THOMAS Cook chief executive John Donaldson got the audience involved when he was guest speaker at the Institute of Travel and Tourism’s Ivor Elms lecture in London.
Every guest was issued with an electronic zapper so they could vote on a series of questions which he put to them.
Perhaps making a light-hearted dig at all the cash spent on launching its JMC brand, he said: “The country is run by focus groups, so there’s no reason why you can’t help us.” But before the voting got underway, Donaldson turned the tables on some of the jokes made up at his brand’s expense.
He said it was a ‘Jolly Motivated Company;’ that competitors needed a ‘Jolt More Competition;’ and ‘Just Might Choke’ on their words. He even joked that the letters stood for ‘Justifying More Capacity’ and got a dig in for Backchat, telling people to ignore ‘Jeremy’s Mischievous Comments.’
But responding to a question from Donaldson, 52% of the audience voted that the major integrated chains will sell their own products only through their own affiliated outlets within three years.
Of course, Donaldson couldn’t resist saying:”I assure everyone that at JMC we are absolutely committed to selling through a wide number of outlets.”