The unnerving Trivago woman has vanished from posters
The now infamous Trivago woman, aka Australian actress Gabrielle Miller, is taking a hiatus from the brand’s latest OOH ad push.
For now, Gabby is confined to the small screen, where she is appearing in a series of humorous ads touting Trivago's filters / Trivago
Miller has been the brand’s ambassador since 2015, but her “crushing ubiquity” reached fever pitch last summer when London commuters were left “unnerved” by all-encompassing campaign on the capital’s underground network.
I see the @trivago woman more than I see my missus at the moment pic.twitter.com/TrYmRir9il
— George Cooper (@GeorgeTCooper) August 18, 2017
While she’s still set to front the TV ads, the brand's country manager for the UK and Ireland, Hannah Wickes, said it’s looking to appeal to commuters differently this time around with a data-driven campaign based on search trends it has identified.
The OOH creative shows beds against the backdrop of destinations like Scotland and New York – two of its most popular searches – alongside the strapline: 'Find Your Ideal Hotel'.
"The 'ideal hotel' is the real crux of this campaign. Gabby hasn't gone anywhere, she's working on a whole bunch of new ads for us, and that's focused on a similar thing - she's going to different destinations for the first time," said Wickes.
"The tube campaign ran very strongly in London and for us it was an interesting learning and [we realised] that Gabby can still push the London market even stronger [on TV]."
The brand has previously had fun with Gabby's notoriety but Wickes was diplomatic about the backlash received by the brand after its 2017 campaign launched. Like previous work, the new creative has undergone several rounds of consumer testing.
“All the feedback we get is always going to valuable and that’s something we always look at and review. We are a company that is driven by learnings, and with this new campaign we’ve tried to get a lot of feedback in the run up, and we did that with the last campaign as well," Wickes continued.
For now, Gabby is confined to the small screen, where she is appearing in a series of humorous ads touting Trivago's filters, which allow users to toggle their search results based on whether hotels have amenities like spas, scuba diving and more.
The first spot has already gone live, with Wickes promising that the TV ads will be "a lot more creative" than previous iterations.
Where many travel firms are trying to compete with Airbnb's experience-driven marketing, Wickes said Trivago's "clear cutting point" as a brand was it's granular search function, and so it makes sense to focus its OOH on this point.
"We're a tech company, so it's a big focus for us on the product side," she added.