Travel marketing gives marketers lots of opportunity to indulge their creative side whilst coming up with new and exciting ways to showcase the best their property has to offer.

As an expert voice in hotel marketing solutions, Digital Hotelier has lots of knowledge and experience when it comes to great travel marketing. Here are some of our top examples of campaigns that got it spot on and the reasons why they’re great, so you can learn from their success.

5 Great Travel Marketing Campaigns

1. Discover Your Smile – Thompson Holidays (2015)
2. Dumb Ways To Die – Metro Trains Melbourne (2012)
3. It’s Just Next Door – SNCF Europe (2013)
4. GREAT Britain – Visit Britain (2012 -2016)
5. Le Bar Guide – Stella Artois (2013)

A delightful ad campaign to tug at the heartstrings, Thompson’s ‘Discover Your Smile’ was anchored by an advert featuring a neglected teddy bear having the time of his life on holiday with his young owner and his family. By placing the advert from the perspective of a cuddly toy, the campaign ensured that it would hit the right notes with its family-oriented target audience. A creative approach meant that the ad was just twee and kitsch enough to play into nostalgic memories of childhood – and targeting the advert at a time of high summer holiday booking uptakes was another masterstroke for the company.

Its topic is far from a cheerful subject, but Melbourne’s ‘Dumb Ways To Die’ video marketing campaign proved that you can gain great success – and go viral – when a potentially harrowing concept is made approachable with the use of a catchy jingle and some animated characters.

 Source: DumbWays2Die

In an effort to improve public safety standards, the Metro system created an advert which showcases all the different ‘dumb’ ways people can lose their lives – from electrocution to accidental shootings. The campaign was a landmark moment for viral video marketing, achieving worldwide recognition. However it should be noted that the video also achieved its initial goal, with far fewer accidents reported on the Metro following its creation.

Source: TBWA PARIS

As an experiential campaign which garnered some great creative video content, SNCF’s ‘Next Door’ campaign sought to emphasise the proximity of European countries in order to encourage more mainland holidays connected by its rail service. This was achieved through creating a ‘door’ from one country to the next, with LED screens. This cheerful, ideas-oriented approach appealed to core SNCF travellers and played to ongoing acknowledgements of both the benefits of travel – new experiences in a new culture – and the fundamental ‘sameness’ of human beings the world over.

Encompassing four years of marketing activities, the GREAT tourism campaign sought to publicize the UK as a whole to worldwide travellers. Utilising the Union Jack and aiming to increase travel aspirations, the campaign took a multi-layered approach, showcasing the best of British culture, exports and talent. Beginning the campaign at a time all eyes were on the UK in 2012 (the year of both the Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee) was a masterstroke of great timing. The campaign has generated over £800 million in added visitor spend in 2015/16 alone.

 Source: Stella Artois

It’s not a travel company, but beer brand Stella Artois still got involved in the holiday making arena with a smart augmented reality app designed for travellers. Le Bar Guide gave customers a chance to download a dedicated app and locate the best place to get a Stella Artois – wherever they were in the world. Using creative flourishes and with an in-app functionality for booking a taxi following a great night out, the app shows all marketers a thing or two about how powerful a combination wit and genuine usability can be when appealing to the travel segment.