Thomas Cook has overhauled its peak season TV advertising in a switch away from brand building to a price and destination-focused campaign.
New group marketing director Simon Carter said the company had chosen a “Dixons-type call to action” advertising campaign to start on Boxing Day.
Thomas Cook has simultaneously ramped up its price promise to offer customers holidays for free if they find the same holiday but cheaper within 48 hours of booking.
The company claimed 45% of customers who booked with Thomas Cook during the 2006 peak booking period did so on the basis of its price promise, which claimed to offer the best possible price on the high street.
Meanwhile, the running time of Thomas Cook’s TV advertisements have been slashed to between 10 and 20 seconds, compared to a traditional time of between 30 and 40 seconds, and will run mainly on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday mornings in an attempt to encourage a flow of customers to the shops, call centre and website.
Carter claimed there was no need to build awareness of the Thomas Cook brand. Instead advertisements will focus on specific offers.
He said: “We want to get people to book so the adverts are focused on price and destinations. They will be short and sharp spots which read ‘go to x for y with Thomas Cook’.”
Carter refused to reveal how much the advertising campaign would cost or the destinations the campaign would focus on.
Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.
The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.