Digital Drums chief executive Steve Dunne assesses the effectiveness of six firms’ peaks campaigns
You might be forgiven these days – particularly with subscription TV, algorithms selecting content for you to watch, and the sheer plethora of channels available now – for thinking that advertising on television isn’t what it used to be.
Back in the day, an advert on television could enjoy phenomenal reach, seen by literally millions of viewers, even with the most mediocre standards of production. Although that isn’t quite the case today, it doesn’t make TV advertising any less appealing for building a travel brand or reinforcing a company’s profile in the marketplace.
The key ingredients of great advertising are to catch the attention of the viewer and to have a message that resonates with the audience in an inspirational way. But, crucially in this age of short attention spans, it has to leave the viewer with a strong and compelling call to action. For most of this year’s offerings from the industry, those key ingredients have been followed, if to varying degrees.
‘Holiday Like Never Before’ – P&O Cruises
If there is a standout holiday TV advertisement this season, the award has to go to P&O Cruises and its “Holiday Like Never Before” offering.
From the music bed of the classic Bobby Darin tune Beyond the Sea which jauntily plays throughout, giving a simultaneous feeling of happiness, excitement and a certain exotic feeling of sun-drenched beaches and islands, through to the stunning cinematography that gives an almost three-dimensional feel to everything from activities to shows to dining experiences, this advert sets the bar for the industry.
The brand is strongly represented, from the opening shot of the logo to the screen-filling view of the ship with its Union Jack imagery on the bow.
“If a holiday is a movie then P&O is a box set” is a brilliant line in the advert, positioning a cruise experience with the brand as something more than an ordinary holiday.
The whole advert is eye-catching, attention grabbing, memorable and inspiring. It ticks every box, and then some.
5/5
‘Booking Geniuses’ – On The Beach
This year’s offering from On the Beach is quite clever in its simplicity. Sticking with the OTA’s now familiar signature tune of the Andy Williams song It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, it features a family dressed in brightly coloured holiday attire heading off for a sun-filled vacation, giving the advert a warm, upbeat feel to viewers tired of a British winter.
The song is instantly memorable and is the sort of tune people will sing long after the advert has passed. And the viewer will almost certainly sing the brand name too – a winning combination for a marketer. The commentary of Paddy McGuinness, another familiar voice, extolling the virtues of “book like a genius” and getting airport lounge access, is a differentiator that may place the brand ahead of rivals in the view of the audience.
From a brand-building, product appeal and instant recall point of view, this is a winner.
4/5
‘Happy Holidays’ – TUI
For anyone who has ever wondered what Santa’s elves do once they clock off for Christmas, Tui provided the answer Livin’ La Vida Loca, the advert shows Santa thanking the elves for their work and riding off over the moon. The minute he disappears, the elves hit the holidays, takin g off on a Tui jet for the sun. Enjoying all the traditional activities of a Tui holiday, from swimming pools, sun beds and beach volleyball to snorkelling, windsurfing and yoga classes, the elves have a ball as they embrace the Tui strapline of “Live Happy”.
It is less a traditional turn-of-year sales advert and more of a corporate Christmas card to the viewer, but it’s a lovely bit of fun that makes one smile and injects the feelgood factor of taking a holiday into every viewer.
4/5
‘Travel Worth Talking About’ – Kuoni
Kuoni was back on TV for the first time in four years with an advert with a powerful tagline, “Travel Worth Talking About”.
With the objective of broadening the brand’s appeal to families and travellers who wouldn’t normally consider Kuoni for a holiday, the visuals run the viewer through a variety of travel scenes, from safari wildlife to stunning Far East landscapes, and from underwater swimming in crystal-clear exotic seas to fine dining and city skylines.
The female voiceover is full of compelling lines such as “The world is out there, waiting” and “Your holiday, your way, planned and perfected by us”.
It is a polished and well-produced advert that signs off with the image of a Kuoni shop and the news that the “Kuoni sale is now on” – both nice touches from a marketing viewpoint.
4/5
‘Change the way you see the world’ – HX
The sign-off line in this year’s TV advert from HX – the new name for Hurtigruten Expeditions – challenges the viewer to “Change The Way You See The World”.
That theme runs throughout the short advert as Dame Joanna Lumley’s sultry voice poses a series of questions, set against striking visuals, that challenge the viewer’s thinking by showing an alternative to the obvious answer the viewer will have in their mind.
“What if you could go paddling in zero degrees?” she asks before we cut to a couple in a tandem canoe passing an iceberg.
And, after painting an inspiring vision for the viewer, both in words and pictures, Dame Joanna’s voice poses a final call-to-action question for the viewer: “What if the flights to get you there were free?”
A time limit on that offer (March 31) subtly creates a sense of urgency for the viewer, which one imagines would inspire them to look for more information.
It’s a very polished effort from HX.
3/5
‘A supermarket. For travel.’ – TravelSupermarket
You could be excused for thinking that producing a travel TV advert without any scenes of beaches, infinity pools, global landmarks or beautifully prepared foods would be a bit of a non-starter, but TravelSupermarket’s offering challenges the common advertising view that a travel brand has to include travel visuals.
Instead, TravelSupermarket’s advert features a group of passengers on a bus with one passenger remarking “Why is finding a holiday so hard?” and the other passengers introducing her to TravelSupermarket and answering her questions.
Like many travel TV adverts this year, it features a famous face – Barry from EastEnders – but strangely seems to underuse him with no witty or insightful comment other than how the brand allows you to “compare thousands of holidays from loads of companies”.
Is it an eye-catching advert? The answer is sadly no. Is it memorable? No. Does it describe what the brand does? Yes. But would it inspire me to book a holiday? I doubt it.
2/5