• by Larissa Faw , August 14, 2018

With 75% of millennials attending weddings last year that required overnight travel, Hotels.com is capitalizing on this emerging opportunity by highlighting its wedding services. 

Timed to coincide with 8.18.18, the most popular 2018 wedding date, the CP+B-designed creative features brand spokesperson Captain Obvious — now nicknamed Chaplain Obvious — officiated a real wedding in Vail, Colorado for Michael and Melissa Nelson. The creative interjects his humor along with real marriage vows.

The spot appears digitally on Hotels.com's YouTube and social channels, including Facebook and Instagram, and will also be supported via paid media on those platforms, making for a more interactive strategy and allowing fans to engage with the brand directly, says an agency spokesperson. 

People can even sign up for Chaplain Obvious to officiate their wedding. 

This is the first wedding-focused campaign from the travel platform to support its wedding services, including group bookings and wedding registries. 

With over two million weddings taking place this year in the U.S. and a quarter of guests spending more than $500 on travel expenses alone, this is an untapped opportunity to grab market share in an increasingly competitive category, the company believes. 

Hotels.com spent $90 million on advertising during first-quarter 2018 and $154.32 million in full-year 2017, according to Kantar Media. The budget for this particular campaign was not disclosed.