Expedia and Virgil van Dijk Spotlight Why Nothing Beats Being with Your Liverpool Family

Expedia® has launched its new 360 ‘Finding Liverpool’ brand campaign, that centres around a three-part film series featuring six players from Liverpool FC’s men’s and women’s teams.

Expedia is the official travel partner of Liverpool Football Club, and the film series features Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Wataru Endō, Shanice van de Sanden, Missy Bo Kearns and Fūka Nagano. The three-part series has a staggered launch across March and April, with a special edition Jürgen Klopp episode coming in May. 

The films look at Liverpool’s global fan base and how the club, the city and welcoming multicultural communities make Liverpool such a special city to visit. Expedia is showing why nothing beats being there with your Liverpool family. For the 'Finding Liverpool’ brand campaign, Expedia partnered with advertising agency, Anomaly.

The digital branded content will be published across Expedia’s paid and owned social channels, along with partner distribution channels and OOH activations. This activity will drive people to sign up with Expedia Live to travel to the beautiful game and visit Liverpool themselves. 

To amplify the ‘Finding Liverpool’ concept, Expedia has for the first time signed an individual ambassador deal with the club captain Virgil van Dijk. In addition to being featured in the film series, Virgil’s first collaboration focuses on the love for his current hometown of Liverpool. Virgil is curating a Liverpool travel guide, featuring his top 10 things to do in the city, with many attractions sourced from his teammates. The guide will be brought to life across social channels and PR.

Future collaborations could see the player appear in brand advertising campaigns, editorial and social media content, PR activations and brand engagement events for the wider Expedia Group’s house of brands, which includes Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo.

Virgil said, “Travel is a real passion of mine. We visit so many cities through football, but don’t get to fully immerse ourselves in them, so any time off I get, I am always looking to head out on an adventure with my friends and family. That’s why I am excited to be partnering with Expedia, as we both believe that we are all made to travel. 

“I’m looking forward to being able to inspire travellers to get out there and see the world. Whether that’s visiting my second home, Liverpool, my favourite city of Amsterdam or even Japan, which is my next dream destination to visit.”

“Virgil is one of Liverpool’s most famous residents and a true traveller. We’re thrilled to be partnering with him on this Finding Liverpool campaign, spotlighting this trending destination and showing what makes the city so special. We’re committed to enriching the football experience through travel, and we believe Virgil will also help us to inspire fans’ passion for travel. We are starting our partnership in Liverpool but cannot wait to explore more of the world together.” said Michele Rousseau, senior vice president of global brands at Expedia Group.

Check out the latest episodes of the Finding Liverpool film series HERE.