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Opinion

Put your feet up, this is relaxed targeting

Estimates suggest over 880,000 tourists from the UK and overseas will visit London during the Olympics, suggesting rich pickings for brands for whom these educated affluent leisure travellers, with a high disposable income and a love of the finer things in life, are an important target audience. 

Their value to the travel sector itself is obvious, but they are also very relevant to other upmarket sectors such as luxury goods, finance, automotive, drinks, sporting goods and technology.  

But what is the best way for advertisers to reach them? As they pack in as much sightseeing and Olympic events into their days, engaging with them is not easy. These are people with a lot to cram into their schedules as, let’s face it, they’re unlikely to have come to laze on British beaches!

The obvious routes such as press ads and out of home media clearly have a role to play while this audience is out and about. However, there is also a new and growing route to reach them at a time when they are unusually time-rich and relaxed: watching TV in their hotel rooms. It feels good to flop onto your hotel bed after a busy day and switch on the telly to unwind. So, the calm uncluttered environment offered by hotel TV advertising serves brand messages to a more receptive audience, according to independent research into leisure travellers:

- Over 24% watch more TV commercials in a hotel room than at home

- 67% multitask more while watching TV at home than in a hotel

- 65% use their digital video recorder (DVR) at home to fast forward through commercials

- Hotel guests watch 3+ hours of TV per day

This is not just an Olympic opportunity, though. According to the latest figures from Visit Britain, last year over 30 million overseas tourists ended up on our shores, while in 2010 trips by UK residents involved a total of 373 million nights away from home. Hotel TV offers a neat and effective route to tap into this opportunity.

The benefit lies not just in the reach and engagement, but also in the targeting opportunities for maximising relevance and impact, with personalisation possible according to a variety of criteria, such as hotel brand and star rating, by city, business or leisure hotel, by country and even time of day. In depth measurement then tracks ROI and campaigns can be tested in a controlled environment. So, go on – relax, put your feet up and reach your travelling target audience while they do the same.

Karl Heasman, media director, Acentic Media