Mastering Summer 2024 Travel Advertising: Strategies for Success

Author

Veronica Campana

Head of Display & Social at Artefact UK

Author

Edouard Destrem

Head of Paid Search at Artefact UK

At Artefact, we have been helping travel advertising navigate this crucial period for more than 10 years.

Summer 2024 is finally around the corner, and we’ve uncovered some of the important points to consider if you want to succeed in the very competitive environment of digital media.

Record-breaking summer for travel

The 2024 summer peak is predicted to be the busiest we have had in the last 4 years with very positive signals for most of the EMEA top 6 markets. Travel demand has, so far, grown 7% YOY with two key events helping the growth from domestic EU markets and outbound long haul markets: the Paris 2024 Olympics and UEFA Euros 2024. Travel brands have the opportunity to capture the growing demand ahead of the busy summer peak.

Uncover peak periods by mining data

Travel peaks differ greatly by vertical, destination, and product type. It is critical to understand these peaks by reviewing internal data and differentiating between reservation vs actual booking dates.

Travel advertisers/brands should take advantage of Google tools including: TAC (Travel Analytics Center), Google Trends, Search Terms Insights, and more, to understand current and upcoming trends.

Strenghthen your travel measurement framework

Travel consumers are constantly exploring options on various different platforms and devices making tracking more complex and challenging. Having the right measurement stack is essential to track performance in, what is soon to be, cookie-less environment.
Artefact is a Google Marketing Platform reseller and has supported many brands in their measurement and data ownership journey. Consent Mode + Enhanced Conversions must be successfully in place to expand conversion observability and better model non-tracked conversions in order to enhance the power of Smart Bidding and improve the overall performance.

In order to set yourself up for success, it is 1) important to focus on what needs to be done ahead of peak, strengthening Demand Generation tactics, and 2) what needs to be done during peak, with a stronger focus on Demand Capture.

Demand Generation checklist

Timing is critical:

The trick is to grow demand and expand the pool of potential customers by planning upper and mid funnel investments well ahead of peak. This can be done by understanding the timing of the ‘search moment’ (when users are actively searching for travel-related queries) vs the timing of the travel moment (when users are travelling). Misunderstanding the timing of either moment can lead to mismatches between peak in demand and budget allocation. Understanding adstock effect and time to conversion since the first interaction from Demand Generation tactics will play a key role in a successful Demand Generation strategy.

“Planning ahead of peak and having the right investment phasing for your Demand Generation campaigns will be key to ensure strong performance during peak.”

Veronica Campana, Head of Display and Social at Artefact UK

Inspire travelers while respecting creative best practices:

“Creative is the n*1 drive of good-performing ads. Gaining insight into who consumers are, how they respond, and why they behave the way they do enhance the overall ad creation process.”

Gabriella Dixon, Display and Social Account Director at Artefact UK

Measurement:

Consider using the Trifecta framework to support global measurement grounded around marketing mix models, experiments, and data-driven attribution. Also, ensure Brand Lift Studies are set up ahead of the campaign flights. Demand generation will help increase Brand consideration potentially leading to more Brand searches. According to MacKinsey “Brands in the initial consideration set are up to three times more likely to be purchased than brands that aren’t in it”.

Demand capture checklist

Identify your KPI for the summer

Efficiency: Optimized budget to grow at the same or better ROI, ensuring the budget is not limiting performance at any point.
Profitability: Grow revenue by lossening ROI target, and discovering incremental growth via new markets, networks, or platforms.

The power pair: PPC Broad Match + PMax

Expand keyword coverage with Broad Match and unleash new non-search inventories using PMax powered by keywordless AI technology. Also, PMax will help to capture new ads on search generative AI responses.

“Adopting PMax has helped us grow ad exposure as travel consumers are constantly searching and on more networks beyond search that are no bought via programmatic.”

Chloe Allchin, PPC Director at Artefact UK

Enhance Smart Bidding with key business inputs (availability, margin, lifetime value)

Strongly considered enhanced Google Smart bidding using the Google Cloud platform to allow the system to bid toward your true business goals.

“Value-based bidding is the next evolution of Smart Bidding and it can help travel Brands improve efficiencies by reducing media waste, making the most of your media investments.”

Asma Khelil, Group Account Director at Artefact UK

Real-time performance tracking with budget fluidity

Ensure performance is tracked in real-time with an advanced dashboarding solution, regular performance alerts and notifications allowing you to identify opportunities and react at the speed of light.

Conclusion

Whatever your travel sub-vertical is (hotels, airline, car rental), budget, or markets, implementing these checklists can help you prepare for the busy summer period ahead of time. If you want to maximize your digital marketing potential this season, our team at Artefact UK is here to help with a free consultation.