Best Travel Ads This Week: An Unconventional Marketing Approach

This week’s travel brands approach marketing with an eye for creativity and a knack for speaking to their intended audience in an effective and fun way. Integrating social media into video ads, making a teddy bear the star and turning out a psychedelic music video are a taste of what’s ahead.

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

Hyatt House uses what looks like crowdsourced user-generated images to visualize a morning spent at one of its hotels. The Instagram-like photos are actually a good method for relaying the experience given how many travelers learn about new hotels, destinations and attractions through their peers’ social media channels.

KLM is becoming the king of real-world marketing with city stunts that build brand loyalty through interactive displays and contests for free tickets. It’s most recent stunt, in Canada, gave participants the opportunity to pretend to be a pilot.

This adorable Thomson Holidays ad, set to the rhythm of Bohemian Rhapsody, follows a worn-out teddy bear around on his day-to-day routine. The plush toy is then taken on vacation with his owners where he “discovers his smile,” the theme of Thomson’s campaign, and falls in love with a fellow stuffed animal. The unique perspective of the ad is enough to make even though most seasoned frequent flyer smile.

Wotif is an Australian travel booking site that brands itself as the site for quirky explorers. This strange ad slash music video is one of the most unique we’ve seen in travel, although we’re not convinced it’s a strategy that will work.