Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Allegiant cut its online advertising budget, minimizing the impact on bookings and saving critical cash. Even as travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, the company continues to keep advertising costs down. But Allegiant still sees great value in the world of digital marketing. But this time, you want to be the seller of the ad space, not the buyer.

The ultimate goal of any digital marketing effort is sufficiently precise and detailed targeting to ensure that consumers engage with your ads instead of ignoring them. Airlines and their suppliers (often centered around in-flight entertainment systems) have been talking for years about delivering on this promise. However, there are few success stories. Allegiant thinks he’s found that suite his spot on the market.

[Trip-specific targeted marketing] A big part of our next evolution. And finally, we have a tool in place with an ad server that can do it at scale.

– Scott DeAngelo, Chief Marketing Officer, Allegiant

The company, like most airlines, is proud of the customer data it collects. Because of the high percentage of package deals that the company sells, including hotels and car rentals, chief marketing officer Scott DeAngelo said Allegiant could benefit greatly from running its own ad serving solution in-house. I’m sure. Initial proof-of-concept results are promising.

DeAngelo, who recently spoke at the Future Travel Experience Global conference in Las Vegas, acknowledged that Allegiant, for the first time, has implemented an ad serving platform in-house that allows carriers to package their customers. More than 80% of his airline passengers say flights are the first thing they buy when planning a trip. Of course, the possibilities for Allegiant’s highly successful hotel and car package deal are of course wide open. But it also reveals the potential for marketing efforts and other types of purchases, which the company now believes can be promoted for retailers.

DeAngelo explains:

We know these trips are imminent. We know the age of all travelers. And we know what type of trip it will be. If they’re going to the beach, they’re going to want swimsuits and sunscreen. The question to Kroger to Walmart is, “Would you like to make these purchases, or would you like us to go elsewhere?”

The company is also fully aware that pitch timing is critical to conversions. Advertisements on his website during the booking process could find some success, but it’s not there that DeAngelo expects top performance.

The company will send up to 6 drip marketing emails after booking. Passengers are very aware that travel-related emails can involve schedule changes and other issues, so open rates are high. So these are also great sales opportunities. DeAngelo explains: And here are brands that can save you a few bucks. “

DeAngelo credits the first few campaigns to run essentially free, proving to the brand that the system works and can drive conversions. and helped develop the sales materials needed for the company to go out and sign advertising deals with key partners.

Plus, DeAngelo doesn’t believe it’s out of pocket for retailers. Instead, he hopes to invest in promotional budgets from big-name brands that are typically used to develop large in-store displays. . [spend] promotional budget,” said DeAngelo. “Those dollars are huge, and just getting a pinch of them for our program would be great.”

The task of selling that ad space is managed in-house, like almost everything the company does. Allegiant already has a strong in-house advertising sales team selling for in-flight magazines. These employees now have more advertising space available when talking to retailers.

More news from Future Travel Experience Global 2022