As the brands always ask of business from their customers, what is Expedia doing differently that it’s on the bandwagon to good brand imaging? Expedia is a travel company and it wants us to book our next travel plan with them. But their recent initiative with the St. Jude Children Research Hospital doesn’t state the same. In fact, it gives us a reason to believe that the brand stands for something bigger than just business and in the process inspires us to book our next trip with them.
The new short film called “Dream Adventures” by Expedia in partnership with the hospital wants us to believe that the idea is so powerful and explains to us why it can transform lives and touch hearts.
These kids can’t travel. By using interactive technology to bring the kids’ respective dream location; wild horses, snorkeling, an archaeological dig, etc. to them, Expedia has demonstrated that they stand for values above business and their bookings are about personal transformations. Even if it means spending their own money, they want to bring these locales to the kids.
Expedia has taken things up a notch when they brought real-time interaction as a part of travelling experience. These kids could see the destinations as they approached, they could interact with those on the other hand as if they were there and engage themselves in asking questions. These kids watched Expedia unfold these destinations in real time which were a great deal for them ‘cause they know they’ll not be able to travel.
“Donate your Expedia+ points at expedia.com/stjude” is the entire message around the whole concept. People are not implored for business upfront but are inspired to make the dreams of these kids possible by donating their loyalty points to their cause. That simple act does three things for the brand: 1) it helps defray the cost of these adventures; 2) it gives its customers a direct way to help these sick children; 3) it tells everyone else that it has a points system to earn loyalty on travel.
This step is an inspirational destination for this brand. When they left us last at “Where you book matters”, it quite didn’t make sense. I guess we can all connect the dots in the past now.
