Kuoni’s biggest ever turn-of-year campaign hopes to establish the operator as a ‘premium’ holiday brand.
The operator is running TV advertisements for the third year in a row, and is hoping to pip rivals to the post by running its first ad on Christmas Eve rather than in a traditional Boxing Day slot.
The ad features synchronised swimmer Lenka Tanner, who appears to be ‘running’ on water with the message “no two holidays are the same – Kuoni, find your amazing”.
In a departure from previous turn-of-year campaigns, this ad is the first not to use stock footage and was instead filmed to a specific brief by a crew in the Maldives to bring the “emotion” of the holiday to life and “make you feel like you are on holiday”.
UK managing director Derek Jones said: “For me the real challenge for Kuoni over the last five years has been brand awareness. We used to rely on retailers Thomson and Thomas Cook to put our brand in front of the customer, and while their support has declined, we have brilliant support from independents. But it’s important to maintain our brand position and awareness.”
Jones said the operator was “already punching above its weight” in brand awareness terms but added: “We needed to invest in it for the future and move it on this year. This campaign represents a bigger investment for turn of year and our biggest in recent years.”
The campaign aims to encourage holidaymakers to engage with the brand, through its website and by talking to its consultants or independent travel agents.
The company’s store windows will feature images to support the TV ad and the operator is also working with its trade partners on their turn-of-year campaigns.
Kuoni’s website has also been redeveloped to become mobile, tablet and laptop-friendly and has new call to action buttons ‘call us, meet us, ask us’ to steer customers to engage in a webchat or visit a Kuoni store or partner agent.
Press advertising will also form part of the campaign and include a travel agent call to action.