Everything you should know about Trivago's Video Strategy

Here is the first episode of our video strategy series: Trivago.

‍

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve most certainly watched one of Trivago’s many adverts in recent years (Disclaimer: if you have indeed been living under a rock, we intend no offence... we’re sure it’s lovely). The firm was born in 2005 and is today one of the most important advertisers in the world, particularly in terms video content, with $440 million of investments in sales & marketing, creating $550 million of turnover.

‍

The Trivago strategy is unique in a competitive market (Booking.com, Hotels.com, Travelocity, Expedia etc…) and tremendously efficient : 50% of sales are attributed to videos released in mature markets (US, France…).

‍

We’ve decided to study their strategy in detail.

‍

The A/B testing to assure the best performance

‍

A hotel? Trivago. This tagline is probably ingrained deep in your mind! Understandable, seeing as Trivago is the first TV advertiser in 2016 in the US for the hotel services industry (source), their investment reaches far past the boundaries of the United States and all across the globe. They were for instance the second largest TV advertiser in France during the month of February 2017 (according to the french TV union).

Their video ads focus on largely the same concept: an actor showcases in an interactive way their solution. Simple but effective. This format allows them to create hundreds of testable versions around the world, which allows them to :

‍

Test advertising campaigns by using different formats/versions
Identify the ones that work
Adapt their investment depending on the results
Support their test & learn needs since 2013, Trivago has produced a large video assets, regrouping formats, versions and different goals that you will discover above.

‍

It all started with an explainer video, with an actor facing the camera

‍For its first steps in the advertising world, Trivago used an actor facing the camera in order to showcase in an interactive way their platform.

‍

English version 1 (May 2013):

‍

‍This format made a comeback in 2016/17. Indeed, in order to support their huge international growth, Trivago has reproduced this format in 13 countries translated in various different languages.

‍

Afterwards Trivago went in a more complex direction

‍

The Trivago experience

By june 2013, Trivago had started to create different stories focusing on the customer living the Trivago experience, in Venice. This format has been translated and used in six languages.

‍

French version (July 2013):

‍

Ina similar fashion, Trivago created two ‘couples’ videos, in Berlin, then Barcelona, broadcasting in 5 languages.

‍

French version Berlin (August 2014):

‍

Following this, two new stories have emerged, translated in nine different languages. The goal here was to push the tagline : same hotel, same experience, different prices.

‍

English version 1 (June 2013):

‍

New tagline, new format

By 2015, a new format emerged for Trivago, with the simple yet effective tagline: Trivago knows everything about hotels.

Three stories were created, produced in three countries/cities (Bangkok, New York, Italy), symbolizing three significant markets (Asia, America, Europe). Initially recorded in English during May 2015, the ads went on to be translated into 11 languages for release in various countries across the region with a more targeted approach.

‍

The video links were unfortunately taken down but were posted for Bangkok (april 2015), for Italy (may 2015) and for New York (may 2015).

‍

Videos aren’t all on Youtube

The current Trivago campaign is not available on the Trivago Youtube Channel. However, their latest french video ad is viewable here.

‍

Trivago doesn’t advertise on Facebook

‍Furthermore, Trivago interestingly enough doesn’t appear to advertise on Facebook, whilst remaining extremely active on Youtube and on TV.

‍

Key points

What you can do for your campaigns:

Create different versions of your video ads and A/B test them in order to obtain the best performance possible
Think about formats that can be adapted globally: Trivago directly records with actors in its target countries. It allows them to optimize engagement whilst limiting costs.
Monitor the impact of their video campaigns. There are different tools available to help you on this, watch this space for an article on this very topic!
Define the main goal of your campaigns
Explain your product: Trivago started by producing explainer videos in order to focus on sales
Create a: then Trivago
Create a story: by creating stories, like those in New York, Bangkok or in Italy, you’re able to capture the target’s attention and to refine the universe of your brand!

‍

Check out episode #2 of our video strategy series: How much does a video cost?

‍

List of the video ads:

‍

Portuguese version 2 (june 2016)

English version (december 2015)

Russian version (february 2016)

Italian version (february 2016)

Spanish version 1 (february 2016)

Spanish version 2 (november 2016)

Dutch version (march 2016)