Booking.com Is Striking a New Balance Between Brand and Performance

In 2022, Booking.com showed up at the Super Bowl for the first time with a spot starring Idris Elba. It booked a second ticket to the Big Game in 2023, making a comeback with actress and producer Melissa McCarthy.

For Natalie Wills, vp of brand at Booking.com, these star-studded multi-channel campaigns are emblematic of how the travel giant is increasingly walking the line between brand building and performance marketing.

“Historically, we’ve been quite a performance-led organization, but in the last couple of years, we’ve really been delving into brand,” she explained during a panel hosted by Adweek at Social Media Europe.

She added: “In markets where our brand is stronger, our performance campaigns deliver better results.”

Designing content for every platform

“Somewhere, Anywhere,” blended both. It didn’t just air at the Super Bowl. It ran in the U.S. and across Europe, where McCarthy’s voice was dubbed in 15 different languages and recorded audio for a host of different 15- and 30-second commercials that ran on streaming platforms, online and social.

Booking.com’s preferred partner for social, YouTube, is playing a huge role in helping the brand scale these kinds of campaigns. It’s not just selling the brand ad space, though. The Alphabet-owned video giant is working with Wills’ team from a creative perspective, helping tailor content to make it as efficient as possible.

It’s an approach that is helping Booking.com’s marketing spend work harder, said Wills, and it’s opening up new ways of working, including collaborations with influencers and creators.

“We need to make sure we’re designing content for every platform. If you’re making a traditional ad, it can be difficult to get the plethora of content you need for every different channel,” she said.

“That’s why the creator space is exciting. Yes, as a brand, you have to relinquish control and scale content to lots of different channels, but it’s going to perform better long term,” she continued.

Booking.com is now testing ads across YouTube’s TikTok rival Shorts, including a recent Eurovision campaign starring former winner Conchita Wurst.

Next, Wills is testing connected TV advertising on the platform, as YouTube’s data showing 45% of viewers are watching via their TVs.

“That’s a huge consumer trend of people watching Shorts. There’s a lot of potential there,” said Google senior industry manager Abi Akakpo.

You can find insights and exclusives from Social Media Week Europe here.