Building Travel Brand Love through Content and Culture

In the highly competitive travel industry, fostering brand love and building long-term loyalty are priority goals that present serious challenges. That’s because travelers’ trip decisions are often motivated by much more than just finding a relaxing getaway or a fun-filled family vacation. Instead, cultural moments have become the catalysts for modern travel decisions.

For some travelers, cultural inspiration comes from must-see shows or movies set in exciting locations around the world. Others take inspiration from unique cultural experiences like music festivals and global sporting events. 

“Travel is inspired by customers’ passion points, and Amazon connects consumers with their various passions, including entertainment, sports, music, wellness, and food,” said Meghan Joseph, travel industry manager at Amazon Ads. 

Cultural Moments Inspire Modern Travelers’ Trip Decisions

Travelers are increasingly inspired to visit destinations they discover through their favorite movies and TV series. In 2023, Expedia found that the majority of travelers researched or booked a destination after seeing it featured in their favorite media.¹ According to American Express, 64 percent of travelers were inspired to visit a specific country or destination after seeing it featured in a TV show, movie, or news story.²

“When viewers escape into their favorite content, it can make them feel like they’ve been transported to that location,” Joseph said. “That’s the power of aligning your brand with content — sight, sound, interactivity, and motion can bring the experience to customers in a way other ad solutions cannot.”

On the other hand, experience-driven consumers travel not only to explore distant destinations but also to connect with their passions in real life. Fans will travel far and wide to participate in significant cultural moments and have personal experiences with the athletes, artists, chefs, and creators they admire.

These emotional bonds drive measurable economic impact. For example, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour generated as much as $5 billion in consumer spending in the U.S. alone.³ Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour boosted hotel bookings around the world; Houston hotels generated $18 million in revenue while Queen Bey was in town, a 45 percent increase over the same weekend the year before.⁴

Reaching Travelers Through Amazon’s Cultural Alignment

Amazon Ads offers high-impact channels for travel brands to connect with culturally driven and highly engaged travelers who are poised to shop. GWI’s research shows that 88 percent of frequent travelers can be reached across Amazon touchpoints. Compared to average consumers, they are also more engaged on Prime Video (1.2 times more), Amazon Music (1.4 times more), and Fire TV (1.2 times more).⁵ 

Prime Video works with the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, and National Women’s Soccer League, to name a few, and can help travel brands align with travelers’ passion for sports by connecting with them while they’re enjoying their favorite cultural pastimes.

Through Amazon Prime Day, travel brands can take advantage of the cultural momentum that comes from tentpole shopping holidays. Prime Day is so ingrained in the zeitgeist that it drives conversations about deals across the internet, wherever fans and shoppers gather. But Prime Day isn’t just for product-focused brands. Travel brands can also get in on the action, with Prime Day Travel Deals that include discounts on cruises, rental cars, tours, and more.

Best Practices for Travel Brands Implementing Effective Campaigns

Amazon Ads helps brands create emotional engagement with travel enthusiasts through a slate of advanced advertising tools. Amazon DSP’s unique audience signals unlock expansive browsing, shopping, and streaming insights to support meaningful connections with relevant customers at the perfect moment in their buying journey. And Amazon Marketing Cloud allows travel advertisers to analyze the path to purchase and the impact branding has on their full-funnel campaigns. 

Brands can use tools like these to create culturally relevant campaigns and reach the right audiences by aligning with sporting events, music festivals, and global holidays. But according to Joseph, it’s important to choose cultural moments that are a natural fit for the brand. “The foundation of any emotional connection with consumers is rooted in authenticity,” Joseph said. “The more authentic your brand and your messaging, the stronger an emotional connection you can build.”

By integrating campaign content with the booking journey, travel brands can streamline the path from inspiration to booking. For example, Expedia and Amazon Ads recently collaborated on a campaign around a new Prime Video series, Pasta Queen. The integration was part of a larger custom Amazon Ads program designed to simplify the travel booking process and close the gap between discovery and action.

“By working with Amazon, we were able to leverage set-jetting research to spotlight top destinations aligned with the content,” said Chandreyi Davis, global senior vice president of brand marketing at Expedia Group. “We’re seeing high engagement, which underscores how audiences enjoying content are primed to react to travel ads.”

As the travel industry becomes increasingly competitive, aligning to consumers’ passion points through culturally relevant content is essential for travel brands to successfully foster long-term loyalty. Brands that leverage Amazon Ads’ insights and capabilities can be well-positioned to simultaneously tap into the cultural zeitgeist, inspire travelers, and drive bookings.

To learn more about how Amazon Ads helps brands connect with audiences, click here.

This content was created collaboratively by Amazon Ads and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.