Cosmos Tours and Cruises is preparing to ramp up trade and consumer marketing activity due to fears of confusion over the winding down of Cosmos Holidays by the Monarch Group.
The Cosmos Holidays brand was retained on a temporary licence by Monarch after the airline was rescued from collapse by investors Greybull Capital in 2014.
However, the firm has since chosen to operate under the Monarch master brand and is in the process of closing its Cosmos Holidays brand, including its trade website.
Cosmos Tours and Cruises, which was not part of the Greybull deal and continued to operate separately, is concerned there may be confusion that the Cosmos brand is disappearing entirely.
Giles Hawke (pictured), chief executive of Cosmos Tours and Cruises, said all above-the-line marketing activity, including online paid search, will be focused on the Cosmos brand, which is still owned by the Mantegazza family that founded Monarch.
“It’s essential that consumers and agents see our brand when they search for us by name as it’s essential that our brand is visible and our company, where Cosmos is the key brand, is at the front of people’s minds,” he said.
“We will be shouting ever louder about Cosmos to our trade partners as well, to ensure that the message is clear – we exist, we are thriving and Cosmos is actually growing stronger rather than going away.”
Hawke reiterated his intention to ramp up support for the trade who sell Cosmos’s expanding range of touring, long-haul beach, ocean, coastal and river cruising and rail tours.
He added: “We are working towards having an online agent booking platform, we are reviewing our agent commission earning opportunities to enhance the potential and we are currently recruiting for a new head of sales to help us support agent partners.
“It’s really important that agents understand that Cosmos is here, on sale and fully supporting them and that there is no confusion around this fact.
“The Cosmos brand is owned by the Mantegazza family and will continue to be promoted by the Cosmos business, which never required being rescued, to support our product offering.
“It is just the Cosmos Holidays brand, which Monarch has a temporary licence to use, which they are electing to stop promoting.”