How lastminute.com’s Influencer-Driven Pivot Redefined Travel Marketing
When lastminute.com set out to refresh its summer campaign, ‘It's Never Too Late to Book a Holiday’, the brand didn't just rely on traditional marketing playbooks. Instead, the team embraced a bold, influencer-driven approach that broke through the sea of sameness in travel advertising.
lastminute.com's brand director Ruchika Kalra and Trouble Maker's founder Jonathan Fraser were at the helm of this strategic pivot.
Speaking to LBB’s Olivia Atkins, they share how the campaign’s success was rooted in authentic, humour-infused content created by niche influencers, the importance of cultural relevance across markets, and how their partnership with lastminute.com is shaping the future of travel marketing.
LBB> Where did the recent strategy of pivot lastminute.com's 'It’s Never Too Late to Book a Holiday' summer campaign to an influencer-driven campaign come from?
Ruchika> The 'It's Never Too Late to Book a Holiday' campaign was always envisioned as a multimedia initiative across various channels, with influencers playing distinct roles. This strategy aimed to enhance talkability and embed the campaign's core idea into everyday culture, beyond the travel community. By collaborating with influencers outside the traditional travel sphere and leveraging their organic humour, the campaign sought to break through the sea of sameness and engage the target audience in a more relatable way.
LBB> Delving into some of the social campaigns made for Instagram and Twitter, what was the criteria and selection process for the macro influencers you partnered with?
Ruchika> In order to stand out in consumers' social feeds, we purposefully went out to select creators that weren't your typical social influencers. We wanted creators with rich but niche communities, known for their creativity and authenticity. The idea was for them to create something in collaboration with us that felt very natural to their audience, with enough licence for them to inject their own humour into the final posts, whilst landing the campaign idea.
LBB> Why do these playful activations work so well for the lastminute.com brand?
Ruchika> These playful activations work so well for lastminute.com because humour has always been a core element of the brand's personality, making these campaigns feel authentic and aligned with the brand's identity. The choice of creators, known for their organic style of humour, ensures that the content feels natural and engaging rather than forced or scripted. And the seamless fit between the brand's tone and the creators' style not only enhances authenticity but also resonates with audiences, making the content more relatable and shareable. Moreover, the lighthearted nature of these activations mirrors the essence of last-minute travel, reinforcing the brand's promise that it's never too late to book a holiday.
LBB> You’ve been working together with lastminute.com since the start of 2024, what have you learnt about the brand that you’re bringing to future campaigns?
Jonathan> That lastminute.com has a deep-rooted desire to stand out and isn’t afraid to do things differently to outsmart rather than outspend the competition. This is something we heard the team say at the start of our journey together, however many clients say this but don’t follow through. lastminute.com have pushed us to be bold just as much as we have pushed them, which has led to a really exciting partnership.
LBB> The influencer evolution of this campaign relies heavily on user-generated content, with influencers creating DIY footage. Why was this approach important, and how does it help the brand connect with the next generation of lastminute.com fans?
Jonathan> It’s important because we wanted this idea of ‘It’s Never Too Late to Book a Holiday’ to become part of an everyday belief. The reason we picked these talented content creators was to leverage their talent to bring this very simple idea to life in ways that perhaps we hadn’t even thought of.
LBB> What have been some of your most memorable moments from your partnership with lastminute.com so far?
Jonathan> Winning the pitch and the moment the client said ‘we love that toilet idea’.
LBB> Equally, what have been some of the most interesting creative challenges? How did you overcome them?
Jonathan> How we make this one idea locally relevant across markets. We overcame it by doing a piece of research to understand the key places that people are likely to book a last minute holiday, and picked scenarios that would land in each market without explanation. It shows how a universal idea has the ability to flex and be locally relevant.
LBB> What’s next for lastminute.com and Trouble Maker?
Ruchika and Jonathan> Watch this space!
