Thomson Christmas campaign majors on hotels
Tour operator Thomson is shifting focus to its hotel offerings for the second stage of its “Holidays Just Got Better” marketing strategy.
brightcove.createExperiences();
It is also targeting specific ads at a more upmarket audience for the first time and introducing some service messages in supporting activity.
The first leg of the Holidays Just Got Better campaign focused on the new Dreamliner aircraft that Thomson is introducing next year and broke in September.
The latest £3.5m campaign promotes the message that that the TUI-owned holiday brand offers modern hotels and uses a combination of nostalgic and brand new imagery seen with the Dreamliner activity.
Marketing director Jeremy Ellis said it reinforced the message that Thomson’s products are designed around specific consumer needs and that the company is creating segmented sub-brands, such as Sensatori and Family Resorts.
“We want to communicate how Thomson has modernised its holidays and demonstrate how we are better through our differentiated and exclusive products.
“We wanted to make the hotels as much as part of our story of modernisation as the Dreamliner. The plan was always to take a two stage approach this year to our marketing campaign.”
As part of the activity there will be ads for the Sensatori brand in magazines such as Conde Nast.
Press ads will also promote some of Thomson’s service elements, such as optional taxi transfers and a 24/7 call line to help with in-resort problems.
Thomson’s latest activity launches ahead of the traditional post-Christmas travel industry marketing period. Jeremy Ellis says: “We are launching on Saturday (22 December) becauseSaturday night is a good TV night and we feel people are probably a little tired of Christmas ads by this stage. It’s placing us pre-Christmas top of mind – we want to get ahead in terms of getting a message across regarding how different our proposition is.”
TUI will also be repeating its TV campaign for its First Choice all inclusive holidays that rolled out last year with a soundtrack by Flo Rida. Both campaigns are created by Beattie McGuinness Bungay.
The company recently reported robust financial results. Rival Thomas Cook, which has just overhauled its management structure, has said that it will launch a multimillion campaign shortly.
