The proliferation of platforms and formats like short-videos have changed the influencer marketing game for marketers, brands and creators. In this fast-evolving space, keep up with the big trends and hot topics that matter in Storyboard18’s Weekly Shorts in collaboration with affable.ai, an end-to-end AI-powered influencer marketing platform. Track how creators, communities and brands are engaging with users and disrupting marketing to get a sharp and fast insight into present and future trends.
Influencer marketing has become an effective tool for brands to promote sustainable travel and tourism. Let’s explore five examples of brands that created an impact with impressive strategies.
The global tourism industry has rebounded after the Covid-19 pandemic. Priorities have changed. Earlier, it was all about finding affordable travel options, but now travellers have taken it up a notch. They are all about eco-conscious tourism. Influencer marketing can help you swoop in and snag those eco-friendly vacationers.
Recognising how influencers can share their experiences of travelling responsibly, giving shout-outs to your brand’s ecotourism efforts, and inspiring their followers to do the same is what you need to do to make your brand’s sustainable travel and tourism initiative visible.
If you’re wondering whom to collaborate with for the campaign, we have a whole array of creative minds here. Think nano-gaming influencers, dancers, writers, fashion bloggers, and more. These influencers are teaming up with eco-friendly travel companies to discuss their efforts toward a greener future. We have spoken of five examples, from a cruise company to a hotel chain, an eco-friendly lodge, a travel company, and a booking website, to highlight multiple ways of running influencer campaigns this World Environment Day.
Let us dive in!
1. Royal Caribbean International – Targeting younger minds with nano gaming influencers
GenZers and millennials are at the forefront of promoting sustainable travel and tourism, making them an ideal audience segment for eco-friendly travel companies. Royal Caribbean International, a Norway-based cruise line promoting eco-conscious vacations, targeted the younger minds by launching an online game on Fortnite—Hide ‘N’ Sea. They hired nano gaming influencers to boost the impact.
The game featured Icon of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships in the world, and that too with sustainable features like environmentally friendly designs and reduced emissions.
Royal Caribbean launched the game a year ahead in 2023 to target the younger demographic for promoting their upcoming ship in 2024. By partnering with nano gaming influencers (with 1k-10k followers), like Bonsai Broz and Cruising with JT, to develop engaging and entertaining content that showcases the cruise company’s sustainable efforts. These content creators use live streams and short videos to engage the target audience and build excitement around the cruise launch.
2. Kimpton Hotels – Highlighting real experiences with diversified creators
People today crave realistic content that resonates with their communities. So to create more inclusive content, Kimpton Hotels created a Creator Collective including seven influencers from diverse communities—photographers, journalists, fashion models, people with disabilities, and more!
As part of the campaign, Tess Daly, the fashion and beauty creator for people with disabilities, and other influencers created posts mentioning Kimpton Hotels. They shared how the hotel made it easy for them to enjoy their travel experiences and create amazing memories.
The largest boutique hotel brand also launched its Plant Pals Program on Earth Day 2023, encouraging customers to ask for a plant at the hotel’s reception to accompany them throughout their stay. They partnered with non-binary plant and sustainability expert Christopher Griffin, aka Plant Kween. The campaign engaged the LGBTQA+ community and appealed to eco-conscious travelers, which helped the company create an inclusive brand image.
3. Pikidi Gardens – Hiring dancers, writers, fashion designers, and more
When it comes to promoting your eco-friendly travel company, it’s not just about partnering with travel influencers. You can go for influencers in other niches or leverage your previous customers with significant followers.
Pikidi Gardens, an eco-lodge based in Kenya, collaborated with a nano dance influencer, Clara Ruiz, instead of going for famous travel and sustainable influencers. They launched a giveaway campaign inviting couples for a two-night stay at their eco-lodge. The campaign featured Ruiz exploring Pikidi Gardens’ environmentally friendly services and encouraging her followers to check it out.
Pikidi Gardens also leveraged a fashion designer and influencer Liz Ogumbo, who is also an existing customer of the company. In 2022, Liz Ogumbo shared a video of her exploring the company’s energy-conserving traditional-style cooker. She engages the audience through stories while cooking her favorite meal. She also educated the audience on how Pikidi Gardens uses sustainably sourced materials from farms to reduce waste.
4. Charitable Travel – Leveraging influencer podcasts for brand promotions
Professionals and busy moms often tune into podcasts from their favorite influencers while commuting or working, as it gives them easy access to interesting content. Many influencers create audio content to target the podcast-loving audience. Influencer podcasts are a great way for sustainable travel brands to tell their stories.
Charitable Travel, a UK-based tour booking agency, relies on podcasts hosted by nano and micro-influencers to educate customers on giving back to society and adopting responsible travel. Melissa Tilling, Founder of Charitable Travel, has appeared on influencer podcasts like Truth Behind Travel, run by Dolores Semeraro, and The Brave Bold Brilliant podcast by @jeannette.linfoot multiple times to talk about her brand’s values and messaging.
Both Dolores Semeraro and Jeannette Linfoot are nano influencers with 1.5k to 2.5k followers on Instagram, having a tight-knit community in the travel and business sector. Featuring Charitable Travel in these podcasts was a smart move made by the founder to drive awareness for her brand and connect personally with influencer communities.
5. American Express Travel – Forming a creator crew to craft global trends report
Hiring influencers to craft a trend report may sound a little unusual. But it is something that American Express Travel experimented with to reach a global audience.
American Express Travel, a booking website in America, hired influencers to power up its 2023 global trends report. They relied on the #AmexAmbassadors comprising a film director, a sustainable influencer and expert, a chef and author, and a wellness and self-care coach, to include insights from diverse mindsets in the report.
The four influencers planned trips around the world to dig up exciting insights for the report. American Express then crafted the report from four mindsets. The influencers promoted the report across their profiles while sharing their travel experiences with their followers. The collaboration resulted in massive awareness for not just the report but the brand too.
This Weekly Shorts is written by the editorial desk of affable.ai