Trivago on the value of keeping creative and research in-house

As the company launches its latest out of home campaign, Trivago’s head of UK and Ireland explains why keeping creative and research in-house ensures it remains “agile” in a competitive market.

Having creative and research in-house is a critical part of Trivago’s philosophy and ensures the company remains “agile” in a competitive market, according to the travel firm’s UK boss.

“It’s our company philosophy to try to get the learning ourselves and we find the best way to do this is keep the creative process and product within the company,” Hannah Wickes, Trivago’s country manager for the UK and Ireland, tells Marketing Week.

Currently the company has internal production, design and data science teams, which enables staff to share their thoughts quickly and easily. Wickes explains: “It is different kind of strategy to a lot of bigger companies but we find it works for us. It means we’re quite agile and the learning doesn’t get lost.”

This ethos was applied to Trivago’s new out of home campaign which required three rounds of pre-testing. Wickes says: “We did multiple survey rounds where we asked a variety of different questions at each round singling out the pictures, the destinations, etc to get the right fit. It was more than pulling data it was actually asking detailed questions.”

The new campaign will run in London with the company’s spokesperson actress Gabrielle Miller aka ‘Trivago woman’ noticeably absent.

Last year Miller became somewhat of an internet sensation with many criticising the “boring ads” that popped up everywhere.

However, Wickes says Trivago “couldn’t ask for a better spokesperson” and promises we will see the return of Miller in a series of “humorous” TV ads this summer.

With the new campaign, the company wanted to reach out to consumers in a slightly different way. The company looked at the most searched-for destinations with ads featuring city, landscape and beach backdrops, alongside a bed and the strapline ‘Find your ideal hotel’.

Wickes says: “London is a very mature market so we wanted to make sure the ads worked for people here. When you look at our data, London consumers know Scotland very well and love it. They’re not just searching Scotland their searching for [spots off the beaten track] so we worked with Visit Scotland on this to find unique places.”

Wickes says pre-testing will key going forward as the data-driven company looks to stay relevant in the over-saturated travel market. She concludes: “We are a tech company first so we take that to the heart of what we do, so we can remain as agile as possible and build the best ideas.”

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