Year
Role
2019
Creative Director
Video • Creative Direction • Art Direction
Background
The OG of online vacation rentals, Vrbo went through a massive shift in 2019, from forgotten forefather, and one of hundreds of acquired children brands under the Expedia umbrella to the face of Expedia's vacation rental space. This shift to the face of the Expedia brand came with a massive brand overhaul, and phonetic change from the acronym "V. R. B. O." to "Ver-boh".
The Challenge
Simply put, our challenge was to create an impactful TV Spot to launch alongside the Vrbo rebrand. But because VRBO has historical brand equity, our challenge became more nuanced. We needed to 1.) convince the general public, a good portion of whom had been using or at least heard of the platform over the past 25 years, that the brand is now pronounced "ver-boh". 2.) For those who are unaware of the brand entirely, find a way to weave in what Vrbo actually does. In particular the brand value proposition "Perfect Match", which in their own words "does the hard work matching travelers to the perfect place to stay, finding the perfect size, shape, price and location especially for your dream vacation."
The Execution
In partnership with Prettybird Studios, and director Todd Strauss-Schulson, we crafted a charming, big energy adventure about three very picky vacationers getting exactly what they want out of their vacation home. Inspired by the song "Matchmaker" from Fiddler on the Roof, we used song and dance numbers, fantastical narrative, and heightened, whimsical characters matching equally heightened, whimsical homes to illustrate the "perfect match" promise in a clear and communicative way.
Direction
There is a cinematic technique called the 'eye trace', which is used to direct viewers eyes to specific and important areas of the frame, thereby never leaving the story up to chance. To accomplish this, our director primarily used a motion-controlled Bolt camera, to create dynamic flowing shots that make the spot feel like one fluid organism rather than individual shots of dancers chopped, then edited together. I also worked directly with Vrbo's in-house neuroscientist to boost this effect in post-production by using eye-tracking technology and facial recognition to monitor subliminal reactions and eye movement through scenes. This eventually gave us the most "scienitifcally optimal" edit for engagement.
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