Thomson boosts spend to press home Dreamliner advantage

The TUI-owned tour operator is turning up the advertising dial for the Boeing Dreamliner, which it will be the first UK player to introduce next year, after a press campaign this spring.

A TV ad breaking on Saturday night (22 September) will show how holidays have changed over the past 50 years with scenes from the 1960s to the present day. It will include a couple on the Dreamliner, which features 'cutting-edge' in-flight entertainment systems and noise reduced by up to 60%.

It will finish with the line: "Designed for you. Only from Thomson." and runs under new brand messaging "Holidays just got better".

The spend will be 10% higher than the amount Thomson spent on its equivalent campaign last autumn, also created by ad agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay.

Jeremy Ellis, marketing director at TUI, said: "As the first UK customer to take delivery of the new Dreamliner, we knew the new aircraft should take primary focus in our new campaign.  There was also no better way to demonstrate how Thomson is modernising the holiday experience, as the aircraft is set to innovate our holidays and change the way we travel."

Having broken with tradition last year when it ran a brand campaign in autumn rather than the weeks after Christmas, getting one over major rival Thomas Cook, Thomson is repeating the strategy.

The ad will air until Christmas and will be supported by extensive outdoor, print and online advertising, video on demand, email marketing, social media and PR activity.

A dedicated site, www.holidaysjustgotbetter.co.uk, aims to engage consumers in the new campaign, with behind the scenes video of the making of the ad as well as infographics and games.

Ellis said: "Our new Holidays Just Got Better campaign aims to differentiate the Thomson brand from other tour operators. 

"We are also thrilled to be involving our shops, through the photomosaic banners, which we hope will create a real buzz on the high street."

The "photomosaic" banners will appear in Thomson shop windows and are made up of 780 individual photos of hundreds of different holidays from the brand’s picture library.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk