Background
Travellers were increasingly booking trips around recommendations curated by creators. Expedia Group's Paid Socials team ran an A/B test where videos of hotels made by creators drove 180% more engagement and roughly doubled return on ad spend over static brand images.
Problem
Expedia Group had no way to acquire creator videos at scale. All creator content was sourced through direct partnerships with brand ambassadors, and there were no existing relationships with video producers in the broader creator community.
We thought if we could design the right incentive structure and submission experience, creators would voluntarily produce and share high-quality hotel content at scale. I designed a creator video program, including the incentive mechanics, help guides, and the submission experience.
Landing page
When creators arrived from a paid social ad, the landing page needed to do two things: show them why participating was worthwhile, and illustrate how easy it was to participate in the program.
Incentives
I benchmarked similar creator programs and landed on three incentives: $150 per approved submission, exposure to Expedia's audience on other social platforms, and instant access to the EG affiliate program where creators could earn ongoing revenue through affiliate links.
Help & guidance
Our competitive analysis also showed that successful creator programs provided detailed guidance to help creators succeed on their platforms. I added a best practices section with actionable principles and a collection of video examples that gave creators a visual baseline without limiting their creativity.
Submission
Creators had to do two specific things: upload a high-resolution, vertical video and link it to a hotel on Expedia. To ensure that we were optimising for submissions, that experience needed to be frictionless.
Property linking
Each video needed to be linked to a hotel on Expedia to ensure it was promoting a property that a traveller could purchase. I built search directly into the submission flow so creators could find and link the property without leaving the page.
Upload flexibility
Creators had likely already posted their videos on Instagram or TikTok. I gave them the flexibility to upload or link up to 15 videos per submission from Instagram, TikTok, or their own devices.
Guardrails
All videos needed to meet specific formatting requirements for use in ad campaigns. I presented the technical specs as a simple checklist in plain language that creators reviewed before uploading.
How it all came together
Results
We had a great response from creators with 50+ approved videos in the first fortnight. For the duration of the program, we reached over 8,000 approved videos submitted by creators within 9 months.
Learnings
The program worked because I designed around specific creator behaviours rather than internal requirements. The incentives matched what creators actually valued, and the submission experience removed enough friction that participating felt easy. That combination drove ~8,000 approved submissions in 9 months.