Travel brands amp up advertising blitz on Spotify with the onset of summer

It’s 7:30 PM on a Tuesday and you’re inching your way back home in a cab during peak traffic. The week has barely begun, but you’re already exhausted. Just then, Sunset Lover (Petit Biscuit) begins to play on your Spotify. 

Music plays softly in your ears, and suddenly, the traffic noises from outside fade. You imagine being on a terrace in Santorini, watching the sky turning gold to violet. And, before you know it, you’re checking flight prices.

For years, travel advertising has relied on static images and search ads. But today, discovery happens differently. Long before they type the name of a destination onto Google, people are experiencing destinations through music, social media, and video content.

In fact, a psychology study published in Applied Research in Quality of Life found that anticipating a trip brings travelers more happiness than the trip itself. The planning stage, scrolling through travel blogs, curating playlists and watching videos, makes travel feel real before it actually begins. 

These early moments that influence how and where people travel constitute a huge opportunity for brands.

Finding travelers in the right moments

As travelers engage with trip planning—browsing, researching, and making decisions—brands are increasingly seeking ways to integrate themselves into the process. Many are turning to Spotify, where users are already engaging with travel-related content.

According to Spotify data, travel-related searches on the platform grew by 59% from Q1 to Q4 last year, indicating that music and audio play a role in pre-trip inspiration. User behavior also suggests a strong link between audio consumption and travel intent, with 35 million Spotify users having taken a vacation in the past 3-6 months and 7 million purchasing air tickets online.

Goibibo, a travel booking platform, leveraged this insight in a recent campaign. The brand aimed to capture traveler attention at an early stage—before they actively searched for deals—by addressing decision fatigue, a common challenge in the sector.

The campaign revived Bollywood nostalgia, featuring actor Kareena Kapoor Khan reprising her role as Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) to rate hotel rooms in her signature style. The choice of celebrity also reinforced brand recall, as Kapoor’s nickname, "Bebo," phonetically aligned with "Goibibo."

On Spotify, the campaign used both audio and video ads targeted at users with an interest in travel. Additionally, Goibibo sponsored the editorial playlist Starring Kareena Kapoor to increase visibility among her fanbase.

According to post-campaign analysis, the ads reached 5 million unique users, resulting in a 19-point lift in ad recall, an 11-point lift in message association, and a 7-point increase in intent. 

Sumit Bedi, Vice President - Marketing, at Goibibo says, “Reimagining Poo’s iconic sass in a travel setting made this campaign instantly relatable, and Spotify’s platform allowed us to bring that magic directly to the right audience in real time. We were able to personalize the brand message according to listeners' specific contextual cues, taking mass personalization to a new level.”

Getting creative with travel messaging

Brands are also getting creative about how they reach travelers, not just in terms of ideas but also  ad formats. While audio ads provide a non-intrusive yet attention-grabbing experience, video ads allow for more immersive storytelling with visual elements to inspire travel decisions. These formats are often supplemented by display ads, ensuring continued brand visibility as users browse Spotify playlists.

Spotify’s data-driven approach further refines ad targeting through what the platform calls “streaming intelligence.” According to Spotify, 56% of users listen to music during their daily commute or long journeys, while travel-related streams peak in the afternoon and see significant increases on weekends. These behavioral insights inform advertising strategies, enabling brands to optimize ad delivery based on user habits.

MakeMyTrip leveraged these capabilities in a campaign aimed at promoting its booking offers. The brand used 3D audio ads featuring immersive sounds—such as wind and ocean waves—to evoke the experience of exotic destinations, aligning with the platform’s ability to create an engaging, context-driven brand message.

“We’ve always known that visuals inspire travel, but this campaign showed us how powerful sound can be,” says Abhinav Narula, Vice President - Marketing, at MakeMyTrip. “When listeners heard the rush of waves or the call of birds, they went from imagining a vacation to feeling it. This made them more likely to take action. On Spotify, we were not only able to reach a travel-enthusiastic audience but also engage them in an immersive and memorable way."

The campaign reached 4.8 million unique users and recorded a clickthrough rate of 0.31%, surpassing industry benchmarks. Its creative use of sound design was also recognized at Spotify Hits India 2024, an industry showcase highlighting notable advertising campaigns on the platform.

More broadly, travel brands are positioning themselves beyond transactions, aiming to influence consumer experiences from the early stages of trip planning. As travel discovery increasingly begins well before a booking is made, brands that establish a presence during these initial moments are more likely to leave a lasting impact.