The objective of this campaign was to use insights, trends, or contextual information to surprise consumers with entertaining content that would create an emotional connection with the Hotels.com brand. In a parody category where all online booking brands offer similar services Hotels.com wanted to connect with their target by creating entertaining and emotional driven content. From the idea to the media strategy everything needed to connect with a specific audience to ensure relatability and relevance, even though we targeted new couples for this campaign the content that was created was able to transcend the original target and resonate with anyone who has found themselves in a similar sh*tuation.
Traveling with your significant other for the first time can be stressful! The anxiety is real as the flurry of questions run through each partners head as they embark on that first trip together.
That last question hit a nerve. Its an awkward topic that not a lot of consumers (or brands) are talking about. In fact 37% of people said going #2 is the most anxiety inducing part of their first trip with their significant other and 73% of people said they go to great lengths to avoid pooping in their hotel room. So to help breach the topic and give Hotels.com permission to talk about a stinky subject we needed to partner with the experts in pooping...Poo~Pourri. By partnering with Poo~Pourri Hotels.com was given the permission to tackle the anxiety that most couples face and the best way to do that was to leverage both brands spokespeople, Captain Obvious and Bethany.
Hotels.com paired the two iconic characters to create long form video content as they commentated on the extreme lengths couples go through on their first trip to avoid a total craptastrophe in front of their partner. In addition to commenting on the struggle these couples face while traveling the two spokespeople offered a solve to the travel trauma by giving free bottles of Poo~Pourri to save couples relationships from their first relationsh*t.
By partnering with Poo~Pourri, Hotels.com was able to leverage not only their own audience, but also Poo~Pourri's hyper engaged and loyal following. The video was launched for 6 weeks across Hotels.com and Poo~Pourri's owned and paid channels to increase audience size and video views. Beyond video views the campaign was picked up by a number of media outlets including Forbes, Adage, Adweek, Dallas Innovates, and a variety of radio outlets.
Campaign Highlights
