Tag: Prashant Kala

Bangkok – The rapid evolution of digital marketing has fuelled the explosive growth of media solutions for targeted advertising, enabling brands to reach consumers with unprecedented precision. 

As consumer expectations for relevancy continue to rise, businesses are increasingly investing in sophisticated media solutions that enhance engagement, maximise ROI, and drive higher conversion rates in an increasingly competitive landscape. 

This is especially true for digital travel platform brands like Agoda which rely on strong online campaigns to reach more travellers globally and enjoy greater travel experience perks like discounts on flights, hotel bookings, and tourism experiences. 

To further amplify its efforts to reach more consumers, the platform utilises Agoda’s offering, Agoda Media Solutions, to enable brands to target travellers at every stage of their journey— from dreaming to booking and beyond. 

MARKETECH APAC recently caught up with Prashant Kala, director of Agoda Media Solutions at Agoda, to discuss the brand’s vision of making media solutions accessible to brands to reach new audiences and understand what’s next for travel advertising this 2025 and beyond. 

Prashant was most recently the general manager of brand solutions for APAC at ShopBack and had spent six years working with the company before his move. 

Tapping million visitors for precise campaign targeting

With over 99 million monthly visitors on desktop and mobile, according to SimilarWeb’s statistics, Prashant notes that around over 35 million monthly active app users and 87% direct and search traffic in Agoda allow brands to connect with travellers throughout their entire journey, from inspiration and planning to booking and post-trip engagement. 

“Agoda Media Solutions leverages unique insights from user interactions on the Agoda platform to offer precise targeting. This allows us to align campaigns with travellers’ preferences, such as their chosen cities, hotel types, airlines, and activities, ensuring brands connect with an audience who are actively planning their trips,” he explained. 

As an example, Agoda had a partnership they did with a global hotel chain that recently delivered over 94 million impressions through targeted media banners and social extension retargeting. 

“We look to extend the reach of campaigns through social media retargeting, ensuring brands can engage travellers both on and off the Agoda platform,” he added. 

When asked about Agoda Media Solution’s key strengths, he highlighted the offering’s proprietary first-party data, premium inventory, and targeting capabilities, delivering through data-driven, personalised campaigns. 

“Our solutions include programmatic advertising, branded travel guides, dynamic media banners and social media retargeting, all designed to engage travellers effectively,” he noted. 

Another campaign that benefited from these strengths was a partnership with a West Asian Destination Marketing Organisation and one of Thailand’s highly renowned luxury lifestyle and fashion brands, which generated significant ROAS and delivered a click-through rate of over 6% respectively. 

Aligning with customers’ needs and interests 

Prashant notes that in terms of making sure brands align with customers’ interests, Agoda Media Solutions ensures that campaigns align with the traveller’s journey by leveraging user behaviour and intent to ensure travellers enjoy the best possible experience when using their platform. 

“Our journey for a brand begins at the search page, capturing user intent based on travel searches like destinations, hotel types and activities. This data powers relevant ads across Agoda’s platform and extends to social media retargeting, keeping brands connected with travellers beyond Agoda,” he stated. 

He also highlights that Agoda Media Solutions also integrates branded travel guides into the journey, offering inspiration and information. For Agoda, by combining search intent targeting, dynamic banners and social media retargeting, they ensure campaigns resonate at every touchpoint. 

“This approach drives engagement, builds trust, and makes campaigns a meaningful part of the traveller’s experience while delivering measurable results,” he added.

What lies ahead for travel advertising in 2025? 

Prashant highlights that in 2025, travellers are increasingly expecting tailored experiences and that brands must deliver messages aligned with individual preferences and behaviours. This is especially true given that travel in 2025 is forecasted to be shaped by trends like family travel, relaxation-focused trips and tech-driven planning with AI-driven insights, alongside hyper-personalisation. 

Moreover, Agoda’s travel trend data for 2024 shows that around 34% of travellers plan family trips, 75% prioritise relaxation and 80% use travel apps, with 12% exploring virtual reality tours–signalling a continued shift for travellers searching for customised travel experiences as well as using the latest platforms to create seamless journeys. 

Prashant believes that with Agoda Media Solutions, Agoda is well-positioned to navigate these trends using its proprietary first-party data and advanced targeting tools. 

“We enable brands to connect with travellers based on preferences like destinations, hotel types, and activities. For instance, Agoda Media Solutions can target family travellers or relaxation seekers looking for premium stays. We also offer on and off-platform solutions across Agoda’s social channels, ensuring brands can engage audiences wherever they are,” he stated. 

There is also a rise in travel experiences highlighted by influencers, as well as budget-friendly travel bookings, with Prashant stating, “We tap into rising interests like theme parks (13% of travellers) and budget-conscious travel, with 65% spending under $250 per night (Agoda, 2024). Additionally, the rise of social media and influencer marketing continues to shape how brands engage audiences. 

As a response to these rising trends, Agoda Media Solutions’ tools like branded travel guides, dynamic banners and social media retargeting with trend insights, will allow brands to resonate across the traveller’s journey. 

“Through innovation and data-driven strategies, Agoda ensures its partners stay ahead in 2025 and beyond,” he added. 

When asked what other things lie ahead for Agoda Media Solutions, Prashant added that they will continue to serve the needs of banks and fintech solutions but will also expand their focus to beauty, fashion and lifestyle brands, recognising their natural synergy with travel. 

“Agoda’s audience demonstrates high purchase intent, making lifestyle brands a strong category for partnerships. We will help these brands create impactful campaigns that resonate with travellers planning their next adventure,” he concluded.

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With diverse cultures, preferences, and digital behaviours across Asia-Pacific, tailored experiences ensure that brands engage travellers with relevant offers, inspiring content, and localized recommendations. By leveraging data-driven solutions like of Agoda Media Solutions, travel platforms like Agoda can help brands deliver the right message at the right time, enhancing customer engagement, driving conversions, and fostering brand loyalty. In a competitive and rapidly evolving travel landscape, personalisation is the key to standing out and creating lasting relationships with Asia-Pacific’s dynamic and tech-savvy travellers.

Before joining rewards and discounts platform ShopBack in the Philippines, Prashant was with the Philippine arm of India-grown restaurant aggregator Zomato for five years. 

What made him do the big shift? In Prashant’s words, he said he wanted to do something “different than what he was used to working on.” Having always been on the B2B side of things, he was looking for a project that will make him work on both B2B and B2C and stumbling upon Shopback, the opportunity on the platform gave him the challenge of not just building its partners but growing its users as well. 

Now the country manager of ShopBack, we sat down with Prashant to know more about his humble beginnings and the journey he took before becoming the head of one of the leading shopping platforms in the region.

First foray into marketing

Fresh out of a master’s degree, Prashant didn’t veer away too far from roots, and in fact, had his very first job right in the university he graduated in, as an assistant manager for sales and marketing in the Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (IILM) – Institute for Higher Education in Delhi, India.

Working with students as a target segment, he shared that the type of marketing the role had him doing was not in the likes of big advertising projects, but rather, more personalized.

“I was handling marketing for the college across North India and a couple of international markets. The whole focus was to attract a huge student pool to apply for our courses and finally assisting them with their admissions and courses,” he said in the #MARKETECHMondays interview.

“It was more about talking to people, [more about] community building; It was a lot about knowing exactly what people are looking at, [and more] of career development.”

On Mentorship: “Everybody has taught me something.”

When asked about his role models, Prashant struggled to name one particular person and said that he’s the type who seeks inspiration from every person he meets.

“Professionally, I have had a chance to work with some amazing people over the years and I would say everyone that I meet has been able to make me learn something new. I don’t really have one mentor for all aspects of my professional development but I seek advice and guidance from multiple role models in my life.”

That is at least, professionally. But when it comes to his personal values, he didn’t have to think hard and said he owed his good ethics to his parents and uncles.

“In terms of personal growth, I think my parents and my uncles have always been the biggest source of inspiration in my life. I have learned the value of hard work and most importantly, I have learned the value of how to be true to people who expect your feedback and suggestions in life no matter how harsh the truth is from my father and my uncles.”

“I’m still waiting for the greatest career success.”

It would be naive to say that with Prashant’s experience, he still hasn’t claimed success, but for him, there is still a greatness ahead that’s yet to be tapped.

“I really hope I find it later in life and not very soon as I really want to keep getting that rush of trying to get smaller successes, and I want to keep dreaming of [greater success]. I think that thought drives me every morning so I wouldn’t want to achieve it that fast.”

Of course with successes also come the failures. And still within the context of “great,” he believes there is no such thing.

“I won’t call any failure a great failure [as] every failure comes in with disappointments, and I don’t think we can categorize something [as great].”

“Instead of failures, I would say I had many challenges where I was unable to find a solution quicker which would have been ideal.”

Making that more specific, he said that the most critical setbacks were when good people leave your team.

“I have lost a few teammates in the past and that always sets your plan a few feet back but I think every situation teaches you something new, but one takeaway that one such setback gave me was to have a plan B but not to rely on it and give plan A 100%.”

He added, “Also plan B cannot be a totally different plan from A and they both have to be interconnected, else you are going to start from scratch which will push you to take a lot of reverse steps.”

Prashant’s words to live by: “Be a best friend to yourself.”

For Prashant, the secret to success need not be too far away from oneself, and the key is to be your own best friend, an honest and frank one at that.

“Keep it real, no matter how difficult it is, and be your best friend so you can talk real with yourself.”

“Best friends don’t shy away from telling you harsh truths. As a team lead, I try to be as real as possible with my teammates, clients and even [the] people around me. I don’t shy away in giving or taking feedback and I try to keep it timely, as well as even [to] myself.”

How about for those who are eyeing to enter the world of marketing?

Prashant said, “Read a lot, follow great brands and their campaigns, [and] take risks but always calculate what you want to achieve out of it. Always have the eye on the goal and do backward mapping, or back designing to achieve it.”

Watch the full video of this interview on our YouTube channel, going live today at 5:30 pm PST.

If you’re a marketing leader and you want to share your career experience to inspire the marketing industry, please reach out, we want to hear your story.