Thomson steps away from package image

Thomson, the holiday operator owned by German-based TUI, is launching an £8m advertising campaign this week to highlight its role as a one-stop shop for all consumer travel needs.

The company is aiming to move away from its traditional package holiday image and show consumers that it is a "multi-channel" travel company. The campaign will run for six weeks and cover TV, press, and outdoors. It will promote a flexible choice of holiday elements.

The ads, created by the company’s new advertising agency Krow, will stress that travellers can book flights, hotels, car hire or spa hotels individually through Thomson.co.uk. The campaign focuses on a variety of challenging messages about the brand, rather than one focal point, and will feature illustrations by New York graphic artist Laurie Rosenwald with a voiceover by Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson.

Thomson’s fully transactional website will depict a range of holiday products, and host more that 2000 online videos, a Google Earth overlay, podcasts and thousands of customer reviews. The campaign endline will centre on the Thomson logo "Don’t just travel, travel with a smile".

Thomson marketing director Andrew Raynor says the campaign was a significant marketing investment. "It shows how Thomson has modernised and now offers total flexibility in leisure travel, supported by a website which is full of rich content, including what we believe to be Europe’s largest online travel library."

The marketing drive comes during a merger between TUI and the UK travel corporation First Choice. It is not yet known how the merger will affect the Thomson’s marketing department.