Maximizing market opportunity with brand strategy and development
When TripAdvisor acquired the Experiences marketplace Viator in 2014 they had a vision: leverage Viator’s tour and attractions supply to develop Experiences as a revenue driver on the TripAdvisor site. Four years later, the expected boom in growth had yet to materialize and the company was operating both brands with all the overhead that entails. I was hired to figure out the way forward. The result: A two brand strategy that enabled TripAdvisor to greatly reduce the resources it puts toward the Experiences space while building Viator into the clear industry leader, posting triple-digit growth each of the first three years post-COVID.
Booking on TripAdvisor? Yes, you can…
Perhaps the biggest obstacle standing between TripAdvisor’s dream of owning the Experiences space was the fact that the majority of people consider it a reviews site - not somewhere they can book. Working with the core TripAdvisor brand team, I crafted the messaging and creative needed to update TripAdvisor’s ad campaign with this important point - lifting awareness of ‘Bookability’ on TripAdvisor from 14% to 32% in just 4 months. We also launched several new features as a result of our brand work that drove significant revenue growth for both brands.
…but that wouldn’t win the market.
Ultimately, after 9 months of consumer research conducted with more than 10,000 travelers via both quantitative and qualitative approaches, it became crystal clear that TripAdvisor’s engrained value as a research/reviews tool would be too much to overcome. If the company was to become the leading booking platform for the growing Experiences space, it would need to do it with Viator - a completely unknown brand with a huge opportunity ahead of it…
What will win?
A Viator focused on delivering for more spontaneous travelers.
We identified and built for three core personas, with a particular focus on those who prioritize spending on Experiences and less inclined to value TripAdvisor’s core offering.
We built a brand identity that resonated with those audiences - going so far as to conduct co-development sessions with them.
Finally, we designed and tested new products to effectively satisfy their unmet needs.