Skyscanner Soars with First UK TV Spot

Leading global travel search website Skyscanner is to launch a major integrated marketing campaign in the UK, which will include its first ever national TV advertising campaign later this month to promote its unbiased and comprehensive travel search site.

The integrated campaign which includes TV, outdoor and digital executions will launch this week, with the TV advert broadcasting from 29 January to 23 March on all UK national stations, digital commercial stations and ITV regional. The TV ad is also scheduled to appear on major social channels. The media spend for this integrated campaign exceeds £3m and is the brand's biggest marketing investment to date.

Skyscanner, which attracts more than 25 million unique visitors each month has until now focused its marketing efforts towards online advertising and SEO, however this major campaign will be the brand’s first foray into other major ATL channels. 

The ad is accompanied by an outdoor and digital campaign that brings the product benefits to life. This is the first ad created for Skyscanner by the blended agency team at Holler and Leo Burnett who were appointed, along with media agency Mediavest following a recent agency pitch. 

Skyscanner drafted in ex Doctor Who actor Matt Smith as the ad's voiceover, with MOBO nominated jazz singer Zara McFarlane performing  "If I could see the world through your eyes' as the ad's soundtrack.

The TV ad features a little girl sat at the kitchen table at home, doodling and drawing and exploring her imagination. Her drawing of a jet plane and its passengers then magically comes to life and animates before our eyes. The voyage through her imagination ends when she presses a button which launches her plane off into the real world, a world where Skyscanner offers limitless travel possibilities.

Douglas Cook, UK Marketing Manager at Skyscanner commented: “This is our first major above the line campaign and we are very excited about its launch. We continue to work hard on building relationships with our loyal customers and with this campaign, grow awareness and bring new users to our site. The business is growing at a phenomenal rate and this campaign will allow us to reach a much wider audience "

Katie Lee, Group Marketing Director at Leo Burnett commented: "Since winning the account in December, it's been all hands on deck to bring this campaign to life. Our idea - seeing travel through the eyes of a child, brings to life Skyscanner's belief that travel should be as simple, fair, honest and enjoyable, as it once seemed."

Kate Sharkey, Associate Director at MediaVest commented: "We are proud that Skyscanner has chosen MediaVest to be their partner for the next stage of their UK journey.  Our collaboration with Leo Burnett will deliver engaging and dynamic content to valuable individuals at scale, bringing the Skyscanner experience to a wider audience."

Credits

Project name: Skyscanner ‘Flying Away’

Client: Andrew Cocker, Marketing Director/CMO, Skyscanner

Creative agency: Leo Burnett Group  (Leo Burnett & Holler)

Copywriter: Lewis Beaton & Alex Moore 

Art director: Lewis Beaton & Alex Moore 

Creative Director: Chomoi Picho-Owiny

ECD Holler:   Will Pyne, Holler

Planner (creative agency) Paolo Nieddu & Aaron Mcfeely

Media agency Starcom Mediavest

Planner (media agency) Katherine Sharkey

Production company Blinkink 

Director Zak Emerson (Live action) & Daniel A Sollscher (Animation)

Editor Tim Hardy, Stitch

Post-production Blinkink & MPC

Audio post-production Factory

Exposure National Television, online