Make work travel less work.
Campaign Overview
- Client: Engine
- Industry: Business Travel / SaaS
- Campaign Focus: Awareness, Traffic, Conversions
- Platforms: Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn
- Content Type: Reels, Stories, Carousels, UGC, LinkedIn Posts
Engine, formerly Hotel Engine, partnered with The Shelf to drive awareness and adoption for its rebrand and platform expansion. With new offerings like flights and car rentals, Engine aimed to highlight how it simplifies corporate travel across industries. The campaign leaned into real user stories, timely business travel use cases, and clear messaging to establish Engine as the go-to travel solution for professionals.
Creative Concept
The campaign spotlighted authentic, skit-style, and story-driven content that positioned Engine as a sleek, stress-free alternative to traditional travel platforms. Creators tackled real-world challenges faced by business travelers—frazzled booking processes, lost receipts, clunky group logistics—and demonstrated how Engine eliminates these pain points with its intuitive platform.
Each piece of content was built around a specific value prop, such as one-click booking, seamless group coordination, or the benefits of Flex insurance. The goal was to balance utility with approachability, creating a visual language that felt both professional and personal, reflecting Engine’s mission to modernize the business travel experience.
Goals & Target Audience
This campaign was designed to do more than drive clicks—it was built to simplify corporate travel and shift how professionals think about business booking tools. Engine aimed to stand out in a market crowded with legacy platforms by showing up as the intuitive, no-hassle solution for modern business travel.
Goals
- Build awareness for the Engine rebrand and expanded travel offerings
- Drive traffic and signups through relatable influencer content
- Educate professionals on Engine’s key differentiators like Flex insurance, one-click booking, and streamlined invoicing
- Support paid media through creator-led organic assets
Target Audience
Business travelers, office managers, small business owners, event coordinators, and frequent flyers in industries like tech, sales, and events. Content resonated with decision-makers looking for efficient, flexible, and user-friendly corporate travel tools.
Strategy & Creator Activation
To bring this campaign to life, The Shelf partnered with 10 micro- and mid-tier creators across corporate, travel, and lifestyle spaces. The strategy focused on aligning creators with strong storytelling chops to Engine’s distinct benefits—ensuring the message resonated across verticals. Platforms included Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn, chosen for their ability to support both organic traction and paid amplification.
Influencer Activation
- 10 creators spanning business, sales, travel, wedding, and tech
- Each focused on one key Engine benefit: Flex insurance, group travel, points programs, or one-click booking
Content Strategy
- Relatable skits + day-in-the-life content that illustrated business travel pain points
- Wedding and event planning stories to highlight group booking support
- Creator-led tutorials and product storytelling across Reels, Stories, and LinkedIn posts
Post Types
Reels
Stories
Carousel
Videos
TikTok
Video
Performance Results & Key Metrics
This campaign wasn’t just a brand play—it was a performance marketing win, and the numbers prove it. With 510K+ organic impressions—2.3x the expected reach—the campaign dramatically overdelivered, thanks to smart creator selection and platform-fit content.
Instagram Reels carried the bulk of impressions (377K+) while TikTok crushed engagement benchmarks. Content from @fentifriedchicken and @shannonfiedler13 hit high ERs by turning corporate pain points into funny, clickable content. Meanwhile, @thefinancebrides scored the highest ER (3.24%) with a TikTok focused on wedding group travel and budget savings.
Stories also proved effective at driving meaningful action: 206 Sticker Taps and 117 Link Clicks indicated strong user intent. Combined with 279 profile visits, the content pushed audiences from awareness to consideration.
Beyond organic, Engine’s performance team ran allowlisted ads and brand-led paid media using top influencer content. These assets drove a 2.49% CTR—outperforming industry benchmarks and showing that creator content worked hard at every stage of the funnel.
Engagement also signaled brand resonance: 1,532 Shares and 509 Saves showed audiences found the content helpful, relatable, and worth revisiting. Positive sentiment in 136 comments surfaced strong brand affinity and demand for better corporate travel tools.
📊 Performance Overview
🔗 Mid-Funnel Engagement
- 117 link clicks
- 206 sticker taps
- 279 profile visits
- 602 total mid-funnel actions — clear user intent and platform exploration
🚀 Paid Performance & CTR
- 2.49% CTR on paid ads using influencer content
- 3.5x higher than industry benchmark for home improvement (0.70%)
- Performance creative sourced from top-performing organic content
📈 Organic Reach & Engagement
- 510,742 total impressions (2.3x projected reach)
- 377,072 impressions from Reels alone — 74% of total reach
- 8,808 total engagements across platforms
💬 Saves, Shares & Sentiment
- 1,532 shares and 509 saves — users found content worth revisiting
- 136 comments with overwhelmingly positive sentiment
- Consistent feedback favoring Engine over legacy platforms like Concur
📱 Platform Insights
- TikTok delivered top ER at 3.24% — highest engagement of the campaign
- Instagram Reels = reach — 377K+ impressions, strongest top-funnel driver
- LinkedIn = niche validation — lower ER but aligned with B2B credibility
- Stories = action — top format for sticker taps and swipe-ups
Organic Highlights
- 510K+ Impressions
- 8.8K Total Engagements
- 3.2% Highest IG ER (FentiFriedChicken)
- 91.7K Reels views (Shannon Fiedler)
- 1.5K+ Total Shares on Engine Content
Paid Highlights (Meta)
- 11.7M Impressions
- 773 Signups at $51.75 CPA
- 4.22% Avg. CTR
- 35.2K Landing Page Visits
- 🎭 Skit-style content drove top performance
Top Performing Creators
Roxy Couse @roxycouse
Format: Instagram Reel + Stories
Channel: Instagram
POV: “Corporate girlie chaos” meets travel utility—humorous desk skit showing how Engine simplifies business booking.
- 🥇 Webby-nominated content
- 📈 High engagement across organic + paid
- 🎯 Key brand tone driver for the campaign
Shannon Fiedler @shannonfiedler13
Format: Instagram Reel + Stories
Channel: Instagram
POV: Comedic take on work travel woes—relatable storytelling and clever transitions made the content instantly shareable.
- 📊 91.7K impressions on Reels
- 🔥 2.8x average ER compared to benchmark
- 📥 60+ saves + shares in first 72 hours
Fenti Fried Chicken @fentifriedchicken
Format: Instagram Reel + Stories
Channel: Organic Social
POV: Chaotic biz traveler discovers Engine during a mid-crisis meltdown. (And yes, it’s hilarious.)
- 💥 3.2% IG Engagement Rate (highest of campaign)
- 👀 Strong platform resonance and shareability
- 📤 Contributed to 1.5K+ total shares across Engine content
The Campaign Wrap-Up
Final Thoughts
The Engine campaign delivered on awareness and engagement goals, overperforming on impressions and generating valuable insights into what content resonates. Creators brought Engine’s benefits to life through relatable, niche-specific stories, proving that influencer content is a powerful driver for business adoption.
🧠 Key Takeaways
- Relatable humor = powerful hook: Corporate skits outperformed educational posts across platforms
- Unexpected niches delivered: Wedding and event creators proved perfect for group travel messaging
- Influencer content drove full-funnel impact: Top-performing assets repurposed for paid media with strong CTRs
- Platform-first strategy worked: Reels drove reach, TikTok drove engagement, Stories drove clicks
- Content + performance alignment = wins: Collaboration between paid and organic teams boosted efficiency and results
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