Capitalize on travel season using these creative ad campaign strategies

Advertisers, make sure your seatbelts are fastened

The upcoming summer months and winter holidays are still in front of us, presenting an exciting opportunity for advertisers who promote anything that could align with travel (think: flights, hotels, comfortable walking shoes, excursions) to make the most of another year of 'revenge travel.'

If you want to cruise past your KPIs and see your ROAS soar, hop on board. The Taboola Creative Shop combined market research with the latest travel-related readership trends from our 9,000+ publisher network that reaches 500 million daily active users on the open web to reveal powerful insights you can use to map out your advertising strategy, inform your travel creatives, and optimize the campaigns you're already running.

Unpacking UK consumer travel plans

YouGov research proves that neither economic pressures nor political uncertainty will keep travelers home. Of the 72% planning a holiday, about half will stay in the country, and half will jet off to popular European destinations like Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and France or Japan, the most popular spot in Asia.

Over the last 90 days, our Newsroom data showed significant spikes for UK-related travel terms, including: "Britain" (up 207%); "best UK towns" (up 145%); "UK beaches" (up 75%); and "London" (up 54%), and increased searches for "Japan" (up 89%); "Singapore" (up 85%). Google's Destination Insights displays similar trends, showing Brits and US travellers are most interested in visiting London.

We've also seen an increase around several general travel-related keyword trends: travel (+48%), flight (+90%), beaches (+281%), and summer (+22%). Incorporating these keywords will create contextual relevance and should increase your CTR.

10 content themes that connect with travelers

Seeing their destination keyword in your campaign headline will pique consumers' curiosity, but the best way to drive action is to have titles that answer their questions, provide helpful information, and of course, promote your brand or product. Think about how you can utilize these 10 different content themes to move consumers through your sales funnel and take inspiration from how we’ve incorporated keywords in example titles.

1. Travel guide: Be a solutions-oriented content source by providing how-tos, tips, and tricks that alleviate potential roadblocks and maximize value. For example: "How to use airline credits for flight upgrades."

2. Inspiration lists: Use numbered lists to highlight top destinations, reasons why, and things to do, and add relevancy by calling out your audience or the year. Try: "17 top travel destinations for foodies on the go in 2023."

3. All-inclusive: Put pricing and savings front and center, highlighting deals, affordability, cheapest days, and points benefits with a title like: "These affordable all-inclusive hotels are under $400 for 5 nights."

4. Highly-rated: Reviews are critical in the decision-making process. Use a title such as, "This London hotel ranked #1 for quality and family friendliness" that features rankings, star ratings, reviews, and press mentions.

5. Seasonal specials: Make copy relevant to the moment by calling out the best things to do during the current season. For example, "Your guide to the best UK beaches and summer water sports."

6. Historical relevance: Many travelers want to visit historical sites and learn about the past, so lean into facts, dates, and landmarks with a title like "History buff? This colonial town is full of vintage finds."

7. On the road again: After years of limited travel, people are venturing out again. Phrase your copy to support rediscovery, such as "Best ways to rediscover the coastline."

8. Motivational buzzwords: Inspire your audience with encouraging words like discover, bucket list, immerse, or wanderlust. An example is "You'll feel like a jetsetter with wanderlust exploring here."

9. Questionable intrigue: Blend questions with a bit of mystery to engage readers. A title like "Guess where? This country is perfect for culture-lovers" will entice them to read more.

10. Story time: People relate to human connection. Tell the stories of real customers who had positive experiences, such as "Tourists take trip of a lifetime thanks to this new app."

6 visual trends that help campaign engagement take off

Think about the last time you planned a holiday. You visualized yourself at the destination, imagined the activities you'd do, the clothes you'd wear, and the special travel items you'd need. Use images and videos to evoke those feelings in your audience.

1. Travelers & tourists: Images with people almost always perform well, so feature people in beautiful destinations, enjoying activities, flying, or preparing to travel.

2. Destination dreaming: Showcase stunning destinations, famous landmarks or inspiring places with or without people.

3. Cultural importance: Respectfully feature the unique cultural influence, showcasing local food, people, products and heritage.

4. Seasonal wanderlust: Be timely by featuring winter holiday markets, spring flowers, summer beaches, and fall foliage.

5. Hidden gems: Add attention-grabbing visuals of unique attractions or under-the-radar hang-out spots.

6. En route: Feature modes of transportation such as planes, trains, cruise decks or open roads.

4 ways to sell your product and the travel dream

If you offer a product or service that enhances the travel experience, try one of these creative approaches to cater to audience interests and communicate your unique selling proposition.

1. Made for travel: Talk about how your product was made for travel and focus on its unique purpose, technology, or material that proves it's effective.

2. Travel better: Communicate how your product improves the travel experience by saving money, bringing comfort to a flight, or keeping people safe.

3. Get specific: Call out the exact problem your product solves and back it up with testimonials, ratings, or real success stories.

4. Trusted source: Position yourself as a trusted source or thought leader and provide valuable travel tips supported by the inclusion of your product.

A treasure map for success

These strategies and tips will put you on the right path and help boost your campaigns' performance, but it's important to stay agile and respond to changing consumer behaviors and market trends. Remember to routinely check Taboola Trends for updated data (regardless of the ad platform you use), A/B test campaigns, use strong CTA buttons, including "book now," "read more," and "get offer," and optimize, optimize, optimize.