WTM08 – Video signalled as best downturn advertising channel

The industry should push multimedia content as an advertising medium as marketing spend is sequeezed as a result of the credit crunch, a leading figure has warned. James van Thiel, senior industry manager for travel at Google, urged a WTM seminar that travel firms could have a look at using YouTube as a marketing channel…

The industry should push multimedia content as an advertising medium as marketing spend is sequeezed as a result of the credit crunch, a leading figure has warned.

James van Thiel, senior industry manager for travel at Google, urged a WTM seminar that travel firms could have a look at using YouTube as a marketing channel during the current economic downturn.
 
Van Thiel was speaking at a WTM about marketing in a slowdown, and reminded guests that their marketing budgets were best spent where their audience was. “October stats show that travel queries on Google are 12% up, so there are still people out there. You need to spend your marketing budget where customers are, and they are spending more and more time online.”

Another panellist, consultant Justin Cole, pointed out that price inflation for Google keywords was running at 20%. Van Thiel responded by saying that ‘it is an auction model so the market decides the price.”

He reminded the audience that other opportunities existed for companies to use Google, such as YouTube or using Ad Sense on their web site. Google products also exist, such as Insight For Search, which means that businesses can be more informed about how they spend their cash, he said.

Van Thiel said that he also expects people to spend more time researching online during the slowdown, which puts the imperative on travel firms to make sure they convert any leads. Similarly, business can try different types of online advertising and assess quickly how effectively they drive traffic.