Skift hold

The obsession with prestige can mask the decline in the value of traditional media. Travel brands need to re-evaluate their communications and marketing strategies.

Colin Nagy

I recently had a conversation with the head of communications for a major global luxury brand. She mentioned that the usual news sources that we trust and revere were no longer moving the needle for her brand’s business.

A sensational spread in a Condé Nast publication? It may hurt an executive’s ego, she suggested, but there isn’t much strategic or business value.

After the US elections, traditional news outlets are all wondering if they missed the situation in the country. Travel media has the same problems.

Founder and CEO of Skift Rafat Ali made this point in a post on LinkedIn:

The one big lesson from this election period around the world, especially in the United States: mainstream media is obsolete, divided into millions of podcasts, specialist sources and social platforms, mainly X. YouTube is now the media company the most powerful on the planet, still underestimated. And yet. The travel industry – particularly businesses and organizations in emerging tourism countries – remains obsessed with mainstream mainstream media, with the PR complex selling them products well past their expiration date. The only reason some travel magazines still exist is because PR people love to tout the clips they get for their clients, clients are happy to have their name in these once relevant and still seemingly brilliant sources, and even that was questionable at the time. .

I couldn’t agree more.

The reality is this: there is too much ego and sentimentality in modern tourism marketing. Sticking to the old way of doing things without doing the hard work to evaluate and evolve how a brand’s story is told and heads are put in beds.

And “alpha” – the extra return that brands hope for from marketing – is left behind in favor of glittering parties and being in the cool club. “This is the way things have always been done” doesn’t work.

Here are some ways marketers can get rid of laziness and study areas that could bring greater returns:

Adopt YouTube

YouTube is by far the place where consumers search for travel content the most. So I find it crazy that it’s such a barren wasteland when it comes to brand involvement.

When I’m looking for a property, I see either (1) corporate marketing that looks like brochures, or (2) raw user-generated content that often looks a little choppy, sloppy, and doesn’t represent the brand well.

There’s an incredible middle ground, where a brand can create something native and interesting on the platform, tell a story, and not feel self-conscious. This can include influencer-designed videos, made with the right levels of taste and vision.

Understanding the Substack Ecosystem

As the mainstream media continues to suffer from a credibility crisis and can’t help but write the same issues year after year (e.g. The Africa Issue, The Gold List) as a formula to rinse and repeat, well many of the most interesting writings have been published. taking place on Substack.

The next travel writers and people who drive brand love and revenue for properties around the world are currently incubating their voices here. It’s worth finding meaningful ways to test and learn (travel, engagement, sponsored advertising in the right places), as well as traditional PR-related outreach, rather than just focusing on the big targets.

Long duration audio

Although a lot of attention has been focused on long-form audio, I haven’t seen creative applications for travel brands in the podcast space.

Where is the brand backed by “No Reservations” or the tastefully executed Bourdain-inspired content? Production costs are much lower than splashy video campaigns, but it takes taste and ambition to do it well. I would trust a brand like Belmond to succeed if they put their minds to it.

Breaking Boring Luxury Advertising Narratives

Too much luxury travel marketing is full of clichés and often relies on the codes of fashion-adjacent advertising from a decade ago.

The panning shots, the casting, the unrelated people, and the plots seem incredibly flat and synthetic. I was actually very impressed by Peninsula Hotels’ recent campaign because it flipped the script and put the focus on the frontline staff of the brand. I also laughed at the traditional Carson Glover clichés they were trying to avoid: “Women who look at things.”

There is no doubt that the work is still advertising, but it shifts the center of gravity significantly and tastefully.

Some pockets of real power remain

I’m not saying that all traditional media is dead. In fact, publications that have a built-in, wealthy readership, like Bloomberg Pursuits and the FT Weekend, continue to wield demonstrable market power for brands (and also command great writing).

Print can still be a luxury product, as Monocle has shown. But some others have seen a notable decline, as evidenced by lazy ordering, over-pampered editors carelessly switching from joy to amusement and doing the same issue themes every year.

Most issues no longer seem to be on the table like they used to be due to anemic publicity.

Tearing the Playbook

Stasis is the enemy of real ROI. Travel brands and marketers need to shed sentimentality, evaluate their relationships and spend, and ask themselves how much “prestige” actually makes a difference in what they do.

At the same time, it is the time to take risks and place new bets. The fragmentation of traditional media creates opportunities for brands that take a bold approach. Just like in financial markets, outsized returns exist when you do things against the grain.