Transport & tourism

How travel brands are preparing for the new normal in Asia

Article • Low Lai Chow, Event Reports, WiT Virtual Summit, June 2020

Travel brands face unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and have attempted to innovate rapidly as consumers adopt new behaviours.

Omnichannel, a source of differentiation in our new reality

Opinion • Mieke De Schepper, August 2020

Amadeus' Mieke De Schepper argues that omnichannel strategies have a crucial role to play in meeting the changed expectations and demands of post-COVID travellers.

Voice of the industry: Travel after Coronavirus

Article • Euromonitor Strategy Briefings, August 2020

Highlights the results of Euromonitor’s Voice of the Industry: Travel and Tourism survey, alongside commentary and context from Euromonitor experts.

Almosafer: As far as we go

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Prize for MENA Strategy, Bronze, 2020

Travel platform Almosafer reversed declining market share through an emotive Ramadan film in Saudi Arabia.

RSA: The Unluckiest Traveller – #rsatravelphotofails

Case Study • SABRE Awards, Gold, EMEA, 2020

UAE insurance brand RSA used a social media-led campaign to connect with its target audience and increase travel insurance sales.

APAC travel stirs

News • 04/06/2020

The travel industry has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, but there are signs, in Asia-Pacific at least, that things are starting to look up.

Expedia Group adapts marketing to drive portfolio growth

News • 01/06/2020

Expedia Group, the online travel firm that owns brands like Travelocity and Hotels.com as well as its eponymous website, is taking a more holistic approach to marketing that can optimise its activity across its entire portfolio.

Keeping travel alive in APAC: Three brands getting it right

Article • Low Lai Chow, WARC COVID-19 Series, Web in Travel Virtual panel, May 2020

Sojern’s Katy Gallagher outlines silver linings for the travel sector in APAC as the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic progress.

Milliseconds make millions: A study on how improvements in mobile site speed positively affect a brand’s bottom line

Article • Research on WARC, May 2020

Looks at how the rise of customer expectations and increasing use of smartphones are amplifying the need for mobile speed.

Expedia Group plans complete marketing “reset” for the recovery

Article • Stephen Whiteside, WARC COVID-19 Series, May 2020

Expedia Group, the owner of various online travel platforms, is using the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic to transform its marketing operations.

Almosafer: As far as we go

Case Study • AME Awards, Silver, 2020

Almosafer, a travel platform, reversed declining market share through an emotive Ramadan film in Saudi Arabia.

Planning for the future of travel after COVID-19

Article • Will Grundy, WARC COVID-19 Series, May 2020

Travel brands have been among the hardest hit by COVID-19, but can take action now to stay top of mind post-lockdown.

Global tourism could plummet 80% in 2020, says UNWTO

News • 12/05/2020

International tourism could be facing a fall of between 60–80% over the course of 2020 due to COVID-19, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation forecasts.

Travel and entertainment sectors “shut down” as digital advertising adjusts to new uncertainties

Article • Geoffrey Precourt, WARC COVID-19 Series, ARF Coronavirus Virtual Town Hall, March 2020

COVID-19 will have a varied impact on particular industries, and requires careful on-going analysis among marketers given the rapid pace of change.

Six ways for coronavirus-hit travel to bounce back in North Asia

Article • Low Lai Chow, WARC COVID-19 Series, Web in Travel Virtual, March 2020

A Web in Travel webinar outlines how the badly-hit travel sector in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea can position themselves for recovery.

Almosafer: As far as we go

Case Study • Tahaab Rais, WARC Awards, Gold, Effective Use of Brand Purpose, 2020

Travel platform Almosafer reversed declining market share through an emotive Ramadan film in Saudi Arabia.

GlobalWebIndex Coronavirus Research, Series Two: Travel & Commuting

Research Paper • GlobalWebIndex (GWI), WARC COVID-19 Series, March 2020

Details data collected by GlobalWebIndex between March 13-16th in the US and UK, dedicated to the travel andtransportation industries in the coronavirus outbreak.

Hybrid segmentation: Delivering against brand and comms, innovation and CRM strategies

Article • Paul Jackson, WARC Exclusive, March 2020

Paul Jackson, head of advanced analytics, Bonamy Finch writes how hybrid segmentation empowered a leading tourism company to drive additional revenue.

Black & Abroad: Go Back To Africa

Rankings • WARC Creative 100, 2020

Black & Abroad, a cultural collective dedicated to redefining world experiences for the modern Black traveller, increased visibility in the US by erasing racist comments telling African Americans to go back to Africa and replacing them with a positive vision of Africa.

Behind Booking.com’s in-house research agency

Article • Sam Peña-Taylor, Event Reports, IIeX, February 2020

Dutch travel website Booking built a research capability from scratch that has developed into a strategic insights consultancy within the company.

YouGov Ad of the Month – UK: On the Beach

Opinion • BrandIndex, January 2020

During December, On the Beach achieved the highest uplift in Ad Awareness of any brand in the UK. With many brands releasing Christmas adverts in November, travel provider On the Beach takes the title as December 2019’s ad of the month.

Carnival creates an “experiential Internet of Things” to deliver personalized travel experiences

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, CES, January 2020

Princess Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corporation, has built an “experiential Internet of Things” that allows it to understand and serve consumers in almost real time.

Getting to peak personalisation: How travel brands are making the climb to compelling data-driven marketing

Article • Research on WARC, December 2019

Looks at how travel brands are using data-driven marketing to achieve peak personalisation.

A “hybrid-segmentation” project conducted in collaboration with TUI-UK

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Finalist, MRS Award for Applications of Research, 2019

TUI, a travel and tourism operator, provides an overview of a hybrid-segmentation project conducted in the UK to overcome the serious limitations of solus survey and database approaches.

How TUI’s relentless focus on reach and awareness cleared the way for its rebrand from Thomson

Article • Alex Brownsell, Event Reports, Thinkbox: Destination effectiveness - Travel brands on TV, September 2019

Looks at the rebranding of UK travel brand Thomson in line with parent company TUI.