Citalia has ditched traditional tour operator brochures in favour of a glossy magazine featuring lifestyle articles as well as product.
With 29 pages devoted to general features and the look and feel of a woman’s magazine, the move marks a significant shift away from standard operator brochures.
Marketing manager Liz Der Boghossian said work on the Italy by Citalia November 2008 to December 2009 brochure, released earlier this month, started in January.
Above: the new Citalia brochure
The brochure has general Italian lifestyle features, including articles on food, shopping and experiences. The operator’s product pages are sandwiched in the centre of the magazine.
Der Boghossian said: “A traditional brochure looks quite dull and it doesn’t really do a destination justice, especially with somewhere like Italy.
“The new brochure has been well received, it’s not like a normal brochures. There’s lots of different things to read about Italy and it brings it to life and brings the experience out.”
Gazetteers, part of the TW Group, provides online information on brochures to agents. Content manager Elaine Clark said: “Operators have long been trying to move away from the standard brochure formula in a bid to attract more customers. This is the best example I have seen of this new wave of brochures.”
Many of the design decisions were undertaken by Citalia managing director Enrico di San Marzano, while copy agency Editorialise helped create the new lifestyle pages.
Despite the editorial changes, Der Boghossian said the brochure still featured around the same amount of product information as previous brochures.
What do you think? Email juliet.dennis@rbi.co.uk