See Yourself There: Six Successful Rich Media Travel Advertisements

Imagine yourself on a warm, sandy beach peacefully listening to the waves with a drink in your hand.  Or how about picture yourself meandering down an enchanted side street in a foreign city?  Maybe indulging in an exotic meal is more your speed?

Whatever your ideal vacation, travel experts have known for years that people are more likely to buy if they can envision themselves taking part in the excursion.  The earliest travel advertisements showed scenes of faraway locales, enticing would-be travelers to partake in something beyond their everyday.

Rich media display advertising has ushered in a new phase of digital marketing that allows travel companies to push this visual trope.  Below are six examples of great rich media use in appealing to travel buyers.

1. Abu Dhabi Welcomes You

The Tourism & Culture Authority of Abu Dhabi created an expandable banner that invited viewers to digitally explore the different things Abu Dhabi had to offer.  By clicking through the different categories, one could find myriad tourist attractions throughout the city that appeal to any traveler.  The banner also had options to save favorite locations and even book trips straight from the ad.

2. The May Fair Affair

The May Fair Hotel in London made use of a similar expandable banner ad, coupled with video content to show amusing situations to "eavesdrop" into around the hotel.  From a trashed wedding reception to a hectic board meeting to Bollywood movie screening, the short clips highlighted various features of the hotel.

3. Vegas Season

The Las Vegas Visitor Authority used a clever marketing campaign to encourage travelers to visit during the hot summer months by playing on winter holiday themes.  The expandable MPU advertisement allowed viewers to flip through a number of holiday scenes that showed off different aspects of Vegas life.

4. Etihad Flight Search

Etihad Airlines sought to bring the booking directly to you by embedding their flight search directly into an expandable MPU.  Married with rich video content and location media, the display ad was essentially an extension of their own website.

5. Lufthansa Nonstop You

In order to show off the service and comfort of traveling on Lufthansa, the airline made use of a vertical ad that, when hovered over, played a short film of a woman traveling onboard.  A flight attendant walks across the screen, creating a playful interaction outside the ad.

6. Discover Alitalia

To literally unveil their new fleet, Alitalia used a fun rich media "game" in their advertising.  The interactive MPU worked by "scratching off" the add to reveal the plane inside.