Film studio DreamWorks Animation worked with travel site Expedia.com’s advertising arm, Expedia Media Solutions, to tap into a shared travel connection to drive ticket sales for the theatrical release of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, an animated film about the most accomplished dog in the world and a mischievous boy who travel the world and through time, on March 7.
The campaign includes Mr. Peabody and Sherman’s Travel the World Sweepstakes, an effort that invites consumers to apply for a chance to win a trip to the destinations in the movie and which, as of March 26, had garnered more than 120,000 entries, Expedia says.
The promotion, which launched February 24 and closed March 31, also featured offers negotiated by Expedia to the movie’s destinations in France, Italy, and Greece. Each location has a microsite with content like sample hotel deals.
According to Expedia, the campaign had more than 5.5 million impressions in less than two weeks and display ads garnered a CTR of 0.62 percent in the first three weeks.
In addition, Expedia pushed related content on its Viewfinder blog, such as an interview between senior blogger Spencer Spellman and the character Mr. Peabody.
The campaign was also promoted via a “Where in history would you travel to?” Twitter chat on February 26 that used #Expediachat. Expedia says the chat had 475 participants and 3,200 tweets and was trending on Twitter in the U.S. within 15 minutes.
In addition, Expedia says five related Facebook posts drove more than 173,000 impressions and 125,000 accumulated views on Google+.
According to Noah Tratt, global vice president of Expedia Media Solutions, the sweepstakes “[taps] into something very unique about Expedia, which is that we have people who work in pretty much every major city in the world and work with hotels and attractions to build great experiences.”
Expedia Media Solutions says it reaches 16 million unique users per month in the U.S.
Expedia has 2 million likes and @Expedia has 200,000 followers.