Travel retail digital marketing start-up Echolution is set to bolster its programmatic media targeting capabilities with the addition of a new travel bookings data partnership with ForwardKeys.

Through the new partnership agreement with leading flights data analytics company ForwardKeys, Echolution can combine targeted demographic profiling with traveller bookings data. Echolution’s agnostic approach to data partnerships means it can provide unrivalled sector shopper insights.

“ForwardKeys’ passenger traffic and flight bookings data enhances our view of the travel industry’s route to recovery and helps our clients plan ahead with a range of demographic insights at their fingertips. With the support of new partners such as ForwardKeys as well as existing travel data partners, we can have a continuously updated view of traveller behaviours,” says Echolution partner, Eamonn Leacy.

Eamonn Leacy
Managing Partner
Echolution

Founded in 2010, ForwardKeys is an international company with roots in Valencia that has pioneered the way forward for tourism organisations, hotels, and retailers keen to understand who is travelling where, when, and for how long. Providing real-time actionable data has proved itself most useful to tourism organisations planning and seeking to anticipate shifts in source markets and traveller habits since the outbreak of Covid-19.

Gordon Clark, VP of Business Development for Travel Retail says: “We are looking forward to showing travel retailers, brands and the retail sector that only way forward, past this upset created by the pandemic, is having more of a scientific approach to media buying, business planning and airport placements. By teaming up with Echolution, we are making data stickier and tangible, not just a loose idea.”

Gordon Clark
Vice President Business Development
– Travel Retail
ForwardKeys

Echolution’s new partnership with ForwardKeys is in addition to a range of existing travel data providers, including Booking.com, Expedia as well as airlines and airports’ media platforms.

Since 2018, Echolution has carved out a unique reputation as a travel retail programmatic specialist and works with luxury brands, duty-free retailers, suppliers and media agencies to provide targeted, demographic deep-dive analytics.

“Pre-pandemic there were many global nationalities that brands targeted in their travel retail marketing strategies, however, the landscape is very different now.  As we emerge from the pandemic, there is pent-up demand for travel, but pockets of recovery are diverse with changeable booking patterns and multiple travel restrictions in place.

“As the travel retail industry looks to focus on recovery strategy, we believe our partnership with ForwardKeys will allow brands to adopt a conservative approach – they can plan for where travellers are returning and evolve alongside new rules and attitudes to travelling.  This partnership not only gives brands visibility on which key nationalities are travelling to and from, but the ability to be very focused on their demographic profiling efforts in conjunction with Echolution’s data partners,” explains Leacy.

The introduction of a new end-to-end traveller journey approach allows Echolution to layer consumer data insights across spending patterns, wealth management, loyalty programmes and travel booking behaviour, to provide highly personalised marketing solutions for clients in the travel retail sector.

Leacy concludes: “With creditable data providers and globally known media partners we are confident we can deliver the right solution for clients to build a data-rich, transparent and streamlined digital marketing strategy. We are able to improve clients’ advertising performance and ROI in today’s competitive retail marketing landscape.”