Travelzoo
Brett led this project during his 17-year tenure as Thinkso’s founder and executive creative director.
Travelzoo, the travel deal clearinghouse, engaged us to help with a range of marketing challenges both within the trade and with consumers. Among other things, we introduced the targeted “What’s the Deal with Travelzoo?” brand advertising campaign, an industry-focused awards competition affectionately called the TZoos, and subscriber marketing to build its image and establish its voice.
My partnership with Thinkso was one of real collaboration. We approached all of our marketing initiatives from a strategic, business-minded angle, but left plenty of room for fun, highly-creative design and editorial.
Advertising messages were grouped around Travelzoo’s principal offerings (shows, flights, cruises, car rentals, etc.), all of which were written to answer the question “What’s the deal with Travelzoo?”
We designed banner ads that displayed a portion of the Top 20® deals as a way to entice would-be subscribers.
Trade advertising and marketing collateral used the campaign theme to frame Travelzoo’s sales pitch. Impressive facts and stats were used to substantiate its claims.
We named the awards show after the company’s stock ticker symbol, TZOO. The custom-designed Z-shaped trophy and destination posters were pillars of the event identity, which was designed as a premium extension of the Travelzoo brand.
For the Las Vegas event, we used an engraved poker chip, presented in a clamshell coin box, as the invitation.
We designed large-scale interactive ads that engaged audiences traveling through Las Vegas McCarran International Airport and Grand Central Station in New York City. The oversized projections displayed real-time travel deals and passers-by interacted with the ads using their shadows.
