The UK boss of Tui has thanked rival Thomas Cook for “drawing attention to our campaign” after it created a TV advert spoofing Tui’s rebrand from Thomson.
Nick Longman, managing director for Tui UK and Ireland told TTG he was “sure it was done with the best of intentions and tongue in cheek”.
Cook released the parody video on its social media channels earlier this month imitating Tui’s ‘Thomson is changing to Tui’ campaign with a similar voiceover and imagery.
During the advert Tui said: “We cross the ‘Ts’, dot the ‘Is’ and put ‘U’ in the middle”, while Cook ended its film with: “We cross the ‘Ts,’ draw the ‘Ks’ and put ‘homas coo’ in the middle”.
“What is interesting if you read social media is that generally the comments have been pretty positive around Tui and [social media users are] just maybe questioning why Thomas Cook have the right to poke fun in a light-hearted way themselves,” said Longman.
“So we take it in the spirit which it was intended and thank them for drawing attention to our campaign."
Tui UK completed its nationwide rebrand earlier this week with its 600-plus stores adopting the name of its German parent company after more than 50 years as Thomson.
Longman also commented on Thomas Cook being overtaken by Jet2holidays as the UK’s second largest licensed tour operator.
“I think it had always been that it was Thomson and Thomas Cook who were thought of as the big two, so I would imagine they are not overly pleased that they have now moved down to number three and Jet2holidays has overtaken them so maybe now they will look to focus on that,” Longman said.