Tripadvisor pairs AR with street murals to promote San Diego

Dive Brief:

• Tripadvisor partnered with the San Diego Tourism Authority and agency The Shipyard to create an immersive art campaign, “The Sunny Side of Things,” meant to promote travel to San Diego, according to a press release.
• The effort includes interactive street murals, which will be placed in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. The paintings created by three different artists will include QR codes that can be scanned to unlock an augmented reality (AR) experience and animated GIFs that can be shared on social media.
• The effort, spearheaded by Tripadvisor’s internal agency, Wanderlab, will run from April 3 to April 30. The move signals how some marketers are exploring mobile tech to capitalize on the return to travel.

Dive Insight:

Tripadvisor’s partnership with the San Diego Tourism Authority sees the two opting for a more immersive, digitally driven experience that offers a twist to traditional advertising tactics. The move could help foster a deeper connection with consumers, while also upping the odds of connecting with the next generation of travelers. 

“The Sunny Side of Things” is meant to promote the lure of San Diego, specifically including its weather and various experiences. The effort sees collaboration with three artists — Channin Fulton, Hanna Gundrum and Phoebe Cornog — who painted the murals and were selected for work that conveys feelings of joy, per release details. Consumers in the three participating cities will be able to scan QR codes embedded in the murals to unlock an AR experience inspired by the art and obtain GIFs, or stickers, for social media that play off visual elements within the art pieces and celebrate San Diego.

Additional elements of the effort will include San Diego planning guides on Tripadvisor and shareable content for social media platforms including Instagram and Facebook. The experience will also be available for those who live outside of the three major cities, which could help widen the campaign’s reach.

The campaign was created with Tripadvisor’s newly formed in-house creative studio, Wanderlab, which launched last September and uses the travel platform’s first-party data to craft relevant campaigns. Travel is one sector of advertising that has recently seen growth in spend year over year, despite ad spending in general seeing ongoing challenges. Increased spend is likely fed by a surge in travel — coined “revenge travel” — following the lift of pandemic restrictions.

Tripadvisor’s latest effort follows similar moves by other marketers to integrate real-world experiences with QR codes and AR tech. For example, Rémy Martin earlier this month created the Mixtape Street Art Museum, which included interactive street murals celebrating well-known DJs. The effort was made with QR codes, which similarly could be scanned to unlock an AR experience.