How to nail Facebook travel ad campaigns

AirBaltic – FanDay

The AirBaltic Fan Day vote Facebook campaign allowed fans to choose between three potential destinations. By the end of the voting day, the fans who voted were able to buy tickets to the chosen city at a huge discount. In other words, the more interaction fans had with AirBaltic through Facebook, the more likely they were going to get an amazing deal.

As most companies know by now, interaction with Facebook content in the form of shares, comments and likes leads to greater exposure. AirBaltic took advantage of its fans’ love of discounts to rev up engagement like never before.

KLM – Orange Experience

In a long-haul approach to the Facebook advertising campaign, KLM (a Dutch airline) adapted the storytelling approach through video and interaction to create extensive views and interest in their brand. The strategy began in February 2014, when KLM overhauled their existing Facebook strategy and began to use video content to inspire the right audiences. The first video was the 'Orange Experience' that was made in partnership with Heineken.

The 'Orange Experience' video involved two people approaching random passers-by and offering them a “full orange experience”. Those who accepted were sent to Amsterdam to enjoy the famous Kings Day national feast. This surprising approach to advertising on a dynamic level helped the KLM video go viral, and the company reached approximately 19 million people within the space of a few days.

Eurail – Train Routes

Eurail used a combination of Facebook ads and inspiring creative to ensure that it caught the attention of its most lucrative customers. In an effort to ensure that ads were only shown to people at the times they were most likely to pay attention to them, Eurail used Facebook’s real-time proxy metrics to grab the attention of their audiences, and make sure they remembered them during crucial marketing times.

In its creative campaign, Eurail used various videos of some of the most beautiful train routes in Europe, showing potential travelers the places they could experience for themselves. From there, live ad recall optimised the campaign towards the ads that were most successful at capturing lasting attention. Eurail used Facebook’s laser-accurate targeting to zero in on its audience—such as universities that young customers were most likely to attend—and ensure maximum efficiency for the campaign.

Etihad Airways – Diwali with Family

The Hindu festival of Diwali, India’s biggest and brightest national holiday, is celebrated the world over. It’s also a time when people travel home to be with their families and friends. With 27 million Indians living outside India, Etihad Airways saw Diwali as the perfect occasion to bring families together.

Facebook and Etihad partnered to launch the first global expat targeting campaign for Diwali. Etihad used personalised messages in the newsfeed to encourage Indian expats to fly their families to Abu Dhabi for the festival. These link ads drove customers to its website, where they could easily book a flight.

Etihad uploaded a variety of images to Facebook and then, based on real-time results, made small but important changes to the creative to maximise the campaign’s impact. Using dynamic ads and powerful targeting tools, Etihad delivered personalized messages at the best possible time to the very people who were interested in seeing it. As a result, they achieved an astounding return on investment of over 51x.

Cape Town Tourism – My Cape Town Holiday

Cape Town Tourism urged travellers to send their profiles for a virtual tour of Cape Town’s least explored areas. After sending their Facebook profiles, entrants could create their own five-day Cape Town holiday, and watch their profiles explore the hidden gems of the Mother City.

After over 150 point of view (POV) videos, 400 first person Facebook status updates and 10,000 POV holiday photos, the campaign registered 5800 page impressions and 41,000 monthly page visits. Through the campaign, tourist numbers in Cape Town rose by 4% and Table Mountain received its highest volumes in 83 years. The competition also helped Cape Town Tourism win the Best Overall Use of Social Media Award (Convention and Visitors Bureau) at the 2013 Travel + Leisure Social Media Awards.

ABOUT REFUEL4

Winner of Facebook’s Innovator of the Year, ReFUEL4 is the world’s leading data- driven creative platform, delivering assets from 10,000 global creators backed by predictive AI technology. Learn more here.