Broadcast advertising might not be in the dire straits that the marketing press claim it is if this current trend continues after news that Skyscanner is the latest metasearch engine to launch a TV ad campaign.

The Edinburgh-based firm has followed its US rival Kayak by announcing plans to run its first ever TV ad campaign in early-2010.

Launching initially on Scottish commercial channels and created and bought by Newhaven and Featherbrooksbank respectively, Skycanner eventually hopes to roll out the campaign across the UK.

The move comes just weeks after the firm hired marketing guru Jason Stockwood as a non-executive director and re-affirmed its aggressive global expansion strategy by launching new language sites.

Travelzoo metasearch offshoot fly.com has so far avoided the use of offline marketing to grow the brand overseas and Kayak is limiting its current campaign to the  US, leaving TravelSupermarket as the only website in the sector in the UK to have taken the approach.

This is TravelSupermarket’s The Matrix-inspired ad from 2006.

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