Cheetham Bell wins strategy work for Gold Medal Travel

Cheetham Bell JWT has been awarded a brief to develop a new corporate strategy for the travel group Gold Medal Travel.

The brief for the Manchester-based agency will be to launch the business-to-business company that sells holidays to independent travel agents as a new consumer brand, later this year.

The company operates two travel brands in the UK. The bulk of its business is through Gold Medal Travel, which sells holidays through independent travel agencies. The group also operates AirlineNetwork.co.uk, an online travel site selling direct to customers.

Gold Medal Travel was founded 30 years ago and offers flights, hotels, holidays, car hire, cruises and a tailor-made holiday service to about 1,500 destinations.

It is a publicly traded company with a £350m turnover and 600 employees and caters to more than 600,000 customers each year. It operates the largest Amadeus ticketing site in Europe from its headquarters in Preston.

This is the second big travel win for Cheetham Bell JWT in recent months. The agency has a long history of working on accounts within the leisure sector. In August the agency won the £2m WA Shearings advertising business following a competitive pitch against undisclosed agencies.

WA Shearings, the holiday company specialising in the mature market, is planning to relaunch as a holiday operator that also caters for a younger audience.