It’s unbelievable how much ad space this “ad” has gotten. I don’t mean to be diminutive by putting it in quotes, but watch the ad. It sucks. It’s just terrible. Maybe it’s because I watch a lot of CNN and this ad has been playing a lot there. I don’t know. But it begs the question. If you’re a new competitor in a quite competitive online travel site industry, what’s more important when developing a campaign? Do you invest all your cash into creative quality? Or do you invest in media buys leaving the creative mumbo jumbo to Apple and the “other” guys?
In a tv environment where so many try to fit somewhere in the middle, Trivago has chosen quite firmly the latter. Putting a pin in the eye roll and frantic search for the remote every time it reappears during my Erin Burnett pregnancy updates, I can’t help but wonder who the hell this Scott Bakula look-a-like is and why he is talking to me like a Gen X mother of three. I guess that’s the rub: I’m just not this campaign’s target market. Which I guess I can’t help but find odd for a person entering my 30’s with travel always on my mind. Is Trivago just targeting a different market? Is this plain approach to messaging effective with this target when it’s compounded by a shear obnoxious amount of impressions?
Update: Considering weeks later, I still see this god-forsaken ad again and again, I’m guessing the campaign has been effective. If only every target responded that way. I guess advertising would be a lot less fun, though. (Just don’t tell Hulu.)