ALL ABOUT YOU — COMMENT
STEVE DUNNE executive chairman, Brighter Group
I grew up like, I suspect, many of my age group, with the Thomson Holidays brochure on seemingly permanent display on the coffee table. My mum loved Thomson. And I recall, early in my career, the launch of the First Choice brand, a name I always thought, from a marketing perspective, to be clever, with its almost subliminal suggestion of being the only one to choose for a holiday. Both brands were dominant
players in the market, synonymous with great holidays to the Mediterranean and beyond. As consumers, we had affection
for them and trusted them. And that made them powerful brands.
One-brand masterplan So, as a consumer, I felt a pang of sadness when I heard that Tui Group plans to phase both out and adopt Tui as a single global brand. Why disband two powerful
brand names for one that has, arguably, less recognition among British consumers? And why risk putting all your reputational assets into one
brand name, spread across many products, markets and countries? After all, some of the world’s
largest corporates keep their brand profile relatively low and see themselves, primarily, as businesses that own brands – Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and Diageo are cases in point. They argue that it is easier
to focus or switch investment in promotion, distribution and product development, and to be more flexible and fleet of foot in a competitive marketplace by matching specific brands to individual market segments. Moreover, if one brand is underperforming or suffers from a high-profile operational issue, it
can be isolated, so the business’s overall reputation is unaffected. Given all that, and particularly
the travel industry’s greater exposure to service issues and crisis management than other sectors, why go for one global brand? Well, many corporates do adopt the global brand approach. At Google, Apple, Shell, McDonald’s and Virgin, the company is the brand and the entire organisation shares a single brand proposition and personality.
Bold but astute What lies behind Tui Group’s decision to be a global brand is not a marketing strategy but a business one.
Why disband two powerful
brand names for one that has, arguably, less recognition among British consumers?
Being the brand facilitates companies entering new markets, raising investment funding and making significant savings in marketing and promotional expenditure, and by streamlining operational infrastructure. Of course, the Tui brand is not
entirely unfamiliar in Britain, as the ‘smile’ has been a feature of the high street for a decade. The change is a risk. But Tui
Group is well run and the decision will have been well thought through. The company’s comment that the process will take “five to 10 years” shows that the Tui management will gradually manage the famous legacy brand names out of consumers’ perceptions. So, while Thomson and First Choice are consigned to the history books, Tui is set to become as famous as that other global travel brand name – Thomas Cook.
For more columns by Steve Dunne, go to:
travelweekly.co.uk
42 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 21 May 2015
STEVE DUNNE
Tui or not Tui? That is the question
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84