Hotels.com recently rolled out a web promotion reminiscent of a wild party night from a scene outta “The Hangover,” in which people can cast themselves in pre-shot videos starring the likes of retired NBA great Dennis Rodman and 1990s rap star, Vanilla Ice.
Billed as three wild nights, the online travel broker has launched TripYourFace.com, where a user can upload a photo from a Facebook profile or PC, and profile photos of up to three friends, substituting their faces and the faces of friends for those of actors in provocative videos.
After choosing the actors to superimpose the faces onto, users crop uploaded faces, adjusting brightness and color to match those of the actors, and then are taken to a screen that features a hotel room in either New York, Las Vegas or Paris.
Much like in the blockbuster film, “The Hangover,” each city begins with unconscious characters in a room in disarray. In Paris, for example, feathers are strewn all over a room where four blindfolded musicians, in formal attire, are slumped over their instruments, a fencer in a white outfit and mask is asleep in a chair, and Dennis Rodman, the retired basketball player, is passed out shirtless in a bed along with two lingerie-clad women.
While in Vegas, Vanilla is passed out in the middle of the room, a pair of video models are passed out by the jacuzzi, and another random guy is passed out on the floor by the bar.
Clicking one of three play buttons in the scene prompts a video “flashback” that helps piece together the scene: for Paris, one clip shows the two women in a pillow fight, then tearing off Mr. Rodman’s shirt as he sprays the room with champagne.
“We wanted to produce something where people could put their faces into live action, which I don’t think has been done in a campaign before, and it certainly hasn’t been done in our category,” Vic Walia, senior director for North America brand advertising at the Expedia-owned Hotels.com, told the New York Times.
“Since they are a digital company and digital brand it’s important for them to invest in new and emerging technology, not just for the e-commerce site but also for the way in which they market and brand themselves,” added Matthew Witt, director of digital production at Young Rubicam.
Try it out at TripYourFace.com.
Check out a preview/trailer of Trip Your Face below:
