Travel Brands Struggle With Mobile Advertising – Digital Marketing News This Week

This week, we’re talking about mobile advertising.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last 10 years, most of us already know consumer screen-time has overwhelmingly shifted toward mobile devices. The problem with this shift for advertisers, however, is that mobile ad units often do not perform as well as their desktop or analog counterparts. The lackluster performance numbers, coupled with a growing embrace of mobile ad blocking software, have forced a scramble among advertising companies like Facebook and Google as well as by publishers as they attempt to come up with next great ad unit.

While some ad formats like “native” and ads in mobile apps are starting to gain traction (Facebook is the clear early leader in this space), there’s still plenty of need for travel marketers to experiment and test different formats. What’s working so far? And what types of mobile ads will succeed with travelers in the future? Read on for more analysis, and the rest of this week’s stories.

Springhill Suites Uses New Mobile Ad Unit to Drive 3x Engagement
Mobile devices represent both a huge opportunity and a troubling problem for advertisers. The small screen size, coupled with the changing ways that consumers engage with content, means that many traditional ad formats like banner ads fail miserably on smartphones. However, recent results from a campaign by Springhill Suites, which used a new multi-video mobile ad unit, offer one example of how travel brands are finding creative ways to engage mobile travel consumers. Read more

Tracking the Future of Wellness Tourism
Travel brands like hotels, resorts and cruise lines that offer wellness services have to think on their toes these days, as it appears the industry is in the midst of a period of massive growth and changing consumer tastes. Trends like a growing embrace of wellness services by men, along with increasingly blurred lines between spa, salon, fitness center and hospital services, are forcing many travel brands to rethink how they approach their wellness marketing efforts. Read more

Enterprise Tries to Move Beyond the Rental Car
The rental car industry isn’t exactly the “sexiest” of travel sectors. Many consumers consider their rental vehicles to be a commodity purchase and nothing more. Rental car brand Enterprise is hoping a new ad campaign will help change that perception. The rental car company recently unveiled a new series of commercials touting its car-sharing services and longstanding auto sales business in an effort to reposition the company to potential customers. Read more

Wyndham’s CMO Discusses the Future of Mobile, Personalization and Branding
There’s no question that the chief marketing officer position is evolving, particularly as the discipline of marketing gets more digital-focused, data driven and technical. No one better understands this shift than Josh Lesnick, currently the CMO for Wyndham Hotels Group. In a recent interview, Lesnick discussed the increasingly technical nature of the CMO job, his company’s renewed focus on the mobile customer experience and Wyndham’s recent rebrand efforts. Read more

San Jose Airport and Google Team Up on Augmented Reality Trial
More airports are going high-tech as they seek to provide new ways to help travelers find information, navigate and shop inside terminals. One example of this trend is San Jose Airport’s new augmented reality trial with Google, which seeks to provide new way-finding and advertising solutions targeting travelers. Read more

Images Matter When It Comes to Travel Email Marketing
Running any email marketing campaigns? According to new research, your subscribers may never look at your messages unless they included compelling imagery. A recent review of email marketing best practices for images may help prevent travel marketers’ campaigns from ending up in the trash bin or spam folder. Read more