Barrhead Travel plans TV marketing campaign for peaks

Barrhead Travel will be running a TV campaign ahead of the January peak selling season, which will showcase its new branding.

 

The Scotland-based agency group said the commercials will be aired between Christmas and New Year, on channels in its main regions – STV, Granada and Ulster TV – as well as ITVX.

 

Nicki Tempest-Mitchell, managing director, told Travel Weekly about the TV campaign during the Barrhead annual conference in Dubrovnik.

 

Earlier, she had revealed to delegates that a rebranding will be unveiled to staff in December, ahead of the public launch – and suppliers also predicted record sales in the forthcoming peaks.

 

She also said the agency group will be spending more on this year’s TV campaign than previous years.

 

“Peaks is going to be exciting for us – exciting because of the brand, with a new look and feel when it comes to it comes to our marketing…and customer communications,” she told Travel Weekly.

 

“There will be a whole new energy in our business.”

 

Tempest-Mitchell also hailed the “positivity” from suppliers, such as Ruth Venn, associate vice-president of sales and distribution at P&O Cruises; Wendy Wu, founder and chair of Wendy Wu Tours; and Dondra Ritzenhaler, chief executive of Azamara Cruises, who told delegates about new products and expectations of a bumper peaks season.

 

Furthermore, the group has seen US sales rise 12%, thanks to working with tourist boards, such as Florida, and developing multicentre tours taking clients “beyond the gateway”.

 

Tempest-Mitchell said other sessions had also given delegates plenty of ideas to take back to their agencies in the UK after the conference, such as the accessibility session, which featured Vicky Jones, assistant branch manager at Northwich, who talked about accessible travel and the challenges she faces as a disabled traveller.

 

“We absolutely will follow through with some of the things that Vicky mentioned; how we can find the information to have the right sales conversation to make sure our teams feel confident and equipped,” she said.

 

The group has 46 Barrhead stores, plus 88 businesses in its homeworking and Managed Service Travel Partner division, Brilliant Travel.

 

Tempest-Mitchell noted that the group only has about seven vacancies across its network, which is “a good problem for us to have”.

 

Linda Pyle, director at Brilliant, also said some new MSTPs and homeworkers are joining before Christmas.

 

About 140 agents were at the conference in Dubrovnik, who included about 65 from Brilliant. The total number of delegates was 270.