Ramblers Walking Holidays is being renamed Ramble Worldwide in a brand overhaul which splits its holidays into four distinct types.
The new brand will be used across its entire holiday range and ditches Adagio as a separate, standalone brand.
The four new holiday types are: ‘classic’, for the operator’s traditional holidays with daily walks; ‘discover’, for cultural experiences on foot, including all the operator’s long-haul product and city breaks; ‘adagio’, for relaxed, shorter walks with cultural and sightseeing excursions aimed at older, more discerning clients; and ‘self-guided’, for independent, non-guided walking trips, introduced this year, in five European countries and the UK.
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All product will be showcased on one revamped Ramble Worldwide website, built by Zolv, with new imagery and video content. New-look brochures have also been produced.
The new name aims to retain the brand’s walking heritage while conveying the message it operates worldwide, said managing director Kevin O’Regan.
It is the first name change since 1976 when the operator ditched the name Ramblers Association Services.
The operator used feedback from 1,000 potential customers on what they look for in a walking holiday, with results including impressive landscapes and local culture. It aims to shift perceptions of the operator as only for groups of seasoned walkers and only offering UK holidays.
Pictured left to right: Managing director Kevin O’Regan, private groups manager Melanie Miles, sales & reservations manager Paco Gonzalez and senior product manager Helen Nelson
O’Regan said: “Historically we were talking about walking grades and our charitable ethos but we were not talking to potential customers about what was important to them when choosing holidays.
“This will help signpost the right tours for the travel agent to sell to customers and hopefully help them understand it.
“We now have more videos and images; it’s about inspiring people with breath taking landscapes. Our view is the world is more beautiful on foot but we were not displaying that [before now].”
He added: “We have an ageing customer base, some of whom have been loyal to us for 30 years. We now want to attract new customers for the next 30 years.”
Having one brand and setting out exactly what its products are, will increase understanding of the brand and lead to rising sales, he said. Currently, agents make up around 5% of sales.
He said: “Having two brands was not the optimal way to reach new customers so we have brought it all together under Ramble Worldwide.
“This is the start of the next part of our journey. It makes it much easier for customers and for the trade and we would expect an increase in sales over time from agents. We would like to build stronger relationships with a small group of agents.”
The company formed a four-strong team to oversee the rebrand over the last six months, bringing in former Tui UK marketing director Jeremy Ellis on a freelance basis and appointing former Exodus Travels director of business development Jim Eite as the company’s sales and marketing director to work alongside O’Regan and customer experience director Nicki Vanham.
The company also worked with Accord Marketing on the rebrand project.
The rebrand will be heavily promoted during the company’s turn of year campaign, although this is unlikely to include TV.
