Tripadvisor's Viator Adds Fig as Creative AOR in Hopes of Becoming a Household Name

Viator, the experiences marketplace that is a part of Tripadvisor, is scaling its marketing this fall with the help of two new agencies of record: Fig for creative and Ocean Media for media. Viator, which simplifies planning excursions by allowing consumers to do everything from research to booking through its website, has added over 300,000 experiences globally. “The most memorable part of traveling isn’t the flight or the hotel," said Laurel Greatrix, vp, brand and communications of Viator. "It’s not even necessarily the destination—it’s what we do while we’re there." Previously, Viator relied on search and performance marketing to build its business as the brand only spent $16,425 on offline spend in 2021, according to COMvergence. The brand did not provide insight on how much it will increase its offline budget as a result of the new direction of its marketing. "Now what they want to do in order to scale [the business] is build a salient brand," said Judith Carr-Rodriguez, partner and CEO of Fig. Fig and the brand are immediately going into production following the pitch to create a fully-integrated brand campaign that will span audio, display, OOH, social and traditional film. "But right now, most travel experiences are still purchased offline—without the benefit of the vast selection, insight and simplicity that our marketplace offers," Greatrix said, adding, "With Ocean and Fig as our very talented partners, we’re excited to show travelers there’s a better way." The challenge Viator is not just trying to own a category; it's trying to create a new category. In its space, only Airbnb has strong brand visibility, but due to the pandemic, Airbnb scaled back its experience offerings, leaving an opportunity for a brand like Viator to capture a big chunk of the addressable market. Airbnb's latest marketing, created by Droga5, has focused on the different categories of rentals customers can book, rather than its experiences. Carr-Rodriguez recognizes the huge opportunity for Viator to build out this space, calling the road Viator has ahead of itself "identity work." "As a new entrant to the category, we need to tell people about the category and then attach Viator to it," she said. Fig is going to market soon with one of the ideas it presented during its final meeting with Viator. The campaign's goal is to establish Viator as the only place travelers should look to for booking experiences. Fig's Story Data platform analyzed 5,000 assets for the travel and hospitality sectors to determine there's a homogeneous look among the category's communications: call it a sea of blue. The agency pitched Viator on how it can differentiate itself with a new visual identity revealed in the first campaign. The marketing overhaul As Carr-Rodriguez describes it, Viator is undergoing "wholesale changes" with its marketing, explaining that Viator built its business on performance marketing. "They've got this great offering that targeted people, mostly through search, as they were looking for things," Carr-Rodriguez said. One of the types of clients Carr-Rodriguez thinks Fig works best with is a brand that's looking to go more mainstream with its business. In this case, Fig wants to change Viator's customer acquisition strategy from capturing demand to stimulating demand. The final pitch Based on feedback it had received from the previous round, Fig brought four ideas to the final meeting, which it hosted in its SoHo office in Manhattan. Generally, one of brands' biggest pain points in the pitch process is not getting to meet the team who will actually work on the account, but Fig was able to introduce Viator to a significant number of its employees, including creatives who could potentially work on the account. Lindsay McNabb-Hover, executive director, brand and partnerships, said the final pitch functioned more as a working session than a presentation, making it more of collaboration with the brand than just Fig talking at them. Mercer Island Group ran the competitive review. The brand declined to name the other agencies that pitched for the business. Travelers Want to Go, but Only If Everyone Can Come Along