Corporate and Product Branding – The Imaginative Traveller
My research revealed two types of competitors in the Short Breaks sector; mainstream package operators and small group adventure specialists. The former offered cheap packages trips to traditional destinations, the latter more interesting and exotic destinations but with higher prices. The Imaginative Traveller (ImTrav) was in a position to combine the benefits of both to offer a packaged trip that was good value to short haul destinations offering culture, activities and relaxation.
The product range included city breaks, beaches and islands, self-catering villas, walking and cycling trips. Duration was from 3-8 nights, with the flexibility to include flights. The objective was to position the brand to appeal to the existing ImTrav customers and to attract a new audience away from the larger mainstream package operators.
Rena had originally chosen “Short Breaks 4 Less” as a suggested brand name. My counter suggestion was that it was important to retain an association with the parent brand in order to retain loyalty of existing clients. Rather than cannibalise the longer holiday bookings, I suggested it would keep them in the loop when booking an additional trip such as a city break. However, I agreed that the brand must make explicit that the trips are different to the mainstream ImTrav product. Rena’s final choice of brand name was my suggestion of “Imaginative Escapes” with a proposition of “less hassle, more holiday, better value”. The brand theme continued with each style of trip - Imaginative Cities, Imaginative Trails and Imaginative Islands. The product launch focussed a new brochure and website. There was a 6% response for brochure requests from a direct mail campaign and a similarly large request rate through the website. Imaginative Escapes continues to be one of the more popular products for on-line booking.
“Imaginative Escapes has grown in only two years to take a significant share of our total bookings. Evidence shows that 35% of clients booking a short break with us are new to the company. The villas, beaches and cities proved most popular and we are adding “Imaginative Wildlife” to the range for 2006. Escapes has also enhanced the value of our corporate brand in a sector which is now a key target for the mainstream operators.”
Rena Brennecke, Marketing Director and Founder ‘The Imaginative Traveller’. www.imaginative-traveller.com