Hipmunk

Hipmunk: The Great Travel Liberation

Client Category
Travel · Tech · Digital Platform

Services Provided
Brand Strategy · Campaign Creative · UX Storytelling · Character Development · Digital Content · Social Media · Influencer Strategy · Experiential Activation · OOH & Transit · Positioning & Messaging

Business Challenge

Hipmunk entered a travel marketplace ruled by billion-dollar booking giants.

Expedia. Priceline. Booking.com.
Massive incumbents with massive ad budgets — and consumers conditioned to believe that endless comparison and tab-hopping was “just the way travel planning works.”

Hipmunk wasn’t just fighting category leaders.
It was fighting travel planning hell — the emotional exhaustion that turned vacation dreams into cognitive overload.

To win, Hipmunk didn’t need to out-feature the competition.
It needed to rescue travelers emotionally.

Strategic Insight

Travelers weren’t looking for a marginally better search filter.
They were desperate for relief.

People wanted:

fewer choices, not more tabs
simpler decisions, not more data
joy, not administrative fatigue
a guide, not another algorithm

Our breakthrough:

The real competition wasn’t other booking sites — it was booking anxiety itself.

Hipmunk would become the emotional ally travelers didn’t know they needed.

Creative Solution

We built a movement rooted in empathy, clarity, and a mischievous little hero.

“Travel with Ease.”

A platform that declared war on travel agony — not competitors.

UX Storytelling Pioneer

A lovable chipmunk mascot embodying the stress of “agony”
Animated hero content guiding users through pain-free booking
Humanized UX features like the revolutionary Sort by Agony
Showcased heatmaps, simplified UI, and time-saving innovations

Real-World Validation

Travel influencers documented actual side-by-side booking journeys
Proved time savings and emotional relief in real-life scenarios

Speed-First Social Blitz

Short-form videos with “Search fast. Book faster.” messaging
High-velocity digital placements across YouTube, IG, and FB

Experiential Invasion

SXSW & TechCrunch Disrupt pop-up lounges
Live “pain-point interviews” revealing universal travel frustration
Demonstrated Hipmunk’s emotional insight in real time

Transit Territory Conquest

Airport + train station OOH
Perfectly timed to catch travelers at peak frustration
Reinforced Hipmunk as the antidote to booking stress

Hipmunk didn’t just market features.
It marketed relief.

Results

📈 35% surge in monthly active users within six months
💳 25% higher conversion than category average
🏆 Industry awards for Best UX and design excellence
🔥 2M+ social video views with exceptional sharing behavior
💬 Organic evangelism from grateful travelers

Hipmunk didn’t just show up.
It showed travelers a better way to travel.