Expedia has launched its new ad campaign for its Indian consumers themed- What a pleasant surprise! The advert, conceptualized by Taproot Dentsu, aims to acquire new shoppers and customers to the site and get them to try Expedia for booking travel with enhanced facilities like zero booking fee on over 500 airlines across the globe and free cancellation on 220,000 hotels globally. The storyboard captures a young couple on a beach where the girl persuades the guy to enjoy the waves. The guy is initially apprehensive, but once he gives in, he actually enjoys the experience, happy to overcome his fear.

The second advertisement opens with a college re-union party at a resort where everyone is dancing and enjoying. However, one of the members, too shy to dance, is standing in a corner. His friends notice and signal him to join, feeling reluctant, he indicates that he is fine. But the women prompt him more and pull him in. At first, his friends help him with the moves, and slowly he gains confidence and picks up the dance, and starts enjoying.

Speaking about the campaign Mr. Manmeet Ahluwalia (above), marketing head of Expedia in India said, “The brief given to the agency was to showcase and address trepidation, hesitancy, and state of inertia that keeps consumers away from trying something new in life and the associated surprise, joy and contentment of that new experience.

Our aim with this campaign is to encourage new users to visit and experience Expedia and generate awareness amongst the consumers about our Zero Booking fee on flights and Free cancellation on hotels, in order to help the consumers save money and ensure a pleasant experience while managing their travel.

Titus Upputuru, creative head of Taproot Dentsu, Gurgaon says, “Unless we try something, we will never know. This is the key insight we developed into a campaign where the protagonists try out things that they’ve never tried before. As a result, they end up discovering experiences that they thoroughly enjoy. Not only that – once bitten by the experience – the protagonists don’t want to stop. We hope new consumers try Expedia.co.in and find to their delight and surprise, exciting experiences.”