Kuoni will be back on TV for the first time in four years with a turn-of-year campaign aimed at broadening its appeal to families and travellers who do not usually book the brand.
The tour operator’s ad will first feature on Channel 4 on Boxing Day, with the whole campaign running until February 12. The ad will run on traditional television for the first two weeks before switching to direct response TV, broadcast video on demand and other channels such as YouTube.
There will be two versions of the ad, one geared at the family market and the other to promote the Kuoni brand.
The campaign aims to show Kuoni’s product range goes beyond special occasion holidays and its Indian Ocean heartland by targeting five different customer types with specific activity geared for each. These will showcase the breadth of global destinations available to each group.
The five customer groups are: families, ‘silver & safe’; ‘authentic explorers’; ‘midlife luxury’; and honeymoons.
In addition the operator will promote The Kuoni Sale and the message that now is the best time to book to take advantage of special savings.
The marketing campaign will also run across streaming services, radio, Spotify, YouTube, outdoor posters, press, direct mail and online, using images to convey the brand’s diversity.
The theme of the January sales campaign is that travel is worth sharing, dreaming and talking about. Travel agents feature strongly in its call to action while a trade incentive has been launched for agents to win a five star holiday for two to the Maldives.
Marketing director Caroline Child said: “This is a highly targeted campaign, designed to broaden the appeal of the Kuoni brand to customer types who may not ordinarily think of us for their holiday, including families and those authentic explorers looking for tailor-made trips, including African safaris or bespoke holidays to India.”
She stressed the operator now offered an expanded collection which was “so much more” than honeymoons and special occasions travel, despite being well-known for that. She said the call centre team had been primed to support agents and negotiated competitive sale pries with suppliers for a “bold campaign”.
Kuoni’s decision to target families in its campaign and highlight hotels and resorts suited to different types and sizes of families showed its commitment to this market, she added, noting “a lot of potential” for growth in that area.
The operator’s trade incentive allows agents one entry into its prize draw for each £5,000 the booking is worth. The higher the value, the more chances of winning. A £10,000 booking would qualify for two draw entries, for example. If the itinerary includes a stay at any of Kuoni’s exclusive properties, entries to the prize draw are doubled. Bookings must be made between December 27 and February 13, 2024.
One winning agent will receive a five-night stay at Outrigger Maldives Maafushivaru Resort on a dine around all-inclusive basis, including flights from London Heathrow and seaplane transfers.
