$5 Million Campaign planned for Concierge.com

Concierge.com, a new leisure-travel site launched by Conde Nast, an affiliate of Advance Publications, plans a $5 million national print and broadcast marketing campaign this fall.

AT&T, Delta Air Lines and LookSmart are among major advertisers supporting the debut of the site, which is the exclusive home of Conde Nast Traveler magazine on the Web, and features 15,000 hotel reviews and 15,000 restaurant reviews from Fodor’s Travel Publications.

The national print and broadcast marketing campaign to launch this fall includes insertions in the Sunday travel section of the New York Times; the Weekend section of the Wall Street Journal; and remaining 1999 issues of Conde Nast magazines including Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Conde Nast Traveler, Gourmet and Wired.

Radio buys include sponsorship of public-radio programs and 60-second spots breaking this week on top-market stations. Online banner advertising will appear on major portals and on related content sites.

Creative for the print and radio campaign — featuring the tagline “Whatever your plans” — was developed by Robaire & Hogshead.

Electronic commerce is tightly integrated throughout Concierge.com: with just one click, users may get bargain airfares to the exact destination they’ve been browsing, for example, or check room availability at the hotel for which they’ve just read a review.

The launch includes a sweepstakes with a top prize of a luxury vacation to any of more than 500 worldwide destinations featured on Concierge.com. Concierge.com incorporates and replaces Epicurious Travel, which CondC)Net has operated since 1996.

“The launch of Concierge.com is the next logical step in our long-term plan to own the upscale consumer online,” said CondC)Net Director Sarah Chubb. “Everything we do at CondC)Net is pointed at users with high disposable incomes. This is our franchise.”