I had the pleasure of delivering the opening keynote presentation at the Travel Distribution Summit in Singapore. The region is different, and while there’s lots to learn from airlines around the world, marketing efforts need to be catered to the cultural nuances. In addition to sharing lots of case studies from airlines and hotels from around the world, I made a few key observations and recommendations for travel brands targeting Asians:
- Be open to local practices – I share case study of a person in Indonesia who has over 450 Foursquare badges! Asians love to be “jumpers” on Foursquare, checking-in at locations they are not physically at, just to collect badges. Tap on these!
- Collaborate with other brands – 360buy.com not only changed their own Weibo profile pic for an anniversary sale. And, they paid five figure sums to leading Chinese brands to change their profile pics to 360buy’s as well! It’s the norm, and travel brands should look to collaborate as well. Hotels with airlines and DMOs with tour operators.
- Learn from other industries and adapt – Tesco in South Korea used QR codes at train stations to boost sales by over 100%. Gatwick Airport is now doing the same. So can you!
Here are some tweets from the audience in my session.