Dorlands unveils Center Parcs push

Dorland.

The Scottish Courage subsidiary’s pounds 1 million campaign, which

breaks nationally on Monday, is aimed at capitalising on what it claims

is an improved product and forms part of intensified marketing

activities above and below the line.

Two 30-second television spots spearhead the initiative which carries

the theme: ’Center Parcs. Where you take your body to free your

mind.’

The commercials are a departure from previous work which focused on the

relaxing qualities of Center Parcs by presenting the all-weather holiday

villages in Norfolk, Nottinghamshire and at Longleat as liberating and

exhilarating.

The aggressive tactics follow the arrival of Tom Wright from

Carlsberg-Tetley as the sales and marketing director.

But Mathew Shepherd-Smith, the Center Parcs account director at

Dorlands, said: ’We felt the change was necessary to communicate more

effectively the variety of activities available.’

In one commercial, a boy appears to be free-falling through the sky. As

he plunges towards the ground, the action switches to him arriving at

the bottom of a wild water rapids ride.

In the second, a woman reclines on a floating leaf and watches fairies

make a rainbow from ribbons. She is actually dreaming while lying in a

boat on a Center Parcs lake.

The new work comes amid intensified competition, with Center Parcs

challenged in the upmarket holiday sector by Oasis Villages.

The films were written by Giles Horton, art directed by Matt Head and

directed by Pete Cornish of the Directory, with extensive

post-production work by Red. Media is being bought by Zenith.