TourRadar works with Google Zoo for unusual multi-continent tour contest

Vienna, Austria-based TourRadar is trying a new marketing strategy to raise awareness of its services as an online travel agency for multiday tours.

“Tour the World” is the name of the campaign that will send two strangers on a trip spanning five different countries across five different continents for two months beginning in May.

TourRadar will cover airfare, accommodations, expenses and meals for the two participants in exchange for allowing a professional film crew to document every step of the journey to create videos and other content that will be shared on the brand’s social channels and through other marketing vehicles.

“We are in an industry that’s not perceived as being very sexy,” says Michael Potscher, TourRadar’s chief marketing officer.

“When they think of multiday tours and guided tours, they think of a herd of people following someone with an umbrella and walking through the streets with an earpiece in their head. … There’s a lot of misconceptions around the product we are selling."

Potscher says he wants to use this campaign to showcase TourRadar’s product to a wider audience.

“Multiday touring is the easiest way possible for any traveler to experience the world in a relatively short amount of time,” Potscher says.

“Through our Tour the World campaign, we are creating the ultimate trip of a lifetime for two strangers that will inspire others to engage in life-enriching experiences through multiday touring.”

The company is working with Google Zoo, an arm of Google that functions as a creative think tank for brands and agencies. Next month TourRadar staff will meet with Google Zoo representatives to finalize the creative details of the trip.

“We will talk about video strategy, what point of view, what angle, how cameras will be positioned,” Potscher says.

“It will be an open discussion on how we can make what we have today even more epic.”

Australia-based Intrepid Travel is also a partner on the project, providing ground transportation and logistics management.

Founded in 2010, TourRadar says it works with more than 1,000 local touring suppliers that offer more than 30,000 tours in more than 200 countries. In 2018, TourRadar closed its Series C funding round at $50 million with new lead investor, TCV.