Ep 37 - The Evolution of Consumer Trust in the Age of Technology w/Howard Koval
Today's discussion revolves around the critical importance of consumer trust in the rapidly advancing realm of technology, particularly with the integration of artificial intelligence in marketing strategies. We are joined by Howard Koval, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development with TravelSpike, as we delve into the intricate relationship between technological adoption and the necessity for brands to cultivate trust among their audiences. Moreover, we examine the evolving landscape of marketing, where experiential content and data-driven strategies are becoming paramount for effectively engaging potential travelers. Our dialogue underscores the significance of leveraging insights derived from comprehensive data analysis to inform decision-making processes, thereby enhancing marketing efficacy. We invite you to join us in exploring these transformative ideas that are shaping the future of marketing and consumer engagement.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- 00:07 - Introduction to Aqua Talks
- 07:51 - The Evolution of Digital Marketing
- 11:59 - The Shift to Content-Driven Marketing
- 19:11 - Emerging Trends in CTV Advertising
- 28:32 - Transitioning to New Strategies
TAKEAWAYS:
- In the evolving landscape of marketing, establishing consumer trust remains a paramount challenge, especially with the rise of AI technologies.
- The importance of data in marketing cannot be overstated, as it serves as the currency that dictates strategic decision-making processes.
- Engaging audiences through emotional storytelling, particularly in the context of sports, fosters deeper connections and enhances brand visibility.
- As destinations adapt to the digital age, the creation of compelling, fresh content is essential to maintain audience engagement and relevance.
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Howard Koval - Executive Vice President, TravelSpike
Howard Koval is Executive Vice President at TravelSpike and a respected voice in travel and tourism marketing, with more than 30 years of experience helping revolutionize the travel industry through data-driven strategy, personalization, and advanced media. He specializes in applying audience intelligence and identity-based solutions to better understand and influence traveler behavior. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Howard shares insights on AI, connected TV, and the evolving traveler journey. His work focuses on helping tourism organizations adapt to changing consumer expectations and drive sustainable demand through smarter use of technology and data.
Transcript
Welcome to Aqua Talks, where marketing meets bold game changing ideas.
Speaker A:Join your hosts, Larry Aldrich and Maddie Dudley as they explore the art and science of cutting through the noise, capturing attention and fostering meaningful connections with your audience.
Speaker A:Whether you're a destination marketer, government contractor, or simply passionate about the transformative power of marketing, Aqua Talks offers engaging discussions, fresh insights and actionable strategies designed to inspire and inform.
Speaker B:Hello and welcome back to Aqua Talks.
Speaker B:My name is Maddie Dudley.
Speaker B:I am the PR Director of Aqua Marketing and Communications.
Speaker B:Aqua Talks is a podcast for marketers.
Speaker B:Whether you're just getting started out or you're a pro within the industry, this is a podcast podcast brought to you by Brensys Technology llc.
Speaker B:And as usual, I'm joined by my co host, Larry Aldrich.
Speaker C:Hello, my name is Larry Aldrich, President CEO of Aquamarketing Communications and Brensys Technology llc.
Speaker C:Today we're here with Howard Covell, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development with Travel Spike.
Speaker C:How are you doing today?
Speaker D:Very good, Larry, Very good.
Speaker C:Good.
Speaker C:Getting into this podcast, we usually start off by talking about a topic, usually trend or something happening in the industry.
Speaker C:And we like to let you set that off for us today.
Speaker D:Interesting.
Speaker D:Okay, well, thanks for having me first off and nice to meet you, Matti.
Speaker D:Gosh, I mean, I've been in the business since the very beginning, so I've kind of seen a lot.
Speaker D:And I'd like to say it's been a strange trip, but that would be a strange pun.
Speaker D:But anyway, it's interesting because a lot of what is happening was happening from the very beginning and it's just about really technology advancement for the most part.
Speaker D:And most importantly, it's really about the adoption of the technology.
Speaker D:Back in the early days, people weren't as technology savvy, let's say, whether it's a brand or a consumer.
Speaker D:But right now everybody has kind of caught up to the trends and all the AI stuff that's going on.
Speaker D:People are very receptive to it.
Speaker D:But one of the key things that is still lacking is trust.
Speaker D:It all comes down to consumer trust.
Speaker D:And that'll be the final challenge.
Speaker D:Once consumers really trust these AI answer engines for giving real personalized recommendations and suggestions, then it'll even proliferate more.
Speaker C:We had a conversation earlier a week or so ago and you were talking about the Internet before it was the Internet and the part that you played in that.
Speaker C:You want to walk through that a little bit?
Speaker D:Yeah, sure.
Speaker C:I thought it was really interesting.
Speaker D:Sure, you're kind of dating me at this point, but that's fine.
Speaker C:I was there too.
Speaker C:I remember it.
Speaker D:Yeah, so.
Speaker D:So I'm going to go back to a time when, gosh, there really was just, without taking up too much time here on this subject, but there really was only AOL comp servant, Prodigy, and they were text based dial up services and that was really the precursor to the Internet.
Speaker D: by, you know, phone lines and: Speaker D:You know, where you plug in your phone and you get the screeching noise and you got to wait 10 minutes to download a page of content which is just text on a gray background.
Speaker D:So I got into it at that point and Mosaic only had 50,000 browsers in beta.
Speaker D: copper twist and dealing with: Speaker D:So we started, started out with that premise and my partners and I at the time had actually come from the entertainment and media world.
Speaker D:So we had lots of connections in the analog world.
Speaker D:And like what?
Speaker D:Yeah, just, you know, all the big players that had no idea the Internet was coming.
Speaker D:I mean, so they had, everyone had content, you know, but it was analog content, it wasn't digitized and this and that.
Speaker D:So we actually went back to our old friends and our old bosses and our old peers and said, hey, give us your content and we'll digitize it, put it on the Internet.
Speaker D:They're like, well, what's the Internet?
Speaker D:It was like, it literally was like that, you know, so then we go into the whole explanation about surfing the web and like, oh, what a concept, you know, things like that.
Speaker D:And you know, by aggregating content, we actually built some of the first content destinations on the Internet and we actually put the New York Times on the Internet.
Speaker D:It was their first website.
Speaker D:We built the first real time sports information website that was completely personalizable, which would even be more advanced than anything that's out there today.
Speaker D:And this is going back like 30 years ago or so.
Speaker D:You know, once we built the content, content sites, people started showing up.
Speaker D:And I have a hundred other stories that would be really, really entertaining.
Speaker D:But we'll, we'll stick to the, we'll try to cut to the chase here.
Speaker D:But basically once we had the content destination set up, then it was about going out there and, and developing, you know, revenue channels and going to the sponsors and advertisers and saying, hey, you want to be a Part of the New York Times on, on the Internet, the same thing.
Speaker D:Well, what's the Internet?
Speaker D:You know, it's like, you know, it's really that early.
Speaker D:So little by little we started getting some interest and AT and T was an early sponsor and Advil was an early sponsor, Captain Morgan's Rum was an early sponsor.
Speaker D:And what happens is that we had to build their websites, they didn't have a website, and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:But that was the beginning and it was very exciting.
Speaker D:It was very early on and it just blew up from there.
Speaker D:And we saw it coming because little by little you hear people saying dub dub dub.
Speaker D:This that you see a bus going down New York City with like, like turner.com you're like, okay, it's really coming now, and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:But that's, that's the deal.
Speaker C:From your, from your perspective, what patterns of earlier digital shifts or you do you think are repeating itself today?
Speaker C:And what feels fundamentally different this time,
Speaker D:you know, kind of, kind of touches on what I was saying before is that, you know, technology always comes first, but it comes down to like the adoption.
Speaker D:And it's not just technology for technology's sake, it's really, it's technology for the utility sake.
Speaker D:Right?
Speaker D:So, you know, it's like you have to come up with the killer app to really get people to embrace it.
Speaker D:So the technology leads.
Speaker D:And in the beginning people really didn't know.
Speaker D:But obviously rolling the clock forward this many years, everyone is online, everybody knows this, everybody knows that, everybody knows what the QR code is, what the contact free stuff that was happening in the pandemic.
Speaker D:So things help proliferate, the adoption.
Speaker D:Other than that, like I said, it comes down to trust and access.
Speaker D:You know, I mean, access breeds interest.
Speaker D:So in the beginning, not everybody was online.
Speaker D:And you know, as time went on, not everybody was cutting edge.
Speaker D:And you know, now it's kind of like evened out where everybody's online, everybody has fairly deep experience with being online to some degree.
Speaker D:But as technology rolls out, it's like about the application, it's not the technology, but it's about trust and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:So all that repeats, you know what I mean?
Speaker D:It really, it's whatever's beyond AI, it's going to be the same pattern, it may be compressed because I think the transformations happen faster.
Speaker D:But that's really what I think is the big thing is that transformations are happening, leaps are happening faster, more compressed, where back then it would just take more time for the market.
Speaker D:To get there.
Speaker B:Okay, so where do you usually see the biggest disconnect between having data and actually using it to make better decisions?
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker D:Everything's about data because access isn't the problem anymore.
Speaker B:Like, I feel like everything is pretty accessible to a lot of people, even not marketers, you know.
Speaker D:Correct, correct.
Speaker D:I mean, data is currency, you know, I mean it really is.
Speaker D:It's, you know, it's, it's, you know, we say in marketing, and I'm sure you guys share the same sentiment, but it's, you know, let the data dictate the strategy.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Instead of guessing.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:Instead of, you know, relying on just, you know, testing, random testing, which is super important too.
Speaker D:But there really is a ton of data out there.
Speaker D:And finding the right data sets and understanding how to interpret them, it really takes a lot of risk out of things and lets you be a little bit more precise.
Speaker D:But yeah, I hope I'm answering the question.
Speaker D:It's as simple as you'd like me
Speaker C:to, but it's conversation.
Speaker C:Just speak.
Speaker D:Cool.
Speaker C:You have a wealth of knowledge and we're interested in here.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:So I mean, data is the currency.
Speaker D:Everyone talks about proprietary data, everyone's scrambling for that.
Speaker D:And it's not even so much about proprietary data, which is great.
Speaker D:It's about identifying the types of data that would be contributory and commingling data.
Speaker D:So it's not necessarily like, oh, this is my.
Speaker D:Is the secret formula of Coca Cola.
Speaker D:Nobody knows it.
Speaker D:It's really just about how you can commingle data sets and make those data sets the most valuable.
Speaker D:Your particular clients, your particular campaign to your particular strategy, so on and so forth.
Speaker C:I want to go a little bit in the direction of destination traveling.
Speaker C:So today's travelers are often influenced emotionally long before actively searching for destination to start planning a trip.
Speaker C:So with that in mind, in your experience, when does destination influence really begin and how early should we start engaging marketers?
Speaker D:Yeah, to engage.
Speaker B:Oh, I love this question.
Speaker B:This is great.
Speaker D:Yeah, I mean it's, it's, that's a big open ended question.
Speaker D:But it's, it's, you know, I guess the most important thing is, is, is, you know, budgeting, you know, to, to what degree is, is a destination properly funded in order to, you know, work the full funnel and you know, what their strategic objectives are and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:But you know, inspiration, you know, comes from the strangest places.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So you know, it's like travel y inspired in many different ways and on many different touch points and still word of mouth and through friends and family is a big thing.
Speaker D:But you even look at where Hollywood has taken it and you look at the stuff that's super popular on the streaming platforms, whether it's White Lotus that blew up visitation and tourism for Sicily and for Thailand and just people immersing or getting exposed and immersing through serialized content that works as well.
Speaker D:Obviously, social media is a big driver of influence and inspiration because it goes back to what I was saying before.
Speaker D:There's a lot of value in friends and family and trusted sources of truth.
Speaker D:So social media is an extension of that.
Speaker D:So that people feel like, hey, this is my community and my community is bubbling this destination up and there's a lot of great pictures and, and I identify with it and I want to have my picture taken in front of the Eiffel Tower and post that too.
Speaker D:You know what I mean?
Speaker D:So it's like that.
Speaker B:I mean, I have to know, what's your favorite season of White Lotus?
Speaker D:Oh, gosh.
Speaker D:I mean, you know, I actually do like the show, so I can't say I have a favorite season, but maybe season two.
Speaker B:Favorite character.
Speaker D:I mean, Christopher.
Speaker B:Oh my gosh.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I love Tanya.
Speaker B:Tanya, may she rest in peace.
Speaker B:Sorry, spoiler alert for anybody.
Speaker B:But yeah, such a good show.
Speaker D:But there's a lot of that.
Speaker D:That is a big trend.
Speaker D:And so here's another shift, and this has really been powered by the Internet from the beginning is that typically advertisers would buy environment in the form of ad pages in 30 second spots within programming, contextually oriented, so on and so forth.
Speaker D:Now it's like everyone has really, every brand, every marketer has a real need to be their own publisher.
Speaker D:And there's a lot of content that's being created, whether it's like in house content or social creator, influencer content or scripted content.
Speaker D:Like we're saying the White Lotus and trends of micro dramas and micro journeys and so on and so forth, that that's really where I see inspiration happening.
Speaker D:And the money always follows where the consumers are.
Speaker D:So the trends are all there that as a destination you should really be focused on content.
Speaker D:How many times can you go to the same website, give people a reason to come back?
Speaker D:Now that you have a website, we'd always say, what are you going to do with it?
Speaker D:You can't publish and think it's done.
Speaker D:It's never done.
Speaker D:It's a work in progress.
Speaker D:And the more you want to reach and engage an audience, you got to keep on peppering it with fresh Content, keep it current, give them a reason to come back, stay top of mind, so on and so forth.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm curious just based off of how you answered.
Speaker B:So with the shift to experiential marketing, have you seen a lot more like paid media programs going into that or marketing priorities going into an immersion or an experience rather than just an ad that people see online?
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker D:So I mean it's, you know, people have dreams and aspirations and again, you know, the level of funding required to create content, you know, and am I going to spend money on content?
Speaker D:Am I going to spend money on impressions?
Speaker D:I mean that's a big tug of war internally.
Speaker D:But in terms of content creation, that is absolutely the future.
Speaker D:And it's.
Speaker D:Paid media is important, it's part of the process.
Speaker D:But again, how much can you get out of a banner ad?
Speaker D:How much can you get out of a 30 second CTV or TV spot?
Speaker D:I mean, so there's a big, big need on content.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And speaking of some of the platforms and formats, destinations are now managing a bigger growing mix.
Speaker C:We've had quite a few conversations, one in particular last night.
Speaker C:And if you don't want to give a little bit of a tease or as much as you want about Travel Spike and some of the products that you had, and we talked about CTV and what you were saying I found very interesting.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker C:Do you want to just bring a little as much about that as you want?
Speaker D:Yeah, sure, sure, sure.
Speaker D:I mean, you know, just a little backdrop on Travel Spike.
Speaker D:I mean we've been a digital media specialist for 24 years.
Speaker D:All we do is travel, tourism, hospitality through and through.
Speaker D:In our earliest iteration, you know, we started the first vertical ad network.
Speaker D:It was the travel ad network.
Speaker D:And you know, if you wanted to reach travelers, you know, we were like the go to from the very beginning because we had aggregated a large roster of travel dedicated publishers and we were like the first one stop shop.
Speaker D:Instead of being site specific and doing this and that and you give us a call and we have 300 publishers that are part of our network and based on what your goals and objectives were, we'd be able to say, okay, you need to be on these 100 or based on at what point in the funnel, so on and so forth.
Speaker D:But we started out with that, that was 24 years ago.
Speaker D:We introduced email products after that.
Speaker D:Excuse me, after that, you know, and right now we have about 10 products, but all digital of course.
Speaker D:And the most exciting product that we have is our CTV product.
Speaker D:Exciting because it's timely and trendy and everybody's thinking about it.
Speaker D:It's the promise of the power of TV with the precision of digital marketing.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker D:So that combination is very powerful.
Speaker D:Most CTV solutions are top of the funnel branding and awareness type plays.
Speaker D:Our CTV solution is like performance CTV where we're truly focused on performance and performance outcomes.
Speaker D:So our platform is capable of tracking everything from the first CTV impression all the way to a website visit through any series of conversions, whether it's one conversion or maybe there's three conversions in the process and the final conversion is actually booking.
Speaker D:We can actually follow that through our CTV platform.
Speaker D:And it's optimized.
Speaker D:It's also driven by a generative AI predictive targeting tool.
Speaker D:So it actually can anticipate who the highest intent audiences are.
Speaker D:And it's almost like we could kind of forecast who your next customer is going to be.
Speaker D:And we're seeing ridiculous outcomes in terms of like other top of the funnel CTV offerings where ever since we introduced the predictive audiences, we see six times the engagement, which is like six times the actual site visits and you know, two times the conversions and half the cost of acquisition that you would typically see.
Speaker D:And that's been proved over and over and over again.
Speaker D:Our clients are very, very happy and they are really, from one month test they're coming back and committing to an always on strategy.
Speaker B:I'm in the world of earned media mostly.
Speaker B:I would love for you to break down CTV for people like me as well as anyone else who would like a little bit more of a description.
Speaker D:So for earned media as the application,
Speaker B:as the audience, well, whether it's earned or paid media, how is this applicable to the strategies that you're spearheading?
Speaker D:Yeah, I mean it all starts with the client strategy.
Speaker D:I mean we helped develop that, we helped deliver on it.
Speaker D:But I mean, if we're talking about ctv, I mean CTV is at a point in its lifespan where it could be used for PR purposes, it could be used for B2B purposes.
Speaker D:The data available is fairly robust.
Speaker D:It's very robust.
Speaker D:Not even fairly so.
Speaker D:Never before would people really recommend doing television advertising.
Speaker D:For B2B advertising, let's say.
Speaker D:But you could get super, super specific and almost do like account based targeting.
Speaker D:If you're trying to target IBM people, I mean, whatever, you could really get that close and target that precisely.
Speaker D:And again, if it's earned media, you could target people that are in the trade pubs and editors and things like that by profession.
Speaker D:And it can work on that level as well.
Speaker B:Very Cool.
Speaker C:New formats such as microdramas, which we've discussed, Connected TV sports related integrations are becoming more common in tourism marketing.
Speaker C:How do these storytelling approaches change the way destinations build emotional connections with travelers?
Speaker D:Yeah, gosh.
Speaker D:I mean, sports is a big common denominator.
Speaker D:It's also, you know, I mean, so it's like, it's very easy.
Speaker D:I mean, sports is a huge draw and it's a widely loyal and passionate audience.
Speaker D:So it's a great, it's a great platform for brands to advertise into.
Speaker D:Also, with the nature of sports, you know, usually there's like multiple viewers in the viewing household.
Speaker D:So it's like, you know, it's more of a, a social experience as opposed to just staying home and watching the White Lotus by yourself and on a Tuesday night, you know, whatever it might be, but you're watching sports.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker D:So anyway, you usually watch sports with a group of people and you're planning food and beverage and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:And you know, so it's, it's again, for that reason also it's a very great environment to create buzz and get people talking about it and you know, having groups of people, you know, see the same spot at the same time and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:So that's really important.
Speaker D:But even more importantly, in terms of just like the general sports audience or sports as a platform, typically advertisers in the travel, tourism, hospitality space, and this is practice for every vertical.
Speaker D:But we'll talk about just our vertical.
Speaker D:Everyone is really purchasing the same intent signals.
Speaker D:If you're doing programmatic advertising, you're pushing buttons, you're pulling levers, you want to find high intent audiences and you know, guess what?
Speaker D:So is your competition, so is everybody.
Speaker D:It's the competitive destinations, it's the hospitality companies, it's the airlines, everybody is buying the same intent signals.
Speaker D:So it really becomes kind of like a very competitive situation.
Speaker D:If you look at sports, which is emerging and becoming more and more popular with travel brands, it's an opportunity not only to reach this passionate fan base, but also to break through the clutter and have more of a share of voice and not be like one of 10 destination marketers throwing you banner ads or throwing you a CTV spot because you've thrown some signal of interest, you've searched for an airfare, you've browsed destination content in Caribbean island type situations where everybody picks up on that, everybody's selling that and everybody's buying that.
Speaker D:So that's super competitive.
Speaker D:And if you want to break through, well, you got to be a little bit daring and take some chances.
Speaker D:But you know, breaking through is breaking through.
Speaker D:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Have you ever done like a Super bowl commercial or super bowl ads?
Speaker D:We have not, but we have inventory.
Speaker D:I mean we quite surprised.
Speaker D:And again, it's about lead time.
Speaker D:So this is one of our relatively newer products.
Speaker D:So you always need a certain amount of lead time.
Speaker D:There's opportunistic dollars that are out there, but most budgets are planned and set and spent and allocated and all that stuff way before some opportunistic situation as strategic and sexy as the super bowl is.
Speaker D:But all of a sudden, for real, it's not $8 million a spot, it's.
Speaker D:You could spend $25,000 in some key markets and just buy impressions.
Speaker D:In the super bowl we also do something very unique also that no one else out there is doing.
Speaker B:Do tell us.
Speaker D:Yeah, for real, it's worthwhile, but we actually will produce a vignette, a companion vignette.
Speaker D:So it's not just buying 30 second impressions in the Super Bowl.
Speaker D:Let's say we will actually create a vignette where it looks more of almost like a network level integration where we actually will hire real sports announcers to be doing some banter during a commercial break and they'll be talking about the game or a game situation or a play or a sack or an amazing catch, whatever it might be.
Speaker D:And they're talking, doing some back and forth banter and then all of a sudden it's brought to you by Destination X.
Speaker D:You know what I mean?
Speaker D:There'll be some logos and it looked like instead of just the brand spot, there's the integration spot.
Speaker D:So it's kind of cool to give an extra lift.
Speaker B:Yeah, that uniqueness is important.
Speaker B:If you were advising a destination today on preparing for the next 10 years, what capabilities or mindsets would you prioritize first?
Speaker D:I mean aside from having someone that has a bit of a vision at the wheel, it would be having someone that's very data savvy, I would say on board, I think like a data analyst, a data data scientists, depending upon the size of the destination, of course.
Speaker D:I think that it's really, really important to have someone on the team that can understand what data is important and understand how to interpret data and understand how to build a forward thinking strategy based on data.
Speaker D:So I would say that, that for
Speaker C:sure before we wrap up travel spike, there any case studies that stick out or anything you're proud of or excited you or shocked you or changed your mindset?
Speaker D:Well, we've been doing it for 24 years.
Speaker D:So there's a lot of case studies.
Speaker D:Yeah, it's got to be somewhat interesting too.
Speaker D:One thing that we really hold out there is that we have a fantastic client retention rate because of the hard work and the performance outcomes, most importantly.
Speaker D:So that kind of speaks for itself.
Speaker D:There's so many unique case studies and I'm trying to think top of mind.
Speaker D:Our largest advertiser is Southwest Airlines and they've been spending.
Speaker D:We're a top performer for them.
Speaker D:And it's interesting because what does Southwest Airlines need from us?
Speaker D:They've got the biggest agencies in the world.
Speaker D:They spend $100 million, whatever it might be, probably 300 million at the end of the day.
Speaker D:They've realized that we have something very special and something niche that they can't get through anywhere else.
Speaker D:It's not available on the exchange.
Speaker D:It's not available just on a whim.
Speaker D:It would be labor intensive for people to do what we're doing with it.
Speaker D:And that's really.
Speaker D:I spoke about our ad network and that's really in line with what Southwest loves and appreciates about us is that they can actually buy 300 websites from us.
Speaker D:Not site specific.
Speaker D:They can't say I want that site only.
Speaker D:It's really a roll up of those sites.
Speaker D:But we've been a top performer.
Speaker D:They've been spending seven figures for 10 years.
Speaker D:Each year we're increasing the spend, so on and so forth.
Speaker D:Another great case study recently was with Amtrak.
Speaker D:Amtrak's businesses kind of booming lately, probably a lot because of pandemic, a lot because of flight issues and travel headaches and so on and so forth.
Speaker D:That is safer to do Amtrak.
Speaker D:But we did a campaign, it was with our conversational product and that's a whole.
Speaker D:That'll be our next webisode if we don't have time today.
Speaker D:But anyway, we provided a four times roas on their spend and they were actually shocked about how long after engaging with our media they were doing our high impact conversational ad units and stuff like that.
Speaker D:But they were shocked after even post 30 days of the impression and the engagement people were coming back and booking tickets and it was attributed to travel.
Speaker D:Spike, that's great.
Speaker B:Congratulations.
Speaker D:Congratulations.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker B:It's all fun.
Speaker D:It keeps us coming back to work, you know what I mean?
Speaker C:Any conferences you want to bring up where we might see you or travel?
Speaker C:Spike, I know destinations Florida, destinations international.
Speaker C:I definitely see travels, but anywhere, sure,
Speaker D:off the top of my head.
Speaker D:I mean, I know we'll have coverage there.
Speaker D:I'm just trying to think like right now off the top of my head.
Speaker D:I can't really speak to that.
Speaker C:Yeah, there's a few that I'm going to and I can't even think of the names of them.
Speaker D:Yeah, it all blurs together as soon
Speaker C:as I walk away.
Speaker C:It'll all come back.
Speaker D:Back.
Speaker D:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Well, if you think of them, we can include them in our show notes which you can find on aquatacs.com sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker D:A lot of fun.
Speaker C:Yeah, thanks for being with us.
Speaker D:You guys are great.
Speaker C:It's been fun talking.
Speaker D:You know, you can invite me back anytime.
Speaker C:Definitely.
Speaker C:Oh, we definitely will.
Speaker C:We, we stay close with Travel Spike, so good deal.
Speaker C:And, and, and some of your colleagues we enjoy working with with.
Speaker D:Awesome.
Speaker D:Yeah, you guys are great too.
Speaker D:So it sounds like a partnership that will last forever and grow.
Speaker C:Definitely talk about doing a lot more together.
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker D:Absolutely.
Speaker D:Good stuff.
Speaker D:Larry, Matty, thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you so.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for joining us again today.
Speaker B:Again, I'm Maddie with Larry and we're Aqua Talks.
Speaker B:Thank you, Howard, for joining us.
Speaker D:Thanks, everybody.
Speaker B:And if you want to learn more about Howard Travel Spike or about the podcast, please go to aquatacs.com we'll have all of Howard's inf information there.
Speaker B:And we're on social media.
Speaker B:Follow us there.
Speaker B:And I believe that's it.
Speaker B:See you next time.
Speaker A:You've been listening to Aqua Talks where marketing innovation takes center stage with bold ideas and actionable insights.
Speaker A:Ready to take your strategies to the next level.
Speaker A:Visit aquatax.com to book your free consultation and explore resources that empower you to thrive in today's fast paced marketing world.
Speaker A:Until next time, stay bold, stay inspired, stay imaginative.
