Looking for a smooth run

Thomas Cook's new campaign aims to project the brand as a one-stop shop for travellers in the online space

With the holiday season currently on, online travel agency (OTAs) are pulling out all the stops to inspire last-minute trips with customised deals and attractive discounts. If figures are anything to go by, online travel market in India accounts for 44 per cent (Rs 64,723 crore) of the Rs 1,48,709 crore travel market in India. (PhoCusWright). Some experts say travel is where the real money in e-commerce is. Online travel accounts for nearly 61 per cent (Rs 50,050 crore) of e-commerce business in India and 95 per cent of consumers search online before making a travel purchase. Also, great deals are an important motivation for customers to go online - 36 per cent consumers make unplanned trips if offered a discount (Octane research, e-Travel Marketing India).The research indicates that even though a majority of consumers are comfortable with online ticket booking, tour packages and hotels are still booked offline. However, for big-ticket international trips, customers prefer face-to-face interaction while falling back on travel sites for research and planning. There is also a perceived gap between the expectations of consumers and the actual facilities promised by hotels when booked online. It is this need for a comprehensive travel solution that tour operating major Thomas Cook attempts to address with its new campaign.

This market is dominated by pure-play online players such as MakeMytrip, Goibibo, Yatra and Cleartrip. Thomas Cook hopes its unique hybrid model will transport all the offline conveniences of planning and booking a holiday to the online space. To make this point its recently launched TV campaign, #HolidaySortedHai, first demonstrates the glitches that are likely to crop up if you plan a holiday at the last minute and then goes on to show how a player like Thomas Cook can step in and iron out all such problems.

The campaign, conceived by L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, opens with actor Anand Tiwari narrating his ordeal at various stages of planning his holiday and shows how all of it distressed his hapless wife rather than bringing the two of them together.

Says ad director Rahul Nangia, chief, creative office (west and south), L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, "The idea behind the television commercial was to target people who plan their holiday offline themselves and introduce them to the Thomas cook online portal. It is not an ad aimed to poke fun at competition; rather it is about changing the behaviour of the offline consumers. We are hoping the campaign will help promote the online platform of Thomas Cook, which is primarily known for its offline business." The promise is captured in two words - "travel smooth".

With this new campaign, Thomas Cook is looking to reach out to consumers across the price spectrum - budget, group, domestic and high-end luxury holidayers.

Thomas Cook launched its online arm four years back and has, since then, invested heavily in building up the hybrid model. It has also ramped up its network presence with leaner, technology-assisted outlets. These outlets are equipped with tablets and mobile apps that enable transactions relating to domestic and international holidays, booking of flights and hotels, availing of insurance and foreign exchange.

That reach is important. Customer acquisition still remains the primary marketing goal, according to Octane Research's Annual e-Marketing Outlook 2015. The research finding, however, shows an increase in votes for customer retention - it has grown 80 per cent between 2011 and 2015. On the contrary, the quest for brand awareness dropped by 32 per cent in 2015, despite a steady growth from 2011 to 2014. Which means surfers know the options they have but are not leveraging them frequently.

"The hybrid model is our big play and going forward we are confident India is going to be driven by this platform. While consumers are increasingly doing a lot of research online, in terms of transactions, especially for overseas travels, which call for high-ticket purchases, very little of these online searches actually translate into sales, except for tickets," says Abraham Alapatt, chief innovation officer and head, marketing and service quality, Thomas Cook India.

The travel service provider currently gets 10 to 13 per cent of its business solely from the online platform and it is 30 to 40 per cent when you consider the hybrid business. "We want the customer to have the freedom to choose the channel or the combination of channels," Alapatt adds.

With a budget of Rs 5-7 crore, as part of its media mix, the campaign is focused on television, social media and in-cinema. It is running on Hindi and English general entertainment channels, besides news, infotainment and movie channels.

Apparently, integrated campaigns work better. The impact of integrated campaigns increased by 84 per cent from 31 per cent in 2011 to 57 per cent in 2015. With 54 per cent travel marketers and 69 per cent BFSI marketers leveraging the most from these types of campaigns, says Octane Research's Annual e-Marketing Outlook 2015.

Thomas Cook has reported 50 per cent growth in transactions for holiday and 100 per cent growth in transactions for visa and foreign exchange in May this year compared to April.