Dive Brief:
- Expedia has struck a global partnership with leading livestreamer IShowSpeed in a play to win more business from Gen Z travelers, according to a press release.
- A tour of the Caribbean serves as a launchpad for a multiphase campaign, with IShowSpeed hosting a 12-hour livestream of his island-hopping on Twitch and YouTube on Wednesday. The travel-booking platform is also introducing a dedicated website at Exspeedia.com and social handles supporting the collaboration.
- Fans can visit the Exspeedia hub to watch behind-the-scenes content, plan and book IShowSpeed-inspired vacations, enter to win prizes and vote on where the creator should visit in the future. The next leg of the tie-up will bring IShowSpeed to major cities in North America, the announcement said.
Dive Insight:
Expedia is betting bigger on creator-led marketing through the collaboration with IShowSpeed, a streamer known for his globe-trotting endeavors and wielding an audience of more than 150 million followers.
Instead of focusing on a conventional endorsement, the campaign takes a page from IShowSpeed’s content, with marathon livestreaming sessions and an emphasis on fan interactivity. The influencer, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr., is frequently mobbed when out and about in the world. The brand’s strategy comes to life with an initial trek around the Caribbean that will see IShowSpeed jump between the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe, St. Kitts & Nevis and St. Maarten on a range of yellow Expedia-branded vehicles, including planes, boats, personal watercraft and dune buggies.
Expedia’s goal is to drive more real-time discovery and travel booking among Gen Z consumers, with an emphasis on a dedicated Exspeedia hub for tracking IShowSpeed’s activities and enabling visitors to easily plan their own trips. The custom-branded website features an interactive 3D globe for finding and learning more about global destinations and a trivia page for testing IShowSpeed adherents. The full campaign, which will follow IShowSpeed’s sojourns throughout the year, encompasses paid, owned and earned media.
“Travel inspiration today comes from creators who bring their audiences along in real time,” said Natalie Wills, senior vice president of brand marketing and creative at Expedia Group, in a press statement. “By partnering with IShowSpeed as his Official Travel Partner, Expedia is meeting young travelers where they already are and showing them that no matter how big or small their travel ambitions are, Expedia is the one place to make them happen.”
A six-second teaser for the partnership on YouTube, one of IShowSpeed’s platforms of choice, had accrued over 12 million views at press time, indicating early fan excitement. To generate further traction for Exspeedia.com, the brand is offering customers who book a full trip the chance to meet IShowSpeed in person and bring a friend along for the ride. Two winners will be announced by the end of September.
The wide-ranging Expedia campaign aligns with a larger industry shift toward creators whom young audiences see as more trustworthy than traditional brand advertising. Ad spending on creators is forecast to reach $44 billion this year as more marketers approach the tactic as a core media channel versus an add-on, according to a recent report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
