Ryanair threatens legal action over eDreams PPC campaign

Ryanair threatens legal action over eDreams PPC campaign

Spanish online travel agent eDreams could find itself in hot water with Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair thanks to a PPC Google campaign that has incurred its wrath.

Spanish online travel agent eDreams could find itself in hot water with Europe’s biggest airline Ryanair thanks to a PPC Google campaign that has incurred its wrath.

The low-cost giant has confirmed it considers the advert (pictured) to be a breach of its intellectual property rights and registered trademark.

A Ryanair spokesman told Travolution that it has been aware of this for some time and is “taking the relevant legal steps to combat this misleading practice”.

The eDreams ads are not only targeting Ryanair but similar results come up in paid search SERPS for easyJet and Thomas Cook.

Google rules do not prevent this sort of advertising activity, but major brands are legally able to protect themselves from other firms passing themselves off as the brand owner.

The eDreams strategy appears to take the fairly widespread practice of hijacking brand traffic to an extreme with the use of wording and a url that are clearly designed to look authentic.

Clicking on the ad takes the user through to a landing page dedicated to Ryanair with the carrier’s logo above a search box, offers and information about the airline.

Barcelona-based eDreams is part of the ODIGEO group having merged with Go Voyages in 2011 and founded Opodo and Travelink.

Travolution has contacted eDreams for a comment and is awaiting a response. We are also awaiting a response from easyJet.