Shakira Partners With Despegar for Upcoming Marketing Campaigns

Want to spread a company's brand awareness across Latin America? Teaming with Shakira might not be a bad option.

Latin America's largest online travel agency, Despegar, is teaming with one of the region's biggest stars, Colombia-born Shakira, to spread awareness of the brand in regions on the continent which it sees as primed for growth.

The first campaign, which is still under development, will be using social media, YouTube for video content, and billboards across key Latin American cities, a Despegar spokesperson said. The theme of the marketing blitz will be Dream, Choose, Travel.

Shakira will be featured in reels and full-length videos, the spokesperson added.

"We’re also leveraging Shakira’s immense reach through her channels to amplify the message," the spokeswoman said.

Shakira will be featured in full-length videos to market Despegar. Source: Despegar

Despegar officials discussed the partnership in the company's second quarter earnings call last week.

Without detailing how much Despegar is paying Shakira for the partnership, Chief Financial Officer Amit Singh said the company signed the deal with Shakira in the second quarter and it includes upfront payments that "go for a few quarters."

"I would think of these investments as more incremental but not like a sustained investment over a long period of time," Singh said.

In the second quarter, Despegar's selling and marketing expense rose 22% to $62.93 million. The marketing expense increase was not simply because of the Shakira partnership. The company has been upping its marketing, including at the Copa América, which ran June 20-July 14.

"These incremental investments help us work with Shakira and drive our brand positioning in the regions and areas where we believe it can help us further solidify our top line growth in the coming years," Singh said.