Targeted News Stories
Priceline.com
Issue 39 | June 2016
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide David Lubars Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York Greg Hahn Executive Creative Directors Chris Beresford-Hill Dan Lucey Creative Directors Dan Kenneally Ryan Raab Senior Art Directors Austin Mankey Brian Pinkley Senior Copywriter Mike Motch Copywriter Ricky Johanet
Production Team
Associate Director of Integrated Production Joe Croson Executive Producer Tricia Lentini Production Company O Positive Director Spencer Riviera
Other Credits
Account Team Ross O’Donovan John Chleborad Laura McWhorter Erin Oliver Group Planning Director Tom Naughton
Date
January 2016
Background
Priceline.com was a US discount travel site operating in a crowded, mostly undifferentiated, market. The trick was, first, to persuade consumers to make that trip or hire that car; and second, to book via Priceline.
Idea
The insight was that if you did not make that trip, there was a danger you would be missing out. It could be the chance to meet old friends, get to a wedding, or help your elderly parents move house.
Because Priceline had a broad user demographic, Facebook was chosen as its channel of delivery for its ability to micro-target via age and life interests.
Like the online travel market itself, Facebook's newsfeed is cluttered and noisy – too many links to cat videos, surfer wipe-outs and gurgling babies.
To grab attention, a series of fake, alarming news stories were created, with comically serious consequences for those who don't make the trip.
A fake news studio was built and a real-life news anchor filmed delivering the 'bad news' in a convincing way.
From a selection of almost 30 news stories, Facebook data allowed BBDO to serve up the right news story to the right person at the right time.
Stories included: the best man who failed to attend his friend's wedding and whose friendship was pronounced dead; a woman who missed her friend's birthday and had her status downgraded from BFF to just F; and a woman who missed a school re-union and the chance to hook up with a millionaire.
Results
Together, priceline.com's 30 films racked up almost 24 million impressions and 1.7 million views. But most importantly, the content resonated with consumers and convinced them to visit priceline.com, generating 1.2 million site visits within 7 days of being exposed to the creative, proving that priceline's fake news helped solve some real problems.
Our Thoughts
There's nothing new about brands using fake news stories to drive attention. And playing the FOMO card with edgy stories is a bit of a risk.
But the verve and execution of the campaign made all the difference. The stories were funny and delivered in an exact replica of US TV news, down to the hyper-exaggeration, graphics and on-screen captions.
You can sense that this was an immensely liberating brief for the BBDO writers. They attacked it with energy and fun.
Would this have worked well on TV? Well, the US TV system allows some level of targeting, but on a broader demographic and geographic basis. It might have helped build a fame halo around Priceline.
But it's hard to beat the targeting opportunities of Facebook.