How Travel Brand Marketers Adapted Their TV Campaigns to an Unpredictable Q1 2023

As consumers transitioned from the first post-COVID Christmas to planning for their 2023 Easter and summer holidays, the travel industry faced an unprecedented challenge. After years of restrictions and a surge in stay-at-home vacations, it was anticipated that pent-up demand would finally be unleashed. However, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis tempered this enthusiasm, leading many families to remain cautious in their spending.

For travel brands, Q1 2023 was a critical period to gauge consumer response and recalibrate their media investment strategies after a prolonged downturn. Historical data offered limited guidance here, making it crucial for brands to determine how effective TV would be in driving demand. This understanding would allow for necessary adjustments in future media investments, optimising ROI and leading to more effective, data-driven campaign planning.

To offer actionable insight, ViewersLogic conducted post-campaign analyses of Q1 TV campaigns from several leading online travel brands. Sessions on the brand’s app and website were used as the response metric to evaluate campaign effectiveness.

Key findings from our campaign analysis:

Longer TV campaigns generally yielded higher uplift per 10 million impacts. However, some campaigns defied expectations: 

• Onthebeach: The winner in campaign effectiveness, achieving an average uplift of 6.9% per 10 million impacts over a 12-week period. Their sponsorship of ‘The Masked Singer’ significantly amplified the impact of their campaign.

• Jet2 and Tui: Both brands ran 10-week campaigns, with Jet2 achieving a 3.7% uplift and Tui close behind at 3.4%. The similarity in their durations and results suggests a consistent approach to maintaining consumer engagement over time.

• Booking.com: Delivered the lowest uplift at 1.6%, which may be attributed to the campaign’s shorter duration of just 4 weeks, demonstrating the potential pitfalls of shorter, more concentrated campaigns in the current market.

• Expedia: An outlier in the analysis, Expedia recorded the second-lowest uplift at 2.1% despite running the longest campaign at 13 weeks. The data suggests that their early start in mid-December resulted in limited initial traction, impacting overall campaign effectiveness.

How we do it?

To generate these insights, ViewersLogic utilised its unique Single-Source data, which offers a channel-agnostic method for capturing TV and online response. Our methodology involves tracking media exposure, purchase behaviour, and location data over time from the same individuals, providing a comprehensive view of campaign effectiveness.

In this example, test and control groups were as follows:

• Control group: Composed of individuals who were not exposed to a brand’s TV ads during the campaign period or in the two weeks preceding it.

• Test group: Included individuals who were exposed to a brand’s TV ads during the campaign period but not in the two weeks prior.

A “response” was defined as a session on the brand’s app or a visit to its website, with responses de-duplicated to allow for only one response per user per week. We then calculated the uplift by comparing the response rates of the test group to the control group during the campaign.

For example, for every 10 million impacts the chance of the test group to visit the Jet2 website or app grew by 3.7 % over the control group.

Our top takeaways for marketers

1. Longer campaigns vs. shorter campaigns: The data in this analysis indicates that longer TV campaigns generally provide higher uplifts, emphasising the value of sustained consumer engagement. However, other factors such as timing and external partnerships (e.g., Onthebeach's sponsorship of ‘The Masked Singer’) can significantly influence outcomes.

2. Post campaign analysis is crucial in evaluating TV campaign effectiveness. By understanding how different channels perform, marketers can make informed adjustments to media spend, locking in better outcomes for future campaigns.

3. Optimising campaign duration and timing: the disparity in results between Onthebeach and Expedia highlights the need for careful consideration of both campaign duration and timing. A well-timed, sustained campaign can outperform even the longest campaigns if it aligns with consumer behaviour and market conditions.

4. The use of precise campaign response tools like ViewersLogic’s data can provide marketers with actionable insights, enabling them to optimise media spend, improve ROI, and plan more effective campaigns based on meaningful business outcomes.

With the unpredictable ways the current market unfolds, marketers need  accurate data to ensure that their campaigns not only reach their audience but also drive meaningful engagement and return on investment.