Thomas Cook has heralded a new style of travel advertising with the unveiling of its peak period campaign.
An ad aimed at families launches on December 28 and an adult-focused campaign on Christmas Day, both of which feature the return of the "Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it" strapline, not used since 2013.
The family ad, set in a Sunwing hotel, aims to capture how a holiday encourages children to develop and creates lifelong memories for parents. The second ad uses a game of kiss chase to illustrate how holidays allow adults to reconnect.
Chris Chalmers, Cook’s marketing and e-commerce director, who joined from Asda in July, told TTG: “It’s no good just advertising a product today. You have to invest in story-telling and within that, you have to invest in longer and deeper content.”
Chalmers said the campaign would provide a “more emotional connection with our audience” and followed research with parenting website Mumsnet to see what customers deemed to be important.
The family ad will launch on thomascook.com on Saturday (December 23) and will debut on TV during the break of a special episode of Channel 4’s The Secret Life of Five Year Olds on Holiday on December 28. The programme was filmed in a Cook property in Cyprus.
The adult-centred campaign will break during Coronation Street on Christmas Day, while both ads will stretch across digital channels. Both will play throughout January, with the original 60-second ads also being abridged to 30-second versions. Both were shot at Cook’s properties in Rhodes and will run across 15 source markets.