You can now buy plane tickets on TikTok

The concept of being able to book a flight in the same way that we shop for creators’ candles, their T-shirts or their dresses and things like that—that evolution seemed inevitable [for travel],” Ani Munoz, the GDS&M Creative Director responsible for the campaign, told Ad Age. “It was just a matter of who was going to do it first. This wasn’t just a creative idea—it was a business solution.”

Munoz added that the campaign idea came from Southwest struggling to connect with Gen Z. With recent data from Adobe showing that around 64% of Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine, with 10% of them preferring TikTok to search engines like Google, GDS&M figured it could capture some of that traffic by targeting users who are likely already interested in travel, if they’re watching travel creators.

“[W]hen we approached it, we said, ‘Let’s just go where they are,’” Munoz said. “Going to where Gen Z is approaching this idea of travel inspiration on a platform and through the people that they love—it just makes sense, right?”

Ad Age didn’t report any performance data for the campaign, but it seems clear the creator-led strat is working for Southwest, because the airline has been ramping up sponsored content over the past year. This past April, it brought in YouTuber Swagg and TikToker Kelsey June Jensen for its “Big Flex” campaign.

TikTok has been measurably cutting into Google‘s search traffic for years, with more and more Gen Z users turning to the app for questions about where to eat and what to buy. Southwest Airlines is taking advantage of that trend with its latest ad campaign, which tapped 10 creators for a sponsored sweep aimed at selling plane tickets to the youths.

To create the campaign, Southwest flew all 10 creators to destinations like Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, Cancún, Mexico, and Hawaii, so they could film custom content on-site. That content will roll out in phases, with all videos being shoppable: a “Book Now” button will appear that’ll launch an in-platform tool where users can buy tickets directly from the creators’ content.

As you can see in the below video from Snowboard Jesus, participating creators specifically hype up the fact that they can book travel on TikTok:

The concept of being able to book a flight in the same way that we shop for creators’ candles, their T-shirts or their dresses and things like that—that evolution seemed inevitable [for travel],” Ani Munoz, the GDS&M Creative Director responsible for the campaign, told Ad Age. “It was just a matter of who was going to do it first. This wasn’t just a creative idea—it was a business solution.”

Munoz added that the campaign idea came from Southwest struggling to connect with Gen Z. With recent data from Adobe showing that around 64% of Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine, with 10% of them preferring TikTok to search engines like Google, GDS&M figured it could capture some of that traffic by targeting users who are likely already interested in travel, if they’re watching travel creators.

“[W]hen we approached it, we said, ‘Let’s just go where they are,’” Munoz said. “Going to where Gen Z is approaching this idea of travel inspiration on a platform and through the people that they love—it just makes sense, right?”

Ad Age didn’t report any performance data for the campaign, but it seems clear the creator-led strat is working for Southwest, because the airline has been ramping up sponsored content over the past year. This past April, it brought in YouTuber Swagg and TikToker Kelsey June Jensen for its “Big Flex” campaign.

TikTok has been measurably cutting into Google‘s search traffic for years, with more and more Gen Z users turning to the app for questions about where to eat and what to buy. Southwest Airlines is taking advantage of that trend with its latest ad campaign, which tapped 10 creators for a sponsored sweep aimed at selling plane tickets to the youths.

To create the campaign, Southwest flew all 10 creators to destinations like Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, Cancún, Mexico, and Hawaii, so they could film custom content on-site. That content will roll out in phases, with all videos being shoppable: a “Book Now” button will appear that’ll launch an in-platform tool where users can buy tickets directly from the creators’ content.

As you can see in the below video from Snowboard Jesus, participating creators specifically hype up the fact that they can book travel on TikTok:The concept of being able to book a flight in the same way that we shop for creators’ candles, their T-shirts or their dresses and things like that—that evolution seemed inevitable [for travel],” Ani Munoz, the GDS&M Creative Director responsible for the campaign, told Ad Age. “It was just a matter of who was going to do it first. This wasn’t just a creative idea—it was a business solution.”

Munoz added that the campaign idea came from Southwest struggling to connect with Gen Z. With recent data from Adobe showing that around 64% of Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine, with 10% of them preferring TikTok to search engines like Google, GDS&M figured it could capture some of that traffic by targeting users who are likely already interested in travel, if they’re watching travel creators.

“[W]hen we approached it, we said, ‘Let’s just go where they are,’” Munoz said. “Going to where Gen Z is approaching this idea of travel inspiration on a platform and through the people that they love—it just makes sense, right?”

Ad Age didn’t report any performance data for the campaign, but it seems clear the creator-led strat is working for Southwest, because the airline has been ramping up sponsored content over the past year. This past April, it brought in YouTuber Swagg and TikToker Kelsey June Jensen for its “Big Flex” campaign.

TikTok has been measurably cutting into Google‘s search traffic for years, with more and more Gen Z users turning to the app for questions about where to eat and what to buy. Southwest Airlines is taking advantage of that trend with its latest ad campaign, which tapped 10 creators for a sponsored sweep aimed at selling plane tickets to the youths.

To create the campaign, Southwest flew all 10 creators to destinations like Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, Cancún, Mexico, and Hawaii, so they could film custom content on-site. That content will roll out in phases, with all videos being shoppable: a “Book Now” button will appear that’ll launch an in-platform tool where users can buy tickets directly from the creators’ content.

As you can see in the below video from Snowboard Jesus, participating creators specifically hype up the fact that they can book travel on TikTok:The concept of being able to book a flight in the same way that we shop for creators’ candles, their T-shirts or their dresses and things like that—that evolution seemed inevitable [for travel],” Ani Munoz, the GDS&M Creative Director responsible for the campaign, told Ad Age. “It was just a matter of who was going to do it first. This wasn’t just a creative idea—it was a business solution.”

Munoz added that the campaign idea came from Southwest struggling to connect with Gen Z. With recent data from Adobe showing that around 64% of Gen Z uses TikTok as a search engine, with 10% of them preferring TikTok to search engines like Google, GDS&M figured it could capture some of that traffic by targeting users who are likely already interested in travel, if they’re watching travel creators.

“[W]hen we approached it, we said, ‘Let’s just go where they are,’” Munoz said. “Going to where Gen Z is approaching this idea of travel inspiration on a platform and through the people that they love—it just makes sense, right?”

Ad Age didn’t report any performance data for the campaign, but it seems clear the creator-led strat is working for Southwest, because the airline has been ramping up sponsored content over the past year. This past April, it brought in YouTuber Swagg and TikToker Kelsey June Jensen for its “Big Flex” campaign.

TikTok has been measurably cutting into Google‘s search traffic for years, with more and more Gen Z users turning to the app for questions about where to eat and what to buy. Southwest Airlines is taking advantage of that trend with its latest ad campaign, which tapped 10 creators for a sponsored sweep aimed at selling plane tickets to the youths.

To create the campaign, Southwest flew all 10 creators to destinations like Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, Cancún, Mexico, and Hawaii, so they could film custom content on-site. That content will roll out in phases, with all videos being shoppable: a “Book Now” button will appear that’ll launch an in-platform tool where users can buy tickets directly from the creators’ content.

As you can see in the below video from Snowboard Jesus, participating creators specifically hype up the fact that they can book travel on TikTok: