Expedia Giveaway Highlights Limited Travel Presence on Super Bowl Ads

Image: Actor Ewan McGregor will star in Expedia.com's Super Bowl commercial. (Photo courtesy Walt Disney Television)
Image: Actor Ewan McGregor will star in Expedia.com's Super Bowl commercial. (Photo courtesy Walt Disney Television)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 2:35 PM ET, Tue February 8, 2022

The online travel agency Expedia.com will give away 20 trips during Sunday's telecast of Super Bowl 56 on NBC, highlighting a limited advertising presence by travel-related companies during the big game.

The Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will be played at SoFi Stadium in suburban Los Angeles - a site chosen years in advance. The game annually attracts the biggest television audience of the entire year, with an expected 100 million viewers.

The game is also the advertising world's biggest day, and this year companies will pay NBC a whopping $7 million per 30-second commercial - the highest cost ever for a Super Bowl ad and the biggest jump from the previous year. Ads were $5.5 million for 30 seconds in 2021.

Expedia will debut a commercial and giveaway entitled 'Travel The Ads.' With famed actor Ewan McGregor as the spokesperson, the Expedia ads will focus on having tourists get out into the world for a genuine travel experience.

Throughout the game, Expedia will give away 20 vacations. According to Travel+Leisure, you must follow Expedia on Twitter and be an Expedia Rewards Member - the prizes will be given out in points, with 19 trips worth $5,000 each and one with $25,000.

During the course of the game, Expedia post travel-related tweets inspired by commercials during the game. Viewers then must quote a retweet from Expedia related to the commercial and use the hashtag #TravelTheAds. Winners will be chosen during the beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST and ending at 11:59 p.m.

Other travel companies taking ads during Super Bowl 56 according to AdWeek include:

-- Booking.com is taking a 30-second ad that will air during the fourth quarter of the game - a hit or miss proposition. If the game is a blowout, many viewers stop watching. If the game is competitive, it can draw even more viewers than at the start of the contest. Booking.com's ad features award-winning actor Idris Elba. A teaser can be seen starting at the 3:39 mark of this video.

-- VRBO will have a 60-second commercial entitled 'A Place For Together' that focuses on all kinds of families and friends who gather as a group using the vacation rental platform.

-- Turkish Airlines will be back for the first time in two years. The carrier had previously taken on huge roles during the past Super Bowls, including sponsoring the pre-game show one year.


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Rich Thomaselli

Rich Thomaselli

Associate Writer

Editor Associate Writer true 9281 14744 Rich Thomaselli has written for TravelPulse since 2014 and has been a professional journalist for nearly 40 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times and New York Yankees publications. He is an 11-time writ

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