ixigo unveils its first integrated marketing campaign

ixigo.com, India's leading travel planning and search engine kicked off its first ever integrated marketing campaign across Television, OOH, Radio and Social. The campaign in line with the brand essence of “know & go”, aims to position ixigo as the ‘go to’ destination for travel information and planning. This has been rendered in the form of a TVC which becomes the backbone of this campaign and highlights the pitfalls of unplanned travel, urging travellers to plan and be better informed about all aspects of their trip.

In addition to the TVC, ixigo has partnered with leading radio channels to engage listeners ‘on the go’ through contests and trivia based activities. Innovative ixigo branding using TVC motifs will also be seen across major airports and OOH media. Along with a strong offline campaign, ixigo will also be promoting interesting ‘know & go’  facts, videos and contests across social media and online channels.

Speaking about the campaign, Aloke Bajpai, CEO and Co-Founder of ixigo said, “Since ixigo’s inception in 2006, it has been our goal to become the most trusted travel planning and research website in India. We strive to make travel an enjoyable and informed experience for our users with our apps, in-depth content and smart comparison of the best deals across travel sites.  We are optimistic that our first ever marketing campaign will help us reach out to many more travellers across geographies and strengthen our positioning of being the most trusted travel website in India.”

Saurabh Srivastava, Vice President Marketing and Product Strategy, added, “Our marketing campaign is clearly aligned with our core brand message of “know & go”. With our first marketing campaign, we are confident that ixigo will find resonance and preference amongst users across the spectrum and through our innovative mobile apps and responsive website, we will be able to help people travel in the know.”

The creative idea dramatizes the pitfalls of traveling without knowing. The execution is built around one of the most famous travel destinations of the world – The Taj Mahal.  It chronicles the life journey of a six-year old child whose obsession with the Taj Mahal makes him take a vow to open his blindfold only when he sees the real Taj. The ad film chronicles his blindfolded misadventures through life, and when he finally lands up at the Taj, he realizes that the monument is closed on Fridays. The shock sends him straight to heaven, where a savvy Chitragupta introduces him to ixigo and the downside of traveling “Patti bandhke”.

Every aspect of the commercial reflects the bright, friendly and dynamic personality of the brand with the use of humor and deliberate exaggeration, from the music track to the ‘theatrical’ settings. Directed by E Suresh from Eeksaurus films and conceptualized by ixigo’s creative AOR ‘From Here On’ the TVC aims to deliver a compelling message while using humor as the backdrop. The ad film has a unique theatrical treatment, and establishes ixigo’s differentiated brand positioning as a source of trustworthy travel information that helps users make smarter travel decisions.

Rajesh Aggarwal, Founder & Managing Partner, ‘From Here On’ said, “In the crowded space of travel advertising, our cue was simple - demonstrate the peril of traveling without knowing, in a quirky manner, which breaks the clutter and creates a memorable and sticky visual metaphor for the brand.”