Fred Olsen Cruise Lines marketing chief has moved swiftly to placate the trade over fears that the brand’s national advertising campaigns encourage direct sell.
During a question and answer session at the operator’s conference on Monday, Justin Stanton, the line’s sales and marketing director, said there was “nothing” in his job description which stated he must increase direct sell.
Responding to a question about the line’s marketing campaigns, he said: “What we see is every time we advertise it drives business into travel agents. People doing their bookings through travel agents is not going to change anytime soon.”
People “like going into a store” and “dealing with people face-to-face”, Stanton added.
“What we want to do is drive people into travel agents,” said Stanton. “The other thing I should say is there is nothing in my remit or my job description that is about growing direct business.
“We just want to support the customer in how they want to make the purchase and we want to make sure that we are as visible as possible because if that drives people into your stores and your business that is great because we want those bookings.”
He said that that in “years to come” he hoped more money would be spent on the line’s marketing campaigns.
“What we have found is as we invest more into our marketing, the business has done better and better,” he said.
“We are small but we need to be out in the market and shouting as much as the bigger guys are.
“To get our message, people need to know who we are and why we are different and know why we are worth paying for.”
He added that was why Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ branding was “very present” and “obvious”.