Skift Take
Barring last-minute entries, Booking.com may be the only travel company advertising nationally during Super Bowl 2024. However, given that Booking.com’s annual sales and marketing spend exceeds $7 billion, the expense is certainly doable.
Booking.com is back for the third year in a row with a Super Bowl commercial, this time in 2024 with the ad starring Tina Fey and Glenn Close. The commercial has cameos from actors Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer, both with 30 Rock credits, as well.
The 30-second spot, which will run in the second quarter of Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, sees Fey follow Booking.com’s mantra of “book whoever you want to be” because of the wide variety of accommodations’ choices on the platform. (See the commercial embedded below.)
Fey narrates the first 10 seconds of the ad, and scrolls past luxury hotel and cabin listings on Booking.com on her phone. Then what Fey describes as her “body doubles” take charge.
Actress Jane Krakowski plays “splurgy Tina” at a plush Rodeo Drive hotel in L.A. Actor Jack McBrayer brushes the hair of “rustic Tina” as a Sasquatch in a Wyoming cabin. And Glenn Close serves as “wild Tina’s” body double on a rambunctious horse ride during a farm stay.
“With millions of possibilities, you can book whoever you want to be,” Close says, with Fey jumping in saying, “That’s my line!”
Zulu Alpha Kilo developed the creative for the ads, and Mindshare handles the media strategy.
USA Today estimated that 30-second spots in the 2024 Super Bowl contest average $7 million, and that wouldn’t include Booking.com’s production costs with all of that star power. But that wouldn’t be a game-changer for a company, Booking Holdings, that shelled out $7.8 billion for sales, marketing and other expenses in 2022.
Booking.com’s U.S. Strategy
After years of focusing on the European market, Amsterdam-headquartered Booking.com has been expanding in the U.S. and the Super Bowl ads in the last three years have been part of that push. Barring lineup changes, Booking.com may be the only travel company advertising nationally in the big game in 2024 (other than BetMGM with Tom Brady and Wayne Gretzky), according to AdWeek’s Super Bowl commercial tracker.
The commercial is a continuation of the online travel agency’s Booking.yeah campaign, which it relaunched two years ago. Melissa McCarthy starred in last year’s Super Bowl ad. The campaign involves TV, including prime time programming, audio streaming, social and online outlets.
“We were the most-viewed ad of the Super Bowl on YouTube last year with more than 108M views, which shows what an impactful launch platform the ‘big game’ is for us,” a Booking.com spokesperson said this week. “Since relaunching Booking.yeah two years ago, the campaign has helped contribute to accelerate brand growth and awareness in the U.S. and has really resonated with Americans.”
Booking.com’s marketing powered certainly gave an assist to that most-viewed ad status.
Booking.com’s 2024 Booking.Yeah Campaign
In addition to this year’s 30-second Super Bowl spot, Tina Fey books whoever she wants to be, the campaign is a blend of 15- and 30-second spots. They include “Sasquatch Tina Fey books a cabin” and Influencer “Tina Fey books a boutique hotel.” There is also a 90-second version of the Super Bowl commercial, all of which can be viewed on Booking.com’s YouTube channel.
After this year’s Booking.com Booking.yeah campaign kicks off in the Super Bowl February 11, it will roll out later in the year in various incarnations in the UK, France, and Australia.
