asked its audience to reconsider what they think beauty is and to seek for its deeper meaning in their country.

Croatia Tourism encouraged their audience to share pictures that they love. Its 30-second montage of select images and videos tagged #LoveCroatia and #ShareCroatia was well received and became a promotion for more user generated content.

Celebrate Mothers

Mother’s Day in the U.S. is an important day of celebration — and for marketing, too. Walt Disney World Resorts created a video of a middle-aged mother enjoying her youth alongside her son frolicking from ride to ride. Cool moms rule!

English Is Passe: Learn Spanish and Portuguese

Four airlines that pushed their brands on YouTube in their native language were received well and garnered the highest views and approval ratings. Beleza TAM Airlines (Brazil) and Azul (Brazil)! Goal Iberia Airlines (Spain) and Avianca (Colombia)!

Brand Sector Video Title Duration (seconds) Publish Date Views Approval Rating
Turkish Airlines Global Airlines Euroleague Epic Pool Dunk 31 5/6/2014 2,951,063 0.95
KLM Airlines The Orange Experience 203 5/2/2014 2,349,348 0.91
Airbnb Bookings and Tools Airbnb Views 61 5/9/2014 2,117,921 0.95
Walt Disney World Resorts Destinations Find Your Playful Disney Side | Mother’s Day 104 5/7/2014 909,998 0.96
Croatia Tourism Destinations Visit Croatia. Share Croatia. 23 5/14/2014 701,720 0.95
TAM Airlines Airlines TAM – Todos 63 5/9/2014 572,168 0.88
Iberia Airlines Hoy, descubre una nueva Iberia (ES) 31 5/16/2014 561,604 0.85
South African Tourism Destinations Reconsider South Africa 136 5/22/2014 528,572 0.94
Azul Airlines Azul 31 5/13/2014 448,686 0.92
Avianca Airlines Airlines Poema al Futbol 91 5/23/2014 395,503 0.94

Learn More on SkiftIQ

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: airbnb, airlines, avianca, azul, destinations, disney parks, iberia, klm, schiphol, skiftiq, south africa, tam, turkish airlines, youtube

Photo credit: Still from Turkish Airline's "Epic Pool Dunk" video. Turkish Airlines / YouTube

Up Next

Loading next stories