Cleartrip’s festive season sale takeover is a masterstroke in advertising

The festive season is upon us. There are sales everywhere and most of us are busy filling up our carts on various e-commerce platforms in search of the best deals possible. Much as it is a time to buy new things for yourself or gift them to near-and-dear-ones, it is also about soaking in every moment and truly taking a chill pill. What better way to do that than by taking a well-deserved break and heading off to a dream destination or, even better, how about gifting your dear ones that destination holiday they’d been dreaming of? And all this, without burning a massive hole in your wallet. Wondering how to achieve that? Well, Cleartrip has got you sorted.

Recently, Cleartrip, which is one of the leading online travel and leisure aggregators, literally disrupted the e-commerce sale specials season with its own marketing genius. During the festive season, most businesses worth their salt fight for prime positioning in newspaper advertising. And one fine day, readers of an English daily had a jacket advertisement, with a sleeve, for what appeared to be an e-commerce giant’s mega sale. This time, though, customers had to scan the images on the commercial and instead of being redirected to the site they expected, it took them to Cleartrip’s campaign, listing the most enticing offers on travel and accommodation options at great holiday destinations, in the exact same price band as the item he/she was checking out. With the campaign, Cleartrip aimed to empower participants to invest in a lifetime of memories by going on a holiday instead of buying random expensive materialistic things that may or may not be of use.

The idea behind the campaign was to remind people that choices are limitless if they decide to have experiences over the momentary pleasure from material purchase. Readers of the daily, who’ve seen the advert, have been gushing about it on social media, clearly impressed by the strategy. Several social media influencer, like comedian Atul Khatri and social media entrepreneur Ranveer Allahbadia, for instance, took to their pages to commend Cleartrip on the cleverly disguised ad.

“Chalo, don’t need to break any FDs for my Diwali vacation. Saw this amazing hack in today’s newspaper that’s turning other ads into trip offers. Spent a good hour scanning everything from pressure cookers to even my Daddy Kool poster,” wrote Atul.

Ranveer’s appreciation post was about the innovative tech solution the ad provided. He wrote, “Love how brands of today are innovating tech solutions for absolute convenience. With the sale season bringing a wave of cluttered ads, this one totally stands out.”

Cleartrip also took it a step further through digital platforms such as  YouTube, using spoof ads and 'conntextual ad scratch for products across beauty (lipsticks), tech (smartwatches), fashion (cat-eye sunglasses), food (fancy non-stick pans and pepper grinders), sports and fitness (workout shoes) and more. The brand also has pushed forward with its message of accumulating experiences over time through Twitter.

So, what's missing from your life? You could be missing out on some great deals if you haven't been using Cleartrip.

For details, log on to www.cleartrip.com or www.cleartrip.com/offers/india