• by Tanya Gazdik , February 2, 2023

Priceline will have a spot in Fox’s Super Bowl pre-game show, but the bigger part of the campaign happens after it airs.

“Go To Your Happy Price” combines comedic storytelling and a newly scored theme song with interactive shoppable technology to create an entertaining and, ultimately, bookable travel world. Each “mini-episode” reveals hidden deals totaling over $5 million in travel savings.  

The first of the hidden travel deals goes live at kickoff and additional savings unlock during halftime. Fans can engage with built-in interactive props in the brand’s digital ads to access the exclusive offers.

Along with the broadcast spot, Priceline has created a digital spot which will run online only during the game on YouTube, Meta and TikTok. It will feature visual Easter eggs (gold bricks) that when redeemed will give each travel fan $1,000 off their flight/hotel/car rental if booked by the final whistle. Only 57 $1k discounts will be given, matching the number of the Super Bowl itself. 

After the game, the travel aggregator will continue to embed the visual Easter eggs into its digital spots, developed by Smartzer shoppable video technology.

The brand saw it as “an opportunity for us to do what we do best, which is really to direct our investments toward our customers,” says Lesley Klein, Priceline’s senior vice president of strategy and brand marketing. “We're known for bringing the very best deals in travel to our customers, and that's exactly what we could do with this.”

The 30-second pre-Super Bowl spot, “Inflataboy,” shows young boy “deflating” when his dad notes they can’t do an all-inclusive trip, then re-inflates after Priceline spokesperson actress Kaley Cuoco outlines how, using Priceline, they can take a vacation.

It will run in the second-to-last pod before the game starts.

“So we're running pretty much as close to the start of the game as you can get, but then we're unlocking $5 million in travel deals for our customers starting at kickoff and continuing to unlock parts of that $5 million at halftime and beyond,” Klein tells Marketing Daily. “And those will remain active and available well beyond the Super Bowl.”

Cuoco, who has been with the brand since 2012, returns as the “ringmaster” in the campaign. Themed “Go to Your Happy Price,” the spot is part of an episodic comedy series of eight spots of different lengths (15-, 30-, 60- and 90-seconds).

Each takes place in an office, with co-workers prevailing against the everyday grind and dreaming about vacation (with Cuoco helping them realize they can get to their happy place).  

The effort, which also features a newly scored theme song, marks Priceline’s first new brand platform in four years. It’s the first with new agency, Mirimar, which won the business in 2022.

The campaign launches with digital spots on Feb. 6, the week heading into the Super Bowl. After the Super Bowl, additional elements include an influencer campaign, audio and podcast ads, and the release of the brand’s new theme song on streaming platforms. 

The brand also ran a pre-Super Bowl spot in 2022 and in-game ads in 2009 and 2012.

“People always think of Priceline as entertaining, funny, witty, a little bit irreverent,” Klein says.

Although this spot doesn’t include previous spokesperson William Shatner, Klein says “he's a really important part of our legacy and still part of the Priceline family,” having last appeared in creative promoting the brand’s credit card.