Guest Post: Is Trivago woman’s ever-presence paying off for the hotel price comparison site?

Love her or loath her ‘Trivago woman’ is hard to get away from, especially if you spend too much time commuting on London’s Tube network.

Love her or loath her ‘Trivago woman’ is hard to get away from, especially if you spend too much time commuting on London’s Tube network.

In real life she’s actually actress Gabrielle Miller and she was recently stalking the underground making personal appearances alongside the ubiquitous creative for the Expedia-owned hotel price comparison site.

Trivago has famously deep pockets when it comes to advertising its brand and customer promise ‘Find your ideal hotel for the best price’, but it is working? The below analysis from YouGov suggests it may well be paying off.

By Amelia Brophy, head of data products, YouGov

Trivago’s tube ad campaign is hitting home – but has it altered brand perception?

Over the last week or so, several commentators have made reference to the seemingly ubiquitous presence of the ‘Trivago Woman’ advert at Underground stations.

The harshest critics say (in a tongue in cheek way) that they feel they are being “stalked” by repeated appearances on the Tube of Gabrielle Miller, an Australian actress who is the face of Trivago’s adverts.

Our brand tracking data underlines that the campaign has been noticed. YouGov’s Ad Awareness metric measures whether someone has seen an advert for the brand in the last fortnight.

It shows that among the population in general, Trivago’s score increased from 28% in mid-July to 35% in mid-August

However, among those that live in London the improvement in the score is even more marked. Mid-way through July its score was at a 27%, before rising to a high point of 40% on the 12th August.

While it has fallen off a bit in the past couple of weeks it continues to score highly and currently stands on 38%.

YouGov Profiles data suggests that the decision to advertise heavily in billboard and poster format is a sound one.

Looking at those that would consider using Trivago, over half (55%) of this group say that posters/billboards help them become aware of new products and services (compared to 44% of the public generally).

Furthermore, six in ten (60%) say they often notice adverts at train stations (vs. 52% of the population as a whole).

Some critics have accused Trivago of prioritising media spend over fashioning a creative and lasting message that better represents the brand and which prompts an emotional response from consumers. YouGov data suggests there is some truth to this belief.

Despite a significant rise in Ad Awareness score, Trivago isn’t really improving its rating when it comes to other brand perception measures.

For example, YouGov’s Purchase Consideration metric (in this case, whether you would consider using the service) has remained fairly static among all respondents over the past month, hovering around the +22 mark, with a similar score present among those living in London.

So while the advert has certainly succeeded in raising awareness – especially in the capital – to truly alter perception, Trivago’s next campaign may need to travel in a different direction.