NEWTON, Mass., Sept. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor^®, the world's largest travel site*, today announced the launch of its national television campaign, the first in the company's 13 year history. The new campaign highlights the signature TripAdvisor green "bubble" ratings, which allow travelers to rate their experiences on a one to five bubble scale as an overall quantitative summary of their review. These bubbles are portrayed in the ads as iconic shorthand for rating travel experiences.  In addition, TripAdvisor is launching a test in select global markets including Argentina, France and Spain, with a different creative execution for television that communicates a similar message.

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"After growing to become the world's largest travel site in the last 13 years, we feel now is the time to enlist other channels to help us share our story, including advertising on television," said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer at TripAdvisor. "There are 260 million unique visitors to TripAdvisor every month which is amazing, but that also means there are still over 2 billion internet users we want to reach. With this first-ever television campaign, we want to make one message loud and clear: every experience counts and sharing it through reviews and opinions matters."

With more than 100 million reviews and opinions on the site covering nearly 3 million hotels, restaurants and attractions around the world, TripAdvisor is using its signature "bubbles" in the television campaign to signify how travelers use the reviews to inform their decisions, celebrate the experiences they have when they travel using TripAdvisor and inspire them to write their own reviews. 

"We proudly attribute the success of TripAdvisor to the countless number of people who continue to share their reviews and opinions with us — 70 a minute and counting," said Anne Bologna, vice president of brand strategy at TripAdvisor. "TripAdvisor is powered and trusted by the people and it's their opinions and reviews that can enhance our travelers' experiences and that is what this campaign celebrates."

At launch there are two, 30-second TV ads running with plans for future executions.  The "Bubbles" campaign was developed by the following team: creative directed by Ari Merkin; the production company is Supply and Demand; Hill Holiday Media is the broadcast media planning and buying agency and CrossMedia is the digital media planning and buying agency.

The test ad for the select global markets was created by The Fantastical for advertising creative and Initiative Media for media planning and buying.

About TripAdvisor 
TripAdvisor^® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 260 million unique monthly visitors**, and over 100 million reviews and opinions covering more than 2.7 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 30 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 20 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com,  www.onetime.com,www.seatguru.com, www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com, www.whereivebeen.com, and www.kuxun.cn. 

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, June 2013

**Source: Google Analytics, worldwide data, July 2013

©2013 TripAdvisor, Inc. All rights reserved. 

SOURCE TripAdvisor