Unknown Tourism

Unknown Tourism was a campaign on behalf of Expedia UK that commemorated extinct wildlife with beautiful travel posters.

Objectives

1. Achieve top-tier, authoritative, editorially valid links that increase site authority.
2. Deliver LinkScore results of over 1,500 points.
3. Support and increase brand recognition efforts through coverage, social and print.

Methodology

We’re all used to looking at a guidebook to find out more about a country before we visit, but how often do we stop and think about the things we can’t see there anymore? How many people actually know that the Moa was once endemic to New Zealand, or that the Dodo was from Mauritius? This lack of consumer knowledge created a starting point for journalists to talk about two trending topics – ecotourism and fantastical beasts – in the context of the topic that was important to Expedia – exotic destinations.

We told the story with beautiful, high-quality illustrations. The posters alluded to rather than directly tackled the issue of loss. This would position Expedia positively in discussions around sustainable tourism, whilst also incentivising travel itself by showing how exotic these distant lands are.

Results

• 6296

  LinkScore

• 77

  Linking domains

• 210k

  Est. Coverage views

• 90k

  Coverage shares

• Two online petitions were set up by conservation enthusiasts which resulted in 1,314 signatures thanking Expedia UK for raising awareness of endangered species
• A first for a Verve Search, a mini replica set of posters were created for users of The Sims computer game – which was really exciting to see!

Coverage highlights

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View live campaign