KAYAK's 'Got That Right' Campaign: Key Findings
KAYAK is pointing its new brand platform at the moment most travel brands skip entirely.
The travel search engine launched "Got That Right," with a new tagline and campaign created with independent agency Rethink.
It targets the anxiety that travelers feel during the booking process and is aimed at people aged 25 to 45.
View this post on Instagram
The campaign is supported by YouGov research, commissioned by KAYAK, which reveals that 66% of travelers feel stressed out when booking a trip.
The effort runs across TV, CTV, online video, digital out-of-home, digital audio, social, and digital channels in North America.
Commissioning the research that became the creative brief is an efficient move, giving KAYAK proprietary data and a campaign hook from a single investment.
Two Spots, Two Familiar Spirals
The campaign centers on two 30-second comedic spots, each built around a familiar anxiety.
"Big Trip. Small Screen." targets the hesitation many people feel when booking high-cost travel on a phone.
It follows a group of friends urging one member to complete a booking on his mobile, even though he keeps second-guessing his decision.
Meanwhile, "Momfluencer" follows a mother who spirals into influencer-speak after consuming too much online travel advice.
Tara Lawall, CCO of Rethink's New York office, described the tension the campaign was built around.
"People get paralyzed by choice and second-guess everything. That's the tension we saw, and it felt like a real opening for KAYAK," she said.
"So we centered the work on a simple benefit, confidence and that feeling of relief when you know you got it right."
Two 15-second social vignettes extend both spots, with "Celebration" following the friends after the booking goes through.
View this post on Instagram
"Phone Freedom" shows the family throwing their phones out a window.
Grounding the creative in feelings that many people have is a unique brand positioning for a travel company, which typically sells the dream of arriving at a destination.
Booking Anxiety as Brand Identity
KAYAK's decision to own the pre-trip moment is also backed by clear data.
The YouGov survey conducted in February 2026 polled 1,204 U.S. adults and found widespread anxiety around the booking process.
Carolina Montenegro, SVP of Global Brand Marketing at KAYAK, emphasized that what their users need now is peace of mind.
"'Got That Right' is about giving travelers the reassurance that they've made the best choice, so they can avoid second-guessing."
KAYAK also launched AI Mode in October 2025, combining its platform data with ChatGPT to surface more relevant results ahead of the holiday travel season.
With social media adding noise at every stage of trip planning, this shows how a platform built around consumer confidence has a clear opening.
The "Got That Right" campaign offers a few angles worth noting for travel brands and agencies working in the category:
- Use comedy to lower resistance: Humor makes a brand's critique of a familiar behavior feel generous and self-aware.
- Build social extensions into the brief from the start: Designing vignettes alongside the hero spots gives the campaign a native format for each channel.
- Hold the brand position across formats: Running the same emotional premise across channels tests whether a campaign is a platform or just a tagline.
Booking Holdings, KAYAK's parent company, reported Q4 2025 revenue of $6.35 billion, a 16% year-over-year increase.
This gives the brand a strong commercial footing to invest in a sustained brand-level campaign.
Our Take: Does Owning the Anxiety Actually Work?
I think KAYAK has found a genuinely underserved angle here. Travel advertising has spent decades selling the thrill of arrival.
But I think that naming the stress that comes with booking is a more honest brief than most brands in this category are willing to write.
Rethink's instinct to center the work on a feeling, not a feature set, is sound.
Whether the campaign earns lasting brand recall will depend on how consistently KAYAK holds this position throughout the year.
In other news, American Family Insurance just launched three new spots under its "Life's Better" campaign, showing how protection enables everyday family moments.
Travel brands repositioning around consumer confidence need agencies that understand how to turn behavioral research into campaign strategy.
Explore the top travel marketing agencies in our directory.
