Travelocity
Bring Wander Wisely To Life
When Travelocity’s partner, Etihad Airways, opened their premium travel service from New York to Abu Dhabi, their team had created an unparalleled, world-renowned travel experience that begins as soon as a guest arrives at the airport and doesn’t end until one’s safe passage back home. To give fellow travelers a virtual all-access pass of Etihad’s experience of a lifetime, PMG joined the famed Travelocity Gnome on his trip from New York to Abu Dhabi and back to capture his experience firsthand and showcase Etihad’s premiere, luxurious travel offering.
Services
2.1 M
Delivered 2.1 million impressions on a budget of less than $50k
90%
Increase in engagement over the previous StoryDoing
42%
Video viewing completion rate overall
Challenge
In order to expand on Travelocity’s StoryDoing content series, the brand had to raise awareness and generate excitement and legitimacy around Abu Dhabi as a noteworthy travel destination. By inspiring travelers to “Wander Wisely,” the Gnome’s journey to Abu Dhabi needed to humanize the Abu Dhabi travel experience; providing a unique lens through which social followers could experience the trip for themselves.
Strategy & Approach
From featuring amazing food, destination adventures, and Etihad’s next-level, in-flight travel experience, PMG’s creative team knew the only way to create authentic travel content is to actually be there. We surprised and delighted online travel audiences by bringing them along to Abu Dhabi through StoryDoing – creating hands-on destination travel stories by actually traveling, experiencing, and sharing those experiences in near real-time through social video, photography, and Twitter stories.
One of PMG’s’ key story elements was around the luxury of the Etihad Airline experience, taking the audience inside the international flight from the lounge to landing through the eyes of the Gnome. The Gnome gave viewers a front-row seat to everything from the incredible premium class lounge service, preflight cuisine, the flight accommodations, the onboard chef service, and even gave our audience an exclusive peek at the highest level of luxury available.
Once in Abu Dhabi, the team followed a packed itinerary each day, shooting at each location, conducting interviews, and posting content throughout the day. PMG featured stories from the Formula 1 track in Yas Marina, the world’s fastest roller coaster at Ferrari World, one of the highest of high tea experiences at Jumeirah Tower, and dune bashing in the Liwa desert.
PMG created a truly authentic experience by creating and publishing content in near real-time on location all with the help of a small film crew and through the eyes of the Travelocity Gnome.
Results
As a part of a longterm strategy, the Etihad “Wander Wisely” experience was a way to expand the Gnome’s social presence beyond Twitter and into Instagram photo and video footage during this StoryDoing opportunity. Because the content sourced from the unique Abu Dhabi experience was so exciting and accessible, Travelocity social channels saw a significant increase in engagement — including the top Twitter post of the year for the brand.
