Ixigo takes humour route to urge travellers to ‘know and go’

Travel portal Ixigo has rolled out its first marketing campaign. The campaign created by From Here On will straddle TVC, radio, digital and OOH.

The ad film opens with a young boy seeing the Taj Mahal on television. Fascinated, he wants to visit Agra to see it and asks his father, who says no. Angry, he blindfolds himself with a piece of cloth with ‘I love Taj’ on it while the soundtrack explains that he has decided to open his eyes only after he visits the monument. He is shown growing up blindfolded, causing havoc at several events because he cannot see. When he finally reaches the gates of the Taj Mahal, he realises it’s shutbecause it’s a Friday. The shock sends him straight to Heaven, where he’s welcomed and introduced to Ixigo, even as the brand urges people not to travel ‘Patti bandh ke’ (blindfolded), but to ‘Know and go’.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO and co-founder, Ixigo, said, “Since Ixigo’s inception in 2006, it has been our goal to become the most trusted travel planning and research website in India. We strive to make travel an enjoyable and informed experience for our users with our apps, in-depth content and smart comparison of the best deals across travel sites. We are optimistic that our first ever marketing campaign will  help  us  reach  out  to  many  more  travellers  across  geographies  and  strengthen  our positioning of being the most trusted travel website in India.”

Saurabh Srivastava, VP, marketing and product strategy, Ixigo, added, “Our marketing campaign is clearly aligned with our core brand message of “Know and go”. With our first marketing campaign, we are confident that Ixigo will find resonance and preference amongst users across the spectrum and through our innovative mobile apps and responsive website, we will be able to help people travel in the know.”

On the campaign, Rajesh Aggarwal, founder and managing partner, From Here On, said, “In the crowded space of travel advertising, our cue was simple - demonstrate the peril of traveling without knowing, in a quirky manner, which breaks the  clutter and creates a memorable and sticky visual metaphor for the brand.”

Director (film): E Suresh