Expedia creatively uses ChatGPT for press release. And trip planning.
As The Basis Point has said before: All press releases suck. They’re an archaic but necessary mechanism that are horrible to read and write. But every once in awhile there’s a gem. Enter this Expedia press release about ChatGPT trip planning, its new service.
The Expedia press release uses our collective 2023 AI obsession to grab attention, and enters Expedia into the Travel & Expense war happening in fintech.
FIRST, A WORD ON TRAVEL & EXPENSE INNOVATION:
AI wars are 2023’s hottest Big Tech story, and Travel & Expenses are equally hot in fintech, with startups like Brex and Expensify going hard at incumbents like Amex and Concur.
Amex AI expense reports (sign me up!) set off the innovation battle by helping solve the always-dreaded task of reconciling expenses after a business trip.
Brex answered quickly with a one-two punch:
1. Brex Empower – AI-powered budget management tools for finance teams.
2. Brex travel – slick do-it-all-on-your-phone travel management for road warrior employees.
And now Expedia is launching ChatGPT based trip planning.
This is a consumer product not for businesses, but it’s also cool.
Now if they could all link their services so I’d only have to pack. Actually, where’s the app that packs for you? Get on this tech tech people!
I digress.
NOW, A WORD ON EXPEDIA PRESS RELEASE AI INNOVATION:
An Expedia press release announcing their new ChatGPT trip planning product had this headline:
On the All Press Releases Suck scale, this release headline qualifies for praise.
It’s a creative use of AI hype in the golden age of AI hype.
The release itself is fairly standard, but the product is strong and the link below has a great video showing how the product works.
Hats off to the Expedia communications team for this one.
As for what prompted the statement in my opening paragraph, it was back in 2018 when Rocket Mortgage founder Dan Gilbert bought Dictionary.com.
A link to that one is below and it stands as one of the greats.
You’ll know why when you read it.
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Reference:
– The only great press release of 2018 chronicles billionaire Dan Gilbert’s latest acquisition (TBP)