TripAdvisor Turns to Customers For Some User-Generated Creative Inspiration

What better way to get your customers talking about your brand than, well, to get them talking about your brand by paying them to do so? Well, at least giving them the chance to get paid. That’s the idea behind TripAdvisor’s user-generated TV ad contest.

Starting with the brand’s ongoing Don’t Just Visit campaign as inspiration, TripAdvisor is asking fans, followers and customers to submit videos which can be used as 15 or 30 second TV ads. Anyone in America, France or Australia can enter the contest, which runs through the month of August.

Of the approach, TripAdvisor CMO Barbara Messing said, “No one knows better than our community of millions of travelers how TripAdvisor makes a vacation great. Travelers love sharing their experiences on TripAdvisor, so we’re excited to get their take on our ‘Don’t Just Visit’ ads by asking them to share their travel stories in a creative new way, with one winning story to air on TV.”

And she’s right. Sometimes a brand is just too close to itself to properly express its benefits. Which is why it’s best to sometimes go right to the consumer for more than just insight but for actual creative as well.

The winner of the contest winner will receive a grand prize of $25,000 and a chance to see their ad air on television. TripAdvisor will also award five runner-up prizes of $1,000 with winning videos shared on TripAdvisor social media channels.