Microsoft Advertising is launching Cruise Ads in open beta, the company announced Wednesday. Cruise Ads are Microsoft Advertising’s latest vertical-specific ad format and is currently only available to advertisers targeting customers in the U.S.
How Cruise Ads work. Cruise Ads are an automated ad format that leverages feed data to match offers to searches. Keywords aren’t necessary, although advertisers can use negative keywords for optimization.
Cruise Ads appear on the right-hand side of the Bing search results and appear alongside mainline text ads. They can trigger for queries such as cruise name, location, length, etc.
They differ from other ad formats in that Cruise Ads show the length of the trip, starting price and port of departure and destination. “The best results come from feed files that contain business data like cruise duration, transportation options, and excursions searchers will be considering,” Microsoft said in the announcement.
Microsoft Advertising’s vertical-specific push. In 2021, Microsoft Advertising began launching a series of vertical-specific ads that operate similar to Cruise Ads. They include:
Why we care. Vertical-specific ad formats may drive more engagement than one-size-fits-all formats because they’re better able to address the searcher’s intent by providing additional relevant details (such as trip length or departure and destination points, in the case of Cruise Ads). And, as interest in traveling ramps up towards the warmer months, this may become a valuable tool for cruise advertisers.
This is now the fifth vertical-specific format Microsoft Advertising has launched. Keeping the formula the same across these offerings may help PPC practitioners that work for agencies more easily get the ad type up and running for different clients, since the requirements and placements are similar.
To get started with Cruise Ads, complete this form or contact your Microsoft Advertising representative.
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