Agoda courts Gen-Y travellers in Indonesia campaign

SINGAPORE - The travel industry is catching up on the rise of the millennial travellers who typically eschew a conventional travel experience. 

Research undertaken by Agoda found that millennial travellers from Indonesia prefer local destinations for a more diverse and inspiring travel experience.

The travel booking site has teamed up with Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore to launch the #agodabasecamp campaign, which is rooted in the idea of travel accommodation being the launchpad of a transformative travel experience. Its execution embodies the unconventional spirit quite succintly with filmmaker Vincent Urban shooting the TVC on a skaterboard rather an a camera dolly.

Ancient city Yogyakarta and the capital Jakarta are the two Indonesian cities featured on the campaign's rather cool game site that showcases expandable views of the cities depicted by Thai visual artist Pariwat Anantachina. Users who play the game will discover that there is a chicken-shaped church located near Yogyakarta, for example, and subsequently earn discounts for the accommodation. Bali is the next destination to be featured on the game site.

In a statement, Andy Edwards, the global director of brands and communications, said millennial travellers demand more than just a generic travel advertising. “We’re a company that believes in experiments and Saatchi & Saatchi have worked with us hand in hand to deliver a wide range of creative variations we’ve been testing and optimising, to such a degree that the team at YouTube have said it’s one of the most full-on projects they’ve been involved with," said Edwards. 

The six-month campaign covers TV advertising, thematic and tactical digital banners, KOL engagement, social content strategy, and the aforementioned campaign site. Ogilvy PR and Mediacom support the campaign as the PR and media agencies.

Campaign's view: Overall, the hispter-themed campaign has the right aesthetics to speak to the wanderlust of millennials. Agoda has been a popular platform for travellers to book accommodation, and the travel guide-cum-accommodation booking feature of the campaign shows that the brand is moving forward to diversify its offerings.