Kuoni has put travel agents at the heart of its turn-of-year multi-million pound marketing campaign which sees it back on TV after a year’s break.
The operator’s new TV ad, which goes live on Christmas Day, features one of its own high-street agencies for the first time – a move it believes could be an industry first and will have a positive, ‘halo’ effect across the trade.
The key message is to encourage holidaymakers to talk to its staff and third-party travel agents about booking a holiday.
It highlights this message with its new strapline, Travel Worth Talking About, and shows a booking being discussed at its Guildford store – albeit by actors and not an actual Kuoni agent or client.
There are two versions of the ad, one focused on beach and another on tailormade ‘Discover’ holidays, to the soundtrack Happy Talk by jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald and using the operator’s own destination footage in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand and Kenya. They will run on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky as well as video on demand until February 11.
Marketing director Dean Harvey said the new ad should encourage customers to visit their local agent, including its 11 partner stores, well as its own 48 Kuoni high-street shops. The call action is to go to a travel agent or direct to Kuoni.
He said: “Our brief was to highlight we have got these stores and (encourage people to) have this conversion. We are one of the only tour operators that has called out to the public to go to a travel agency and this should be a positive and have a ‘halo’ effect for other agents.
“We are making travel agents essential to our whole campaign; we are showcasing that interaction with a holiday worth talking about. This should be music to agents’ ears.”
Harvey said the multi-million campaign represented “the most we’ve ever spent on a TV ad”. He added that the operator could afford to come off TV for one year, in January this year, before its return for 2019.
To back up the TV ad, the operator is printing 2.2 million sales inserts – a 32 page booklet which will go out this Sunday, December 20, to the trade and with national newspapers in early January.
For the first time, Kuoni has segmented its database into holiday types and is sending out three versions of its inserts, themed on tours and cruise breaks; beach; and tailormade ‘Discover’ holidays. There will be door drops of beach version of the sales leaflet to 580,000 homes in postcodes near its stores. The operator’s 200 top performing travel agents will receive a sales booklet tailored to their business to hand out to clients.
There will also be outdoor posters in ten regions of the UK and it is sending out its marketing offers to 250,000 customers of department chain John Lewis, pointing clients to the stores where Kuoni has agencies to book.
“It is the first time we have done either of these on this scale before,” added Harvey.
Kuoni is also returning to classified ads for the first time in four or five years, and will be running weekly prize giveaways for the trade of £1,000 and £500 as well as holidays and vouchers, alongside branded point of sale materials.