Sheen Sagalongos' Blog

As I was wasting my night a while ago browsing through Reddit, also known as “the front page of the internet”, I came across one of the top posts on the website that led me to Tim Nudd’s post in Adweek. In this post, he talks about one commercial from Expedia’s “Find Yours” Campaign: a story about Artie Goldstein and his relationship with his daughter, Jill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThzdsnXeE28

If you watched the video, you cannot help but be emotionally moved with the Goldsteins’ story. The video conveys how Artie comes into terms with his shattered dream for his daughter -to find and marry the man of her dreams- when Nikki, Jill’s girlfriend, asks for Jill’s hand in marriage from Artie. He talks us through his whole thought process and shares his experiences, developing a deep and emotional connection with his audience.

Jill Goldstein and Nikki Weiss on their wedding day.

The advertisement really fits in well with the whole “Find Yours” campaign where Expedia emphasizes that they “exist to help each individual find exactly what it is they are looking for.” The company steps away from typical “good deal” commercials where there’s a silly skit and somewhere in between actors blurt out “This deal from wherever is SO good! Don’t miss out.” kinda thing like what their main competitor, Kayak, recently aired. (Here is that said Kayak commercial). According to Nudd in a separate post, “it relates a physical journey and an emotionally transformative one at the same time—which is Expedia’s larger point about all kinds of travel.”

I think this campaign is a really effective marketing strategy for Expedia. Not only are the videos well-made and the stories really interesting that it can stand alone without Expedia’s branding at the end of the video, but it redefines what Expedia is and positions itself as something more than just the typical travel reservation website.

Expedia capitalizes on the small difference between the word “trip” and “journey”. They understand that a journey is personal and different for everyone and it how it has a different tone to it, unlike Kayak who emphasizes good deals on trips to Cancun or wherever. People look and expect different things from their journey, in Artie’s case, it was understanding (hence “Find Your Understanding”). For others, it could be passion, strength, or perspective. (These three by the way are also other commercials from Expedia. Learn more about it here.). While it is not revolutionary, I think Expedia did a great job in differentiating themselves from Kayak and other competitors and ultimately added value into the services they offer.