Spongecell worked with VML to deliver big results for Tennessee Department of Tourism Development. Within the drop of a (cowboy) hat, the campaign dynamically served consumers one of more than 2,000 personalized pre-roll vacation videos.
As stated by MediaPost, "rather than seeing a tourism ad that tries to appeal to everyone, the site visitor sees a custom vacation video created just for them. "It's about creating better storytelling. By using a consumer's online behavior, likes, and location, Spongecell stitched together personalized 45-second spots with Tennessee activities perfectly matched to that consumer's interests.
Allison Pierce, group creative director at VML, went behind the scenes with Adweek. "It takes people a long time to plan their vacations, it's like 45 days of planning, and we wanted to first get someone interested and then send them down this funnel," she said. By using programmatic creative, the campaign immediately resonated with consumers, driving significant results. Tennessee Tourism website traffic increased 46% in just two weeks, and 93% of ad viewers surveyed during that time frame reportedly plan to visit Tennessee in the next year. Though consumers weren't the only ones to react to this personalized creative approach—the judges at Cannes Lions took notice as well. The campaign took home a Silver and Bronze Lion in the Creative Data Enhancement and Data Storytelling categories respectively.
