Global travel data company Adara extends footprint in Asia-Pacific

As part of its growth plan in the region, Adara has hired a new commercial director to support its expansion, bringing in Stuart Stacy to drive new business in Australia and New Zealand. Stacy joins the company from travel giant Orbitz Worldwide, where he was director for Asia-Pacific, responsible for establishing the company’s media sales operation.

Commenting on the announcment, Jonathan Hardy, Adara’s vice-president of sales for APAC said: “Australia is one of the most sophisticated media markets in APAC. It’s setting the pace for data-led marketing in the region and advertisers there are ready to take advantage of the Adara offering."

Adara uses first party global travel data from over 80 travel brands, including United, Ryanair, Etihad, Accor and Marriott. Over the last 10 months, the company says it has seen “rapid growth” in its base of advertisers across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Campaign Asia-Pacific caught up with Hardy to find out more about the company’s offering and how brands can use travel data across different sectors:

Campaign: Can you give us a summary of how Adara works?

Jonathan Hardy: Adara leverages first party global travel data to help drive future business performance. Our marketing and insights platform transforms loyalty, search and booking data into actual knowledge to help companies architect their products and reach high-value customers in real-time.

C: What sets Adara apart from other data platforms?

JH: To our knowledge, there is no other company that can access more online global traveller profiles and apply them for marketing and insights purposes. We’ve achieved this by increasing our data set through the formation of data partnerships. Every data partner has value and we currently have 80+ partnerships globally.

With our proprietary technology and our platform, Magellan, we’re also the only company that offers a fully integrated solution, which provides insights into customers and personalises their individual experiences. These two functions are usually siloed.

C: What’s unique about travel data? And how can it be used?

JH: Perhaps surprisingly, travel data has a number of features that aren’t found in other verticals, which is why it is such a valuable source of information. Firstly, travel purchases are complementary—if you buy a flight then you’re likely to book a hotel stay, rent a car, reserve a dinner in your destination and possibly buy a souvenir.

Secondly, travel behaviours are also predictive. Patterns are often repeated for regular family holidays, business meetings or other events. There is true scale with travel data too, as it provides insights across the global consumer’s different spheres of activity. Lastly, the majority of travel purchases take place online meaning that there’s a huge amount of data available about these travel buys and these consumers.

The relative wealth of travel buyers, combined with their preference for online purchasing, means that travel data has emerged as a new and illustrative source of insight for marketers across every sector. Retail and financial services data have long been looked to for insights on segmentation and purchase plans. As a result, premium marketers in other verticals are now recognising the value of travel data. For example, high-end luxury retailers can use travel data to pinpoint individuals who are flying first class to Singapore, Japan or Australia, enabling them to market themselves more effectively at key points on the travellers’ purchasing journey. As can a wireless operator marketing local data and voice plans before travellers go abroad. The richness of the data provides greater insights into consumers for marketers, helping them to deliver targeted messages to specific, high-value audiences.

C: What’s the opportunity for brands and travel data?

JH: Using cross-device and real-time data, travel brands can target their potential customers at any point during their travel purchase journey. Today it is no longer about what screen (smart phone, tablet, desktop, etc) to target but how to reach the right person, at the right point in the purchase funnel, regardless of what screen he or she is on. 

Travel data also provides insight into factors such as family groups, levels of disposable income and whether travel is for leisure or business. This helps travel brands to spot patterns such as regular family holidays.

In addition, travel purchases are often clustered as consumers buy a plane ticket, hotel room and sight-seeing activities. This allows travel brands to identify customers’ usual complementary purchases and target them with offers aligned to these preferences. This approach both maximises the likelihood of purchase and makes the consumer travel experience more efficient and comfortable.

C: How does Asia compare to other markets in this space?

JH: Industry specialism is a relatively new approach in the market as there are very few companies who hold such a large number of direct relationships and consequently, offer first party data.

We have seen with well-known global brands and more recently, regional Southeast Asian airlines that our approach has brought confidence to the region and other prospects are now much more open to accepting a new, more specialised approach to advertising.

What are the big trends you are seeing in the region?

The trends in Asia tend to mirror those that we are seeing in Europe and America. The travel market in particular has seen phenomenal change in recent years with a rapid move towards mobile and online solutions. With 25 per cent of travel bookings now made on mobile devices, mobile is becoming increasingly important as marketers need to convert downloads to spend on the channel.

The importance of mobile also shows the need for advertisers to be able to reach consumers across multiple devices so they can be reached at all points of the travel, purchasing journey. Investing in a cross-device strategy is crucial to drive visitors to spend. In turn another trend we’re seeing across all markets is attribution and measurement. Many marketers still have no attribution model for mobile—this means that they have no way to measure the role the channel is playing in driving purchase.

Asia is a complex region. Some countries have a very similar approach to the USA and Europe, while other countries are still in the very early stages of testing and development. In order to be successful it’s advisable to adopt a multi-market strategy.