Planning a trip together often ends in a long group chat conversation, without a final decision or purchased tickets. KAYAK has turned this familiar problem into the basis of its summer campaign Bookboards, developed with the agency Rethink.
Until August 4, users can nominate a friend who regularly delays confirming the trip. Selected submissions will appear throughout August on digital billboards in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, featuring the nominated person’s name, the planned destination and a message inviting them to finally take part in the booking.
The billboards will be placed near their workplaces or neighborhoods, bringing the pressure from a private group conversation into a public space. The messages are designed as a friendly callout, while also directing groups toward completing their plans through KAYAK.
The idea is also presented in a humorous film in which actress and comedian Grace Reiter encounters an increasing number of reminders to book the trip. In the end, she learns that the messages are intended for her, as the person who has been delaying the plan with her friend Julia Dicesare.
According to research commissioned by KAYAK, 84 percent of travelers have taken part in planning a group trip that never reached the booking stage. Such conversations most often remain active for between one and three months, while 90 percent of respondents believe that one person who refuses to confirm is responsible for the delay.
Tara Lawall, chief creative officer of Rethink’s New York office, said the campaign is based on the simple difference between a message that can easily be ignored in a group chat and a personalized billboard that is much harder to overlook.
Alongside the digital billboards and the main film, Bookboards includes online video, social media, outdoor advertising, earned media and a dedicated nomination page.
