Published by Sue Johns-Chapman
Published Date 30.04.2025 
We at GroupM & Mindshare are thrilled to announce our shortlisting for the European Search Awards 2025 in the “Best Use of Search – Travel / Leisure (PPC)” category. This recognition highlights our groundbreaking work with Visit Qatar – a campaign which has set a new standard for how we should approach travel destination marketing.
Being nominated for this prestigious award validates our commitment to innovation and excellence in search marketing. The European Search Awards represent the pinnacle of recognition in our industry, celebrating the very best campaigns, agencies, and partnerships across Europe.
The Visit Qatar Campaign: Innovation Meets Results
Visit Qatar faced an exciting challenge: increasing international tourist numbers in a competitive market, while efficiently utilizing a substantially expanded budget. Our response was to apply an AI-powered search strategy in partnership with Zytlyn, a company specialized in travel data and using their Travel AI agent for predictions, that precisely identified and targeted high-potential travellers.
“The Visit Qatar campaign represents everything we strive for at Mindshare & GroupM – innovative thinking, cutting-edge technology application, and most importantly, delivering measurable results that impact our client’s core business objectives,” says Sebastian Osiński, campaign lead. “Using AI to predict travel patterns and optimize our approach was a game-changer”.
The campaign’s innovative approach was concentrated on five carefully identified behavioural user segments:
- “Qatar considerators”
- “Probable stopover” travellers
- “Trip researchers”
- “Potential stopover” travellers
- “Middle East considerators”
What sets our campaign apart is its innovative use of AI-powered tools and precision targeting to achieve ambitious goals. The campaign not only exceeded KPIs but also demonstrated the potential of paid search as a powerful channel for driving business growth in the tourism sector.
“Our collaboration with GroupM Mindshare and Zytlyn marked an exciting and forward-thinking approach to travel destination marketing,” said Barbara Zimmer, Director of Digital Experiences & Products at Visit Qatar. “By leveraging AI to predict demand across carefully chosen city pairs, we were able to reach travellers at key decision-making moments with targeted, well-crafted messaging. Striking the right balance between innovation and efficiency was a strategic ambition. And the early results gave us the confidence to expand the campaign, driving clear bottom-line results.”
Overcoming Challenges with Creative Solutions
The campaign wasn’t without its’ challenges. One of those challenges was to effectively measure the impact on tourist traffic despite the long travel planning cycles. Our team overcame this by focusing optimization on validated leading indicators on the Visit Qatar properties – engaged sessions and CTA clicks redirecting to their stopover partner Qatar Airways.
Another major challenge was the campaign’s increased scale, requiring a completely new strategy with a daily budget substantially larger than previous campaigns. Through continuous optimization, AI implementation, and refinement of ads, extensions, and keywords, we maintained and exceeded planned conversion rates.
Award-Worthy Results
The campaign’s results speak for themselves:
- Conversion rate of 55.19%, exceeding the 50% target
- 322,920 engaged sessions (110.4% of goal)
- 7,992 “Book Now” CTA clicks redirecting to their stopover partner Qatar Airways
- Contributing to a 25% increase in yearly visitor arrivals to Qatar
- UK visitors specifically increased by 40% year-over-year.
What This Recognition Means to Us
For our team, this nomination represents validation of our approach to integrating advanced AI tools with strategic search marketing. It acknowledges the value of analysing data, refining strategies, and optimizing campaign elements.
Being recognized alongside Europe’s best search marketing talent motivates us to continue innovating and exceeding client expectations. We’re especially proud that our work is making a real-world impact on Qatar’s tourism success story.
What is more, this shortlisting reinforces our commitment to staying at the forefront of search marketing innovation. The recognition from industry experts validates the approach of leveraging AI and advanced data analysis in creating campaigns that deliver measurable business outcomes, in the case of Visit Qatar, that is stopover visitors in Qatar.
About GroupM & Mindshare
GroupM & Mindshare combine strategic thinking with technological expertise to deliver campaigns that drive meaningful business results for clients across various industries.
Our approach is built on collaboration, data-driven insights, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. We constantly explore new technologies and methodologies to ensure our clients stay ahead in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
We look forward to joining fellow finalists at the European Search Awards ceremony, celebrating the best and brightest in search marketing across Europe, and continuing to push the boundaries of what’s possible in our field.
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