The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has partnered with ADARA, the market leader in permissioned data and verified identity , and Publicis Groupe’s media agency, Spark Foundry, to run its first-ever connected TV campaign in the US.
The campaign aired in the US between December 2019 and February 2020, with the aim to target high-intent travelers looking for holidays and travel arrangements to the Middle East region, but undecided about their final destination. According to eMarketer, Connected TV is one of the fastest growing media channels in the US, with an expected spend of USD14 billion by 2023. DCT Abu Dhabi recognized this opportunity to target audiences on this fast-growing channel and influence them at the purchase decision point.
Traveler audiences were curated and segmented in key US cities with direct connections to UAE, specifically Abu Dhabi. ADARA and its extensive data and sophisticated technology allowed DCT Abu Dhabi to target those selected audiences on premium CTV inventory at the travel decision point, creating awareness about Abu Dhabi as a holiday and cultural destination in the Middle East, while at the same time increasing booking numbers.
The campaign was continually optimized during its duration, resulting in over 630,000 total unique travelers reached across 620,000 unique households with a view rate of 97%. DCT Abu Dhabi’s six audience segments across key US cities were targeted with destination communication based on audience descriptions. Within the selected segments, those travelers looking for luxury-leisure experiences contributed to over USD1 million in new hotel revenue, followed by adventure seekers as the second-most successful audience. Overall, the CTV campaign contributed to generating USD2.75 million worth of hotel bookings, with a 200% incremental uplift in hotel bookings YOY and more than 270% incremental uplift in search interest and engagement, fueling DCT Abu Dhabi’s CRM database for future marketing initiatives.
DCT Abu Dhabi was the first tourism board in the Middle East to use ADARA’s CTV offering to target high-intent travelers to the region. Over the past few years, ADARA has worked extensively with DCT Abu Dhabi to launch digital ad campaigns tracked with the ADARA Impact platform. This business partnership has facilitated DCT Abu Dhabi’s ability to track overall media efficiencies (across publishers and platforms) above and beyond standard media metrics by measuring searches and bookings (ROI) to Abu Dhabi.
Nick Mott, VP and MD EMEA at ADARA, said: “This campaign with the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi reflects the growing importance of CTV as an advertising channel to deliver effective personalization. By using ADARA’s traveler data on CTV, DCT Abu Dhabi was able to ensure that it was targeting the right people, minimizing waste and maximizing conversion.”
Saeed Al Saeed, Destination Marketing Director at the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi said: “ADARA’s data via CTV has allowed us to target potential visitors from the US and show them the beauty of Abu Dhabi as a world-leading holiday destination. After working with ADARA for the past two and a half years, we knew they were the right partner to take this step into the growing world of connected TV.”
Alain Brahamcha, CEO of Publicis Media’s Spark Foundry MENA, said: “Our strategic partnership with ADARA during the past few years has allowed us to drive state-of-the-art media campaigns targeting high-propensity travel audiences on the right media environments while also monitoring ROI across publishers and audiences. CTV is a testament of our innovation-driven mindset to expand our partnership into one of the fastest-growing channels across the globe.”
