Priceline.com will kill off the Priceline Negotiator, a character played by William Shatner, in its new national TV campaign.
The online travel agency said it decided to kill off the Negotiator “in order to focus consumers' attention on its published-price hotel service, which is the fastest-growing segment of Priceline.com's hotel business.”
The new campaign opens with the Negotiator coming to the rescue of a family whose bus is teetering on a bridge. The Negotiator manages to get them safely off the bus, but he is unable to exit the bus before it plunges off the bridge.
Future spots in the campaign explore the aftermath of the crash, Priceline said.
In the past three years, Priceline has more than tripled the number of hotels available through its published-price hotel product, said Brett Keller, the company’s chief marketing officer.
"We felt it was necessary to go to extremes to grab the attention of every consumer in America and drive home the message that you don't have to negotiate to save money on a hotel at Priceline.com,” Keller said.
Priceline will continue to offer its opaque hotel product, in which shoppers name their own price and agree to purchase from the hotel that meets their offer.
Shatner has been Priceline's celebrity spokesman for 14 years, and remains under contract to the company. He first stepped into the role of the Negotiator in 2007.