For nearly two decades, trivago have helped travellers around the world compare prices to find the best hotel and accommodation deals. With a presence across more than 190 countries, and 53 localised websites and apps available in 31 languages, the platform provides access to a wide range of accommodation, solidifying their position as a leading choice for travellers seeking competitive lodging options.
As a global travel platform, trivago’s brand must speak to audiences all over the world—literally. João Laureano, Creative Director, and Jean Pierre Marsala, Motion Designer, shared that localising their ads for 30 markets simultaneously would require months of production and delivery time to find one person who speaks the language for multiple markets.
Then, they discovered HeyGen, which helped them save months in video production and allowed for simultaneous localisation of their ads. With HeyGen, they became more efficient and were able to quickly enhance the company’s mission of being the obvious choice for travellers searching for a hotel through their global advertisement, Mr. trivago.
The challenge
A major component of trivago’s marketing strategy is dedicated to creating targeted TV ads.
Jean’s and João’s teams collaborate closely on these projects from the initial concept through production to the final cut. Whilst they worked with production companies in the past, most of their work is done in-house.
Their teams faced a significant challenge in finding a time- and cost-efficient way to localise ads in 30 markets, all with different languages and dialects.
To do so, they needed to find one person who could speak multiple languages and appeal to every single market. This process involved costly, time-consuming research and significant time spent in post-production editing the finite details of their accents, which increased overall costs. Despite utilising voiceover effects, the final product did not effectively convey the message trivago envisioned.
They wanted to keep one person as the trivago brand face across all languages and needed a platform that would simplify this lengthy process.
After testing multiple generative AI platforms, trivago found HeyGen.
The solution
Using HeyGen’s technology, the trivago team abandoned the costly plan of searching for a single actor who could meet all their niche and atypical requirements. Instead, trivago found a one-stop shop software solution that offered everything they needed and more.
In the beginning, the teams faced a fixed deadline for commercial delivery that couldn’t be postponed without incurring additional time and financial costs. Confident in HeyGen’s ability to manage the production, trivago decided to utilize the technology for the first time.
The HeyGen team proved to be responsive and adeptly prioritised all necessary changes, successfully navigating different time zones and facilitating timely submissions.
Despite numerous mid-production adjustments and an extremely tight timeline, the trivago team took a chance on HeyGen, and the outcome was successful.
The results
‘We carried out tests with other companies and HeyGen were always ahead on quality. We were very transparent with their team from the start because we were in a high-risk, high-reward situation, where we were doing this for the first time and really placing our trust in them, and it paid off completely,’ said João.
After using HeyGen for less than a year, the effects on both cost and time have been significant.
- The technology has cut post-production time in half, saving teams a notable 3–4 months on average.
- Advertisements were successfully localised in 15 locations in three months—an achievement that would not have been possible without HeyGen.
Utilising HeyGen’s text-to-speech feature
- Text-to-speech enables trivago to quickly localise content for target markets around the world.
- In less than a year of utilising HeyGen, trivago have amassed TV ads in 30 regions.
“HeyGen gave our team custom solutions, answered our questions quickly, and were open to making the changes that we needed and asked for in a short period of time.” -Jean Pierre Marsala, Motion Designer at trivago
