Qantas launches ‘Hooroo’ – billed as a unique social site for travel – with new digitally-led campaign via Badjar Ogilvy, Melbourne

The Qantas Group is launching Hooroo, a unique social commerce site for travel. Created to satisfy a gap in the market, Hooroo is the first travel site to integrate social discovery and sharing with the ability to directly book a huge range of accommodation Australia‐wide.

Head of marketing for Hooroo, Lija Wilson, says the global rise of social commerce led the team at Hooroo to develop a platform which integrates content, social and the ability to transact in a seamless user experience.

Says Wilson: “Travel is the most social of all categories – we all ask our friends for inspiration and suggestions and then share our experiences through our networks when we get back from a trip. Our launch strategy is centred around seeding the brand via social channels and then allowing travellers to take that real‐life behaviour online.”

In addition to its initial focus of social seeding, Hooroo will continue the launch phase with a digital campaign through Badjar Ogilvy Melbourne. The company is investing heavily in search and driving engagement through social channels. Wilson also selected a team of passionate travellers and sent them to destinations around Australia, charging them with creating a 24‐hour itinerary for each place they visited. As the campaign unfolds, these ambassadors will be sharing their experiences through hooroo.com, as well as their own blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and other social outlets.

Hooroo gives the Qantas Group an entrée into the high margin, high growth online accommodation market and the means to reach the 68% of the domestic accommodation market that relates to driving holidays.

Hooroo’s business model is supported by new research from Tourism Australia, which shows that social media is rapidly impacting the way Australians travel domestically. In fact, 20 per cent surveyed admitted they have been prompted to book a domestic holiday as a result of viewing their friends’ social media updates, often inspired by photos and check‐ins.

Wilson says the launch of Hooroo is perfectly timed to support new Qantas and Tourism Australia domestic tourism campaigns, with Tourism Australia chief Andrew McEvoy throwing his support behind the site.

Says McEvoy: “We know that compelling destination content and competitive deals can play a big part in stimulating people’s desire to explore and travel, and the creation of the new Hooroo social travel site seems to embrace this insight, which we’re hoping will inspire more Australians to reconsider their own backyard and take the next step by booking a domestic holiday or getaway.”

View the Hooroo ambassadors’ travels at hooroo.com and follow them on Twitter via #thatplace and #hooroo.