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Travelocity offers hope in evolution of display advertising

October 26, 2009 |

Display advertising players are searching the search-ad space for lessons, in hope of making online-advertising more relevant to consumers and advertisers. An early sign of hope for the channel comes from Travelocity.

Travelocity's best-performing online ad campaigns came after the No. 2 online travel agency sought to deliver customized messages based on its visitors' site search history.
Last year, the travel site dumped the old way of online display ads, such as serving up generic messages like "Find low fares on Travelocity. Book now." Its messages are now targeted in real-time based on visitors' most recent search activities.

"We're providing timely, relevant ads based on what the user is in the market for," said Kyle Sawai, principal at Click Here, Travelocity's digital agency of record. "We're taking what's worked so well in search advertising and using the digital medium as intended, which is a one-to-one -- and not a mass -- communications medium."

Travelocity's targeted approach has yielded big improvements over its previous online campaigns; new campaigns require fewer ad impressions to convert site visitors to purchasers, driving Travelocity's cost-per-transaction down 79%. It also saw a 230% increase in bookings; click-through rates jumped 651%.

Get the full story at AdvertisingAge

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