The Travel Network Group is launching its largest ever turn –of-year peak sales campaign two weeks’ earlier than usual.
The Worldchoice and Travel Trust Association parent’s campaign goes live on December 22 with the theme ‘Your Story Starts Here’. It is running across digital media, direct mail, Worldchoice TV, e-marketing and the high street.
It is the agency group’s first regionally focused campaign and features airport departures targeted to clients’ closest airports. The offers are tailored to five different regions: Midlands and the North; Wales and the South West; the South East; Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Daily webinars have been run to educate members on the campaign, which includes a heavy focus on social media. Agents and clients are being urged to describe a booking or post ‘selfies’ to tell their holiday story using the hashtag #yourstory. It is also working with 40 to 50 members to offer direct mailouts to clients.
Si Prentice, group marketing director, said: “This is the largest campaign we have run and we are confident it will really connect with members. We believe what we are doing is new and different to other travel groups in the sector.
“Our regional marketing offering is what members are telling us they want and the feedback has been overwhelmingly encouraging. We want our campaign to be more relevant, rather than showing a picture of a beach, and more customer led.
“We want as many people as possible to tell us about a travel experience that has inspired them. The campaign will give our members a way to communicate with customers after they’ve booked.”
He added: “The key thing with this campaign is we want everything we do, from e-shots to brochures, to be personalised to our members’ customers. The theme can be used across the group; everyone can create their story with members in our group that they deal with.”
Tactical sales banners will be sent to members from selected tour operators each month.