Skyscanner's Ultimate Travel Hacks Help Travelers Save Bucks Deluxe on Their Next Trip

'The Ultimate Travel Hack.' The first-ever brand campaign Skyscanner’s 20-year history supported by paid social on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook has launched in Canada and Australia. It reminds travellers there’s an easier way to save time and money on their next trip. With inflation, a looming recession, and the complexities of travel planning post-Covid - the timing couldn’t be better.

The campaign will launch and scale with media through October for a minimum three-month run based on measurable success metrics and KPIs. The campaign includes a long-form hero film, seven :30s, ten :15s and eight social direct-response efforts, with more creative on the way.

“We wanted to create a full-funnel, highly measurable campaign that brings to life the funny and absurd lengths many of us go to save time and money on our next trip and shows how Skyscanner is the ultimate travel hack,” said Andre Le Masurier, global head of brand and creative at Skyscanner. “We’ve been the OG travel hack for 20 years. It’s time to take the crown back.” 

In one film, a man battles the 'Fortress of Infinite Travel Options,' a game in which he rolls dice and dodges obstacles like 'the hidden-fee goblin' and 'price dragon.' He practically turns into a kid as he gleefully points to the 'Cone of Incognito,' and the 'Dome of Rental Car Deals.' And the viewer hears his inner boy’s idea of dinosaurs clashing in battle to find a great deal: 'Ahhhhh!'

Cut to a travel-savvy couple sitting on a sofa. “Or you could just use Skyscanner,” they say. “Skyscanner searches billions of prices every day from all your favourite travel flights. It’s the best way to make sure you see the cheapest prices all in one place.”

'Honey!' shouts our would-be traveller to his off-camera spouse, “Skyscanner’s found a way to bring down the Fortress of Infinite Options!” 

Then, in 'Conspiracy Theory,' a slightly nervous-looking man suggests most travel sites raise the prices when you return to book a trip, “I’m sure of it.” He tells the would-be traveller to go to great lengths to, “Clear your search history. Go incognito.” Of course, anybody wanting to seek out adventure would clearly do so…or would they?

These great sendups of the complexities and myths today’s travellers face all cut to a travel-savvy couple sitting on a sofa: “Or you could just use Skyscanner.”

In yet another :15 titled 'Interruption,' the viewer sees a hooded person in a living room huddled behind their laptop in the dark. Their face is blurred as a garbled voice intones, “I am interrupting whatever you’re watching to bring you my best travel hacks to find the cheapest flights.”

'Skyscanner,' announces a woman, as her nose-ringed face comes into focus. “Skyscanner searches all your favourite travel sites and billions of prices every day to make sure you get the best deals. Travel hacker out.” The video closes with, “Save with one search at Skyscanner.com.au.”

Skyscanner’s in-house creative group brought Little Big Engine into their team to work on the project. “We partnered with Little Big Engine because they have a non-traditional, agile agency model with a databased, measurable approach. But they also trust their intuition and are dedicated to creativity, culture and craft,” added Andre. “Instead of working in isolation, they integrated directly into our internal creative group, led the creative development, presented alongside me to leadership, aligned with our media partners, then produced the entire campaign from top to bottom in lockstep the entire way. The collaboration was incredible, effective and fun. This is the future of agency-client relationships.”

“Skyscanner wanted to do more than simply run ads on social. So, we helped them build a campaign that could embrace data without sacrificing the brand storytelling and production quality.” said Patrick Maravilla, executive creative director at Little Big Engine, “And it’s paying off. When you can control the creative process from concept all the way through production and then stay nimble, adjusting the creative post-launch to align with real time data, you can move faster and see better results - and it’s a lot cheaper than taking the traditional agency approach.”