There's Serious #SMUGFACE Going on in Karmarama's Campaign for Secret Escapes

On the weekend, Secret Escapes, the London-based flash sales site for affordable luxury travel, will launch an ambitious TV advertising campaign centred around the tongue-in-cheek concept of #SMUGFACE to encapsulate the feeling members experience when they’ve snapped up a luxury holiday for a fraction of the price.  

The new advertising campaign, which has been developed by newly appointed advertising agency, Karmarama, promotes Secret Escapes’ broad range of holidays from UK country manor houses to exotic,  far-flung getaways.

The creative, which launched on national TV Saturday 18th April, uses idyllic Secret Escapes settings, a voice-over by Jessica Brown-Findlay (Sybil from Downton Abby) and the crescendo of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 to reveal #SMUGFACE – the sentiment members experience after paying up to 70% less than everyone else for the same luxury room and the same treatment, often with added perks thrown in too. 

Sam Walker, Group ECD at Karmarama, said: “Secret Escapes is a really exciting business to be working with and we've tried to create communications that match their level of ambition. #SMUGFACE is one of those things that everyone can relate to - when you know you're paying less than everyone else for the same amazing holiday."

Alex Saint, Chief Executive of Secret Escapes, said: “We’ve reached an exciting period in the brand’s development where we’re operating in 10 countries, offering hand-picked holidays to over 10 million members. Now feels like the right time to launch our latest TV advertising campaign with the newly appointed, Karmarama, to showcase the breadth of the holidays we have to offer. 

“Our members love sharing stories of their surprise and excitement when they manage to snap up luxury holiday at up to 70% off so we wanted to have some fun in capturing this sentiment in our new series TV creative, using the hashtag #SMUGFACE to drive consumer engagement. The previous campaign which featured Camilla Arfwedson proved to be very popular and we anticipate that the new adverts will grow on this success.”