NB: This is a guest viewpoint by Frank Guzzardo, vice president of sales, US, for The Exchange Lab
When we think of lounging on the beach in paradise, we generally want to escape from our screens. But for many a traveler, their smartphone is as important as their passport.
Whether to do research on local activities, stay in touch with family or simply take and post photos, smartphones are becoming essential devices, no matter where we are.
I recently returned from a trip away in Praia do Forte, Brazil, where I was continually searching for local activities and restaurants on my mobile, using both my limited data plan and local wifi.
While surfing for these activities, I was surprised to find that the ads I was seeing were not only unrelated to the activities I was searching for, but were in Portuguese.
I suppose this should not have come to a shock to me because being immersed in a foreign culture is what travel is all about. But this experience really emphasized to me how much I was used to seeing relevant ads that are tailored to my location and search history at home.
Working in the ad tech sector, I see the opportunities available to brands and advertisers when it comes to travel and programmatic.
Imagine if an advertiser utilized their data management platform (DMP) to serve me messages not only based on my location but my search history. It could recognize I was a foreign traveler and served me creative ads in English, specifically related to the activities or search terms I was looking for.
The audience is there. A 2015 “ Connected Traveler ” study by TripAdvisor shows that people who use a smartphone to book or plan travel are likely to do the following while on vacation:
Imagine the benefit of shortening a customer’s journey by showing them personalized ads related to those searches. What’s more, dynamic creative optimization (DCO) allows advertisers to customize their creative to the consumer.
Read rest of the article at: Tnooz
