MANY businesses were hit hard by Covid-19, leading marketers to test new solutions, innovate with new messaging, and do more with less, according to a new report from Sojern.
Findings from the report, “How Travel Marketers are Activating Digital Advertising in 2021”, were from a survey conducted by Worldwide Business Research Insights with 300 travel decision-makers across Europe (EU), Asia-Pacific (APAC), North America (NA) and Middle East and Africa (MEA).
Most companies surveyed (56%) agreed that the online environment is favourable for “direct response” campaigns. Travellers are booking directly because of clearer cancellation or refund policies, coupled with their frustrating experiences navigating online travel agency (OTA) reimbursements for cancelled trips during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 88% of companies have increased or kept their digital advertising strategy budget the same since the outbreak of Covid, while 87% tightened spending on brand campaigns and increased spending on performance campaigns in 2020.
Other key findings:
- 14% of the companies agree that “Marketers have an unprecedented opportunity to reach new customers at a lower cost and with more control than they could ever expect from traditional broadcast television.”
- 62% have high priority regarding readiness around the cookieless world
- 84% rated machine learning and artificial intelligence as high priority for personalisation across channels, and is top of the list of ad tech options that respondents plan to increase their usage the most in 2021 and 2022.
- 68% are optimistic that budget/ad spend will go back to pre-Covid levels. According to the report: “Of our survey respondents who believe that budget will eventually return to pre-Covid-19 levels, out of 216 respondents, 81 (37.5%) said that this will occur prior to 2025. 97 (44.9%) said that this will occur s between 2025 and 2030, while 38 (17.6%) said after 2030.
With the rapid rollout of vaccination programmes and the reopening of borders by some countries to the fully-vaccinated, many consumers are eager to travel again, leading many businesses to forecast the rebound in ad spending with the prospect of real growth in 2022.
“The last 18 months have been quite the rollercoaster for travel marketers navigating the global pandemic, but one thing is clear: travel marketers are more focused than ever before on effectively and efficiently spending precious resources to drive a business return,” said Noreen Henry, Sojern’s chief revenue officer.
“In this environment you need to be agile, data-driven and optimistic travel is coming back and it’s a great time to take part in that recovery.”
• Download the full report here.
• Featured image credit: siraanamwong/Getty Images
