TripAdvisor Gambles on TV Campaign Promising Best Hotels at Lowest Prices
Photo Credit: TripAdvisor co-founder and CEO Stephen Kaufer tells Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali and the audience at the Skift Global Forum in New York, September 28, 2016 that he loves his job and is in it for the long haul. Skift
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TripAdvisor may be making progress on personalization and the balance between searching and booking, but we're not sure whether it has found a message that will resonate with consumers -- one that's different from Kayak's and Trivago's.
TripAdvisor is returning to television advertising in a relatively modest way in 2017 after a two-year absence as it pivots away from an earlier "book, book, book" message and positions itself as the place to help users "find and book the the best hotels at the lowest prices."
That's how the company characterized the thrust of its upcoming $70 to $80 million TV campaign to be rolled out in the United States and select other markets later this year, as TripAdvisor released its first quarter earnings — but it isn't necessarily the verbiage it will use in its campaign.
There was a lot of interest in whether TripAdvisor would return to TV and concern about the costs. The company said it believes that TV will take up a larger portion of its marketing mix in future years but for 2017, "we expect the channel will have a below-break even return on advertising spend profile."
The creative agency handling the U.S. campai
