See Captain Obvious' best Hotels.com ads as brand moves on from mascot

Today, Hotels.com debuted a new campaign from Wieden+Kennedy, and one thing is obviously absent: Captain Obvious. The company may be sunsetting its mascot of more than seven years as it looks to reset in a direction "more in tune with where we are going,” Hector Muelas, Expedia Group as senior VP of global marketing and creative, told Ad Age. While he may no longer be working for the brand, the spokescharacter grew on us over the years, cleverly jumping onto big cultural moments, from binge-watching to the elections and the pandemic. Here, we take a look back at some of his most memorable moments. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. Meet Captain Obvious Played by actor Brandon Moynihan, the Captain made his debut in February 2014 in Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s first work for the brand. His role? To point out self-evident facts about Hotels.com in an amusing way and suggest that it was “the obvious choice.” His first lines included: “You can’t use the Hotels.com mobile app until you download it” and “the hotel pool is usually filled with water.” Captain Obvious skirts silent ads In 2015, Captain Obvious was featured in some ads that found a way to pique Facebook users' curiosity by getting around the fact that commercial videos play silently on the platform. The ads used subtitles to get around the silent factor, one featuring Captain Obvious with an ASL interpreter. Another featured him playing the piano—really badly. Captain Obvious runs for president The 2016 election was a dramatic one, but one candidate you may have forgotten was Captain Obvious. His presidential run shied away from politics and instead focused on, well, running. The #ObviousPresident campaign pointed out the high hotel bills racked up by campaigning politicians. The deadline for the 2022 Small Agency Awards is Wednesday, April 27. Submit your entry at AdAge.com/SAA2022. Captain Obvious, the ad blocker Captain Obvious was also introduced to the UK market in this 2016 campaign that took the familiar "Skip Ad" instruction literally and created an alternative version of a new commercial in which, at the click of a button, the characters all start skipping with jump ropes. Later, the brand riffed on ad blocking again in conjunction with broadcaster Channel 4. Streaming viewers who were served Hotels.com ads were given the option to "block" them and when doing so saw Captain Obvious physically obstructed the advert, with the help of props including dry ice and giant foam hands. Captain Obvious takes on binge watching As streaming took hold in 2017 and “binge-watching” became an activity, Captain Obvious addressed the pastime in a campaign with the message that Hotels.com’s rewards program was a lot more, well, rewarding. Captain Obvious visits La La Land With “La La Land” (almost) winning Best Picture at the Oscars in 2017, another ad put Captain Obvious into a pastiche of the movie. He led the hotel guests dressed in pastel colors in a musical-style number to "Good Morning" from "Singing in the Rain," with a couple dancing in the background a la Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's famous dance sequence. Captain Obvious recites “the world’s longest URL” In 2018, Hotels.com wanted to emphasize that it offered more than just hotels, but all kinds of accommodation. It got Captain Obvious to explain that by reciting the “world’s longest URL,” incorporating all the things it offers and hardly drawing breath—which took him about three minutes. Read more: Hotels.com ditches Captain Obvious in first work from Wieden + Kennedy Captain Obvious social distances At the beginning of the pandemic, travel brands were in a tough spot. Instead of tuning out completely, Captain Obvious advised viewers to do the obvious: stay home. Tossing back popcorn and slathering on sanitizer, he took a break from captaining to social distance. Captain Obvious’ after school specials Who says booking lodging can’t be sexy—and safe? In this sex-ed riff, Captain Obvious teaches viewers the necessity of using protection, provided by hotels.com, and how the brand can support travelers when they need to pull out. Captain Obvious takes a break from the obvious here. Perhaps Captain Suggestive would be more appropriate. Captain Obvious pandemic-trapped people if they remember “places” Captain Obvious didn’t move much during lockdown, and his return to “not-your-house places” was a breath of fresh air. The soothing ad lists the wonders of vacationing to spots with wine that’s not boxed, flowing toilet paper and air that’s different from your house’s air. Captain Obvious appears hilariously green-screened throughout as he looks with wonder at the vacation spots reopening in summer 2020. Captain Obvious, the wedding officiant Captain Obvious traded in his title for “Chaplain” Obvious as he became ordained to wed couples in an ode to destination weddings. The ceremony was littered with puns and bad jokes (“I’d been working on that joke for weeks,” he admits), but the Chaplain’s certificate came in handy years later, when pandemic weddings’ only destination was the internet. Captain Obvious tours Resorts World 2021 saw Hotels.com switch agency from CP+B to Tombras, but it continued to stick with Captain Obvious, who took viewers on a tour of Resorts World’s brand new Las Vegas property at high speed.

See Captain Obvious' best Hotels.com ads as brand moves on from mascot

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