Why travel-specific retail media solutions matter

In a recent article, we explored the structural and strategic barriers airlines face in scaling retail media and how to start unlocking its potential. In this next piece, we go deeper into why travel-specific technology matters, and why airlines need more than off-the-shelf retail media platforms to succeed.

This article covers:

• Why one-size-fits-all retail media platforms fall short in aviation
• The nuances of airline commercial and partnership models
• How Uplift, Platform 195’s retail media ecosystem, is purpose-built for the airline industry

Travel isn't retail. Airlines aren't grocers.

Retail media is booming across industries, but most technology in the market today has been built with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in mind. Think supermarkets, fashion, or consumer electronics. The structure is simple: high-volume products, short purchase cycles, standardised inventory.

Airlines, on the other hand, operate in a completely different commercial universe. Travel is emotional, high-consideration, and partner-dependent. Media touchpoints are unique. So are data structures, booking journeys, and commercial partnerships.

“Airlines can’t afford to retrofit solutions built for retailers. Our industry demands travel-specific capabilities, from how we manage partner campaigns to how we monetise the booking flow,” explains Stuart Adamson, CEO & Founder, Platform 195.

What makes airline retail media different?

There several core differences set airline retail media apart from typical retail categories:

• High-consideration journeys: A holiday or business trip involves longer planning windows, multiple decision-makers, and repeat visits to airline channels.
• Multiple partner layers: Airlines work with tourism boards, destination marketers, credit card issuers, insurance providers, and more—each with unique requirements.
• Emotion-driven storytelling: Travel isn't sold on features alone. Content, timing, and context all matter.
• Post-booking media opportunities: Travellers continue to engage with airline platforms long after checkout—tracking itineraries, booking add-ons, or accessing loyalty portals.
• Variable lead times and conversion triggers: Unlike retail, a click today might not convert for weeks.

Generic platforms struggle to support this level of complexity, flexibility, and nuance.

Why general-purpose platforms often fall short

According to Stuart, non-specialised retail media platforms often lack key functionality for airlines, such as:

• Ad formats that fit native travel environments (e.g. booking flows, ancillary pages, inflight systems)
• Support for long-tail and indirect partnerships (like tourism boards or DMCs)
• Integration with airline-specific data such as loyalty tier, route intent, or trip phase
• Flexibility to activate across multiple owned and earned channels
• Measurement models that work within airline booking and attribution windows

“Airline media is about much more than just filling empty ad slots, it’s about enabling partners to tell the right story, to the right traveller, in the right channel,” says Stuart.

Introducing Uplift: Travel-specific retail media for airlines

Platform 195 built Uplift specifically to help travel businesses, including airlines, transform their owned media, data, and partnerships into a scalable, performance-driven revenue stream, without compromising passenger experience or internal efficiency. Uplift includes three core modules:

Uplift Hub

A centralised platform for managing media operations end to end, pipeline, partner proposals, inventory management, campaign planning, activation, reporting, and finance. The user friendly interface gives airline teams a unified view across teams and geographies.

Uplift Ads

A travel-ready ad engine enabling native formats across booking journeys, loyalty dashboards, email, inflight portals, and more. Airlines can choose commercial models (CPC, CPM, auction-based) while maintaining control over CX and placement quality.

Uplift Ads+

A travel-centric audience extension solution. Expand reach through curated partner networks, enabling advertisers to reach your travellers on external channels (like social, CTV, or display) while maintaining the airline’s brand equity and audience targeting.

Built for airline complexity. Proven at scale.

Unlike generic solutions, Uplift was designed to meet the real-world operational and commercial needs of global travel teams:

• Centralised control: Align inventory, proposals, activation, and measurement in one platform
• Travel-native formats: Sponsored listings, video, and content units optimised for airline flows
• Live analytics: Real-time campaign performance and actionable partner reporting
• Partner scalability: Run campaigns for hundreds of brands, including non-endemic advertisers
• Privacy compliant: Built with GDPR and other global regulations in mind

Managed services to support your journey

To ensure success when developing an airline’s retail media program, whether from scratch or as part of scaling, Platform 195 also offers flexible support via both managed and consulting services.

“We know airlines don’t always have spare resources to spin up a new program. That’s why our team can plug in as needed—whether to launch your first campaign or optimise a complex partnership rollout,” says Stuart.

Support includes:

• Commercialisation and pricing strategy
• Media packaging and sales enablement
• Campaign operations, design, and optimisation
• Creative production and performance insights

Three questions every airline should ask

If your airline is already experimenting with retail media, or planning to, here are three critical questions to evaluate your platform fit:

1. Is your retail media partner built specifically for airline needs?
2. Can it scale to hundreds of partnerships across loyalty, destination marketing, and commerce?
3. Are you missing out on partner spend because others offer faster campaign setup and better insights?

Retail media is moving fast. Airlines that choose the right technology now will be in a stronger position to win long-term partner relationships and unlock new margin opportunities.

Ready to see what travel-specific retail media looks like?

Book a free consultation at www.platform195.com or email us at hello@platform195.com to explore how Uplift can help your airline scale a modern retail media operation.

About Platform 195

Platform 195 is a specialist in retail media, data science, and creative marketing for the global travel industry. Its proprietary platform, Uplift, is the industry’s leading data-fuelled retail media ecosystem, designed to deliver scalable, performance-led marketing for travel brands.

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