The state of Tennessee wanted to attract summer travelers, but research showed that potential visitors were unsure of how Tennessee was relevant to them, and in turn, saw it as a “drive-through” state and not a vacation destination. So we had to prove to travelers that Tennessee was the perfect place to spend their precious time off. 

We created the first-ever pre-roll ads edited in real time to match the viewer’s online behaviors, likes and interests. Travelers could see their perfect vacation, without having to provide or input any data. To achieve this, we created an edit with five variable sections, which we would personalize based on the user data collected from third-party data providers. We then developed a matrix of hundreds of video clips of Tennessee activities and tagged them by interest categories.

To determine the clips that best aligned to the viewer’s interests, we worked with data providers to collect all the available impression data about the viewer — their location, browsing history, purchase behavior, music interests, social media activity and much more. The available data points were then categorized and matched to related Tennessee video clips. In the time it took between page load and pre-roll play, our data providers analyzed millions of data points about the user, scanned our matrix to match relevant clips, and then edited a commercial specifically designed for each user.

Each video began by directly telling the viewer that we customized the video just for them to spark interest in the first few seconds. Based on geolocation data, each video featured the exact roads the user would take from their location to the destinations shown on screen. We then showed Tennessee attractions we knew they would be interested in based on the behavior and interest data collected.

The campaign generated more than 21 million completed video views, which resulted in more than 330,000 hours of exposure with personalized content. From the videos viewers visited our website and created over 17,000 itineraries, and 92% of survey respondents indicated that they planned to travel to Tennessee in the next 12 months. Following the campaign, person-stays in Tennessee increased 3.8% over the previous year.

The campaign essentially gave our audience a glimpse into their future. So instead of spending about 45 days planning their vacation, they watched it come to life in just 45 seconds – leaving little doubt that Tennessee was the perfect place to spend their summer vacation.