Travel marketers now have access to a new advertising network from Tacoda that is supported by a specialized sales team and targeted at qualified business and vacation travelers who research and book trips online.
The announcement of the network comes on the heels of the launch of both women’s and automotive vertical sales teams, which has already attracted advertising from General Motors, Nissan and Mitsubishi.
“Although behavioral targeting has been around since Tacoda launched in 2001, there are still those who are confused by the conflicting claims of various BT providers,” said Larry Allen, senior vice president of marketing and business development at Tacoda. “The strategy here is to make it very simple and straightforward to offer major brand advertisers the chance to reach pre-qualified, in-market travel buyers at significant scale with relative ease.”
Tacoda’s reach has increased to more than120 million unique users monthly, and its ability to identify user interests based on their online behavior has been sharpened, in part because of January’s collaboration with digital media measurer comScore.
The network has picked advertising categories of greatest interest, including automotive, women and travel to package together. The strategy, Allen said, is to “[simplify] the buy and provide experienced help for advertisers interested in these categories. It is very important to continue to reinforce Tacoda’s scale, experience and strength in each competitive category of interest.”
This year Tacoda has run campaigns for more 40 branded travel advertisers, including airlines and tourism boards. The new approach improves the way Tacoda communicates with advertisers regarding the effectiveness and capabilities of behavioral services that Tacoda offers.
Tacoda is also providing focused research for travel marketers that may increase their understanding of online audiences and how they engage with their brand.
“The impact to the consumer should only be positive, increasing the relevancy and meaning of the online advertisements they are exposed to as they visit varying sites across the Tacoda network – over 4,000,” Allen said.
Major online travel agencies like Orbitz and Expedia do not accept outside advertising, so it is a challenge for big travel brands to reach business and vacation travelers on a large scale.
“We just make it a whole lot easier,” Allen added. “Tacoda continues to build on its success and leadership in the behavioral-targeting space. As the third vertical Tacoda has launched in so many months, it exemplifies our capability to provide advertisers with new and improved ways of reaching a pre-qualified audience, eliminating media waste and ensuring that the right message is shared with the right audience.”
