Expedia Group
The Key To Friendship: Research, Innovation, and Operations Analysts
Isabella Solomon, Sabrina Capello, Demitra Moutoudis, and Richelle Ngo
The Research, Innovation, and Operations Analysts found that Gen Z is suffering from a “loneliness epidemic” as 73 percent of Gen Z reports feeling alone sometimes or always. After conducting a focus group with college-aged Gen Z travelers participants, the RIO Analysts created the “The Key to Friendship” campaign to introduce Hotels.com to Gen Z as their ultimate travel companion. At the same time, the campaign inspires Gen Z travelers to use the Hotels.com app to explore unique and personalized shared travel experiences to build, preserve, and repair their friendships. Additionally, the RIO Analysts discovered through in-depth research and focus group insights that Gen Z perceives the Hotels.com brand as luxury-oriented, which does not align with their spending power. The Key to Friendship shifts the image of Hotels.com from luxury to one that embraces genuine, memorable, and shared experiences among Gen Z travelers by implementing app functionalities that speak to the Gen Z audience on a personal level.
Deliverable #1: Wherever life takes you
Deliverable #1: Wherever life takes you. As the first deliverable, RIO created this short emotional video to kick off the campaign, positioning Hotels.com as the bridge to creating shared memories through travel. Crafted with the intention of connecting Hotels.com to the audience on an emotional level, the video evokes feelings of nostalgia for a time where friendship was simple. To achieve this, the team strategically selected emotional audio media and impactful video montages to depict the simple connections in life, emphasizing that Hotels.com can reignite friendships, combat loneliness, and make every life milestone a memory through their travel-booking app.
Deliverable #2: “Friendship Passports”
For the second deliverable, the RIO Analysts created “Friendship Passports.” This deliverable transforms the Hotels.com app into a medium where friendships find new purpose through travel. Currently, there is no platform Gen Z can turn to for easy, comprehensive, and streamlined group travel planning. In response, RIO imagined that users could explore a unique interactive space to plan and share ideas. New features are introduced to allow groups to vote on trip ideas, create polls, and receive notifications when a majority decision is made. Groups are also awarded with badges and OneKeyCash when challenges and milestones are met. These functions were designed to ease decision making during travel planning, emphasizing that Hotels.com is much more than a travel-booking brand.
Deliverable #3: “Miles to Memories”
For the final deliverable, the RIO Analysts designed “Miles to Memories”, an annual travel recap providing users with a nostalgic and shareable summary of their year in travel. Utilizing data collected throughout the year, this feature provides users with a personalized snapshot of their travel year and key travel statistics. Delivered every November, it would allow users to reflect on their adventures and share their experiences with friends. The team envisioned Hotels.com users reposting their “Miles to Memories” recap on social media, tagging friends with #MilesToMemories to celebrate shared moments and inspire future travel plans.
Vrbo as a Verb: Community Engagement
Ava Nothstine, Harbani Kohli, Jamie Gold, Jude Tamer
The Community Engagement team aimed to increase brand awareness of Vrbo compared to other competitors, as well as increase bookings within a Generation Z audience. Our target audience included The Anxious Traveler, The Sustainable Student and The Travel YouTuber . To achieve this, the team wanted to create deliverables that would be attractive to each one of our target personas, creating a travel website, creating the What-If scenario through a messaging video to ease the anxious traveler and creating content with influencers to use Vrbo as a verb . To this end, Community Engagement created “Vrbo as a Verb” to make the app synonymous with travel. This deliverable was three-fold, with the aim to decrease travel anxiety among Gen Z and to make Vrbo the go-to booking tool for sustainable and affordable trips. Through short- and long-form content creation and interactive materials such as a website and TikTok audio, Vrbo aims to encourage Gen Z to book trips with their friends and crate amazing memories in the most beautiful locations . The first deliverable, the “What If Game” aimed to combat common questions asked by anxious travelers, positioning Vrbo as the app that has all the answers. It takes the place of a short-form YouTube ad, with the full length video being available on YouTube as well.
The second deliverable, “VERB-O,” added an interactive component with a TikTok audio that infl uencers in the travel space could use. The activation would be an influencer trip booked with Vrbo, while the audio promotes Vrbo by referring to the correct pronunciation (“Verbo” instead of V-R-B-O). To this end, an Urban Dictionary definition has been created for Vrbo as well.
The final deliverable, “Celebrate Nothing,” takes the form of a micro-site, available within Vrbo’s main website. The microsite emphasizes that while Gen-Z individuals feel they need a reason to travel, they will inevitably find a reason, for occasions both big and small. It provides sample occasions to celebrate and itineraries for the associated locations, based on Vrbo’s existing travel guides available in-app.
Expedia: Creative Strategists
Sania Parker, Francisco Rodriguez, Kaylee Marcks, Lorena Martinez, Alexandra Valerio
Introduction:
In today’s fast-paced world, travel has become more than just a getaway, it's a lifestyle. The Creative Strategist team created the Expedia Activated campaign which aims to showcase Travel Shops and increase awareness of Expedia’s One Key Program. Our campaign targets young professionals, travel enthusiasts, and those who embody the persona, “the main character.” The objective is to inform this demographic on how to simplify the booking process, expand access to diverse travel experiences, and promote a deeper understanding of the One Key Program and its benefits.
Expedia Experience: Bringing Travel Shops to Life
Research indicates that Gen Z is increasingly interested in discovering unique and diverse travel destinations. In response, an immersive pop-up event will be held with shipping containers at Huston Yards in New York, NY. The event will feature three distinct travel shop-inspired destinations showcased by Expedia influencers. This experience allows Gen Z attendees to envision their ideal vacation while also introducing them to exciting new travel opportunities.
Expedia: Escape: Engaging Competition for Consumers about Travel Shops
With the launch of Expedia’s Travel Shops, this campaign invites participants to curate their dream vacation for a competition. This initiative is designed to drive user engagement, particularly among Gen Z. All participants will submit their vacation plans on the Expedia: Escape website. After the initial submissions, eligible participants will be shortlisted, and the final winner will be determined by public vote. This competition offers Gen Z an interactive opportunity to explore how Expedia can simplify their travel planning experience.
Expedia: Explore: Raising Awareness of the One Key Program
Research indicates a limited understanding surrounding Expedia’s One Key program. To help close this knowledge gap, a social media campaign will launch to educate Gen Z about the potential rewards and benefits they can earn using Expedia’s services. The campaign will primarily utilize Instagram and TikTok, featuring a series of infographics and engaging video content. Influencers will share the infographics with their Gen Z audiences to amplify the message and participate in a 'find the key' contest, adding a fun, interactive element to the campaign. Through this initiative, Gen Z will gain a deeper understanding of the One Key program and how to maximize the benefits earned with the program.
