KAYAK x Smartwool Holiday Campaign
Reclaim the most wonderful time of the year.
The holiday season raises a lot of questions: where are we spending Christmas? What do I get my in-laws? How do I pay for everything without taking out a small loan? Rather than adding to the stress, KAYAK's Home (or roam) for the holidays campaign did something radical: it acknowledged that the holidays can be kind of a nightmare. From flight price-tracking to destination guides that actually help, we gave travelers the tools to reclaim their sanity——whether they were flying home to family or strategically roaming somewhere new to avoid them altogether.
Microsite
Catering to different types of holiday travelers, we created four destination guides designed to take the guesswork out of trip planning. For those hitting the slopes, 'tis the ski-son paired top-searched destinations from KAYAK with curated gear and packing lists from Smartwool. For budget-conscious travelers, our Europe and North America guides highlighted affordable off-peak destinations that delivered authentic experiences without the summer crowds or price tags. For stressed airport-goers, our KAYAK x CLEAR partnership offered free trials to cut down on security line time. The campaign microsite drove 55,476 page views, with the Smartwool ski guide as the top traffic driver.
Smartwool banners
Integrated seamlessly into the ski guide, these Smartwool product carousels turned packing anxiety into actionable shopping. Each banner included key product descriptions that highlighted functionality for specific winter activities——solving both the "what to pack" and "where to buy it" problems in one scroll.
Marketing emails
To support the campaign launch, we created a series of marketing emails that blended travel news, destination inspiration, and booking tools. Each email turned holiday travel stress into strategic planning with timely intel, trending destinations, and actionable features——driving consistent traffic to the microsite throughout the campaign.
Social
We teed up this campaign across Instagram (which is now archived, ugh) and Twitter, driving traffic to the microsite with destination announcements, Smartwool partnership callouts, and sweepstakes promotions that gave followers reasons to click through and start planning.
Press
The campaign caught Yahoo's attention, earning coverage that helped extend our reach beyond KAYAK's own channels.