As it marks its fifth anniversary, HomeAway, a leading online vacation rental marketplace, announced details of its first national integrated marketing campaign launching on Super Bowl Sunday.
Beginning with a movie trailer style commercial and extending to a microsite with a new short film featuring actors Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo reprising their roles from the popular 1980s movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” the campaign represents a comprehensive approach to reach and engage consumers across a full spectrum of media platforms. The key message throughout the campaign highlights the significant value that travelers get from a vacation home – “rent a house for half the cost of a hotel.”
The multi-faceted, integrated campaign developed and produced in conjunction with HomeAway’s AOR, Publicis in the West, includes:
— National Television: The campaign kicks off with the airing of a 30-second commercial during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLIV on Feb. 7. The spot, which reunites Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold from the movie, is a mock movie trailer giving a sneak peek of a short film based on the original movie. In the Hotel Hell Vacation film, Clark surprises Ellen with a romantic second
honeymoon before meeting up with their son Rusty and his family for an extended vacation. In classic Griswold family tradition, they run into plenty of travel mishaps along the way. The spot drives consumers to HomeAway.com to view a 15-minute movie. Additional airings will appear on media partners secured by Optimedia, including the Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, HGTV, TBS, USA Network, and Food Network.
— Online Advertising – A complementary digital advertising plan will reach consumers in HomeAway’s targeted demographic. Online advertising will appear on general interest and travel-focused websites, including About.com, Conde Nast Traveler’s concierge.com, iExplore, Yahoo!, and Google, among others.
— Social Media – HomeAway is also leveraging social media to spread the word about the campaign. The company has established Facebook and Twitter accounts for consumers to follow and interact with Clark
Griswold at http://www.facebook.com/griswoldclark and http://twitter.com/CkGriswold.
In addition to broadcast and online, HomeAway created a Hotel Hell Vacation-branded microsite for the campaign. Finally, beginning in late spring, HomeAway plans to take its exact replica of the Family Truckster on the road to visit popular vacation destinations to further spread the word about the benefits and value of vacation rentals.
