Travel Marketing Summit: ‘We weren’t even profitable… but the big bet paid off’ – How Intrepid came back from the brink of extinction
When Covid hit, sustainable travel company, Intrepid Travel, was on the brink of extinction and forced to confront who it is as a business. It made a bold decision to double down on purpose and its mission through brand marketing rather than traditional performance marketing, and is now thriving and on its way to being a billion dollar brand. Natalie Placko, general manager of global brand, walked us through that journey.
Presenting at last week’s Mumbrella Travel Marketing Summit, Placko explained how Intrepid completely transformed, emerging from the pandemic successfully unlike some of its travel counterparts. Having worked at Intrepid from 2001-2008, and re-joining in 2016, she said she’s seen “the good times, the bad times, and definitely the changing times”.
“While we don’t talk about the pandemic anymore, because its a scar for us in travel, it was a really key time for Intrepid,” she said.
Intrepid’s revenue streams halted in 2020, it was forced to lay off a number of staff, and refund its customers.
“We had no idea what laid ahead, so we were forced to look at who we were as a company, what we wanted to get out of the pandemic, and how we were actually going to survive,” she explained. “The good news is, this led to an even stronger sense of purpose.”
And while Intrepid has always been a purpose-led business, Placko conceded that it was never something the business marketed.
Placko presenting at the Travel Marketing Summit last week
“We talked about our product, we talked about our destinations, we talked about our people. We didn’t really talk about our purpose, and we definitely didn’t market it,” she explained.
“So, in 2020, we decided we wanted to make that sense of purpose part of our legacy, and how we made it through the pandemic, I feel at the point, it really did rest on brand – we just didn’t know it in the early days.”
With 90% of the brand’s marketing budget being spent globally on tactical, digital-focused marketing – think online ads, SEO, tactical sales – she said they was they did this was forced to change. Instead of just showing off the destinations and sales, it was time for the brand’s purpose and mission to shine instead.
“With tactical marketing, it’s never easy with CEOs and Boards and exec teams, asking them to spend the money,” she joked. “During the pandemic, I was asking to spend money when we had none – we were literally losing thousands of dollars a day and I’m not exaggerating. We were on a skeleton team and there was a lot of uncertainty obviously.
“But we didn’t have a choice – it was either do something with brand and really lean in, or do nothing. When you have no product to sell, you have to sell your brand.”
The doubling-down on brand began internally with things like ethical marketing guidelines and leaning in on its B Corp certification, before it moved on to external – launching a vaccine equity campaign with UNICEF and developing new products to support the domestic tourism market, for example.
It then launched its first major brand campaign as international borders started to re-open to tell consumers Intrepid is back and better than ever.
“It was super crazy to think we were spending all this money on expensive media placements around the world that’d we’d never done before,” Placko reflected. “We weren’t even profitable – in fact we were still hemorrhaging money – but the big bet paid off.”
Sales quickly came back in the Northern Hemisphere, Intrepid was recognised in Fast Company’s most innovative companies list, and the emotional connection built with customers through its brand marketing efforts, the travel company was quickly becoming a fan-favourite.
While brand marketing evidently saved Intrepid during Covid, it is important to note that Placko acknowledged there still is, and always will be, a place for performance marketing.
“It’s not necessarily a ‘performance versus brand’ equation in my eyes,” she said. “As of this week, I have actually just taken over all our performance marketing as well, and I do believe it is important to do both – it’s about finding the right balance for your brand.”
Intrepid’s performance marketing has not completed stopped, and Placko said that “one can’t survive without the other”.
“The brand is the heart of the business, and performance is the brain – you need both,” she concluded.
Related Content
SUBSCRIBE
Sign up to our free daily update to get the latest in media and marketing.
