Expedia ThrowMeBack Promotion
Expedia
Issue 33 | December 2014
Agency
180LA
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer William Gelner Creative Directors Dave Horton Matthew Woodhams- Roberts Art Director Chelsea Cumings Copywriters Ted Kapusta Kevin Steele Head of Production Natasha Wellesley Producer Lauren Prushan Head of Account Management Chad Bettor
Production Team
Production Company Ways & Means Executive Producers Lana Kim Jett Steiger Director Chelsea Cumings Producer Cedric Troadec
Other Credits
Account Director Brooke Stites Account Manager Mackenzie Walen Account Co-ordinator Chase Pritchett Expedia Senior Director, Brand Marketing Vic Walia Brand Marketing Manager Jessica Eichner Media Director Elizabeth Dorrance
Date
July 2014
Background
Expedia was launched in 2001 as an internet-based travel company. It booked airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, cruises and other services. They wanted to take the concept of travel beyond physical journeys and into an emotional, even spiritual place.
Idea
To date, there have been some 228 million photos shared in social media with the 'tbt' (Throwback Thursday) hashtag. To tap into this cultural meme and remind people of some of the most important travel-related moments in their lives, every week Expedia chose a photo uploaded to Instagram which had been tagged @ Expedia and #ThrowMeBack and gave the lucky people in the snap the chance to travel back to the spot to recreate it.
To support the competition, an online video was posted called 'Back to Ocean Beach', telling the story of the first winners of the competition. It showed a family from Washington DC loading up their classic VW Kombi to head back to San Diego to recreate a photo from the 1980s.
Back on the beach together, they even recreated their wardrobe choices from a quarter of a century earlier.
Results
The hashtag #ThrowMeBack had 8,766 submissions on Instagram. It was considered a successful launch of Expedia's Instagram channel!
Our Thoughts
This is a company moving from a rational proposition into more emotional territory; a facility hoping to become a brand. In the USA, their marketing has been about making travel personal and, certainly, the photo gallery at Instagram/expediathrowmeback is awash with nostalgia. ‘Wish we could go back to that simple time’ is one caption to an old holiday photo.
So, why are Expedia on Instagram? Well, it’s not easy to find recent numbers but a 2013 research report from L2 suggested Instagram has a higher conversion of browser shopper than Facebook or Twitter. That’s why. However, the report also suggested Instagram is still under-used by brands.