Take some time to think about where you want to travel, what kind of scenery you’d like to see, and what delicious food you plan to eat — maybe someone will even reimburse your round-trip airfare for you. This is exactly what the recently popular online campaign “Seeking Travel Style Experts” is all about. Launched by the mobile app team behind “On the Road” in May this year, the campaign has attracted tens of thousands of netizens to participate. This week, 200 lucky netizens passed the review and officially became “Travel Style Experts on the Road.” Not only did they receive travel gear and a Travel Style Expert red envelope, but they also earned a generous travel airfare reimbursement gift of 2,000 yuan.
The steps to apply to become a “Travel Style Expert” are not difficult: any registered user of “On the Road” can apply by publishing at least one high-quality travelogue on the “On the Road” platform. The travelogue must be genuine and include at least one real photo of the person. Applicants can then log in to the designated campaign page to apply for “Travel Style Expert” status. During the application process, travelers can choose their preferred way of traveling — such as photography, road trips, backpacking, etc. — and tag their “Travel Style Expert” type accordingly. Additionally, applicants need to select one of four popular “On the Road” mentors to provide guidance and route suggestions for their trip. By submitting an application, participants also have the chance to win a Taobao red envelope. After the applications were submitted, the mentor team selected 400 shortlisted Travel Style Experts from tens of thousands of applicants and gifted them with exclusive “On the Road” travel gear.
After nearly half a month of discussion and selection by the mentor team, 200 travelers touched the mentors with their journeys and ultimately became official “Travel Style Experts on the Road,” receiving a valuable travel airfare reimbursement gift worth 2,000 yuan.
Thanks to the success of this campaign, the four travel mentors have also seen their popularity soar. The mentors are Zhang Qianli and his wife, Jiangnan Yiling, Mu Shan Bonan, and Liu Run. They are either professional Travel Style Experts, travel writers, or passionate travel-loving media professionals, all enjoying high popularity in the travel industry and having their own fan bases. In future “Travel Style Expert” training sessions, they will engage offline with the experts and offer valuable advice on their travel plans.
This is the first collaboration between “On the Road” and Alibaba after their partnership. Whether it’s the Taobao red envelope giveaway or the collaboration with Lufthansa, Europe’s leading airline, both initiatives have brought the originally online-only interactions of the travel app back into the real world, allowing users to truly benefit — a first in the industry.