Thomas Cook India changes positioning to "Travel Smooth"

From "The Holidaywallas", Thomas Cook India has shifted its positioning to "Travel Smooth". Explaining the reason for the change, Rakshit Desai, executive director, Thomas Cook (India), said, “'Thomas Cook, The Holidaywallas', was launched in 2009-10, highlighting a new 'desi avatar' - not just another travel agency, but instead a human being.  The persona was seen as warm, welcoming, relatable and comfortable. The campaign ‘Thomas Cook, The Holidaywallas’ addressed only the holiday traveller. Given our diverse range of customers and their requirements, we felt it is important to highlight our diversity of product-service portfolio too. Our new campaign ‘Travel Smooth’ encompasses the umbrella of travel related services we offer (holidays, hotels, foreign exchange, travel insurance, visa-passport services) and addresses all travellers including business travellers, the MICE segment, holiday-goers, FIT travellers (frequent individual travellers) and the GIT (group escorted tours) travellers. The clear thread running through all the TVCs is that of the uncertainty and stress of planning one's travel and the potential disasters that could occur. Leaving the tension of travel planning to the travel expert, Thomas Cook, ensures that customers “Travel Smooth”. We want to bring back the joy in travelling."

Three TVCs have been created by JWT India, as part of the advertising campaign.

WATCH the other two TVCs in the campaign (story continues below)

In 'Hotel Fiasco', a conservative family is shocked when the hotel Golden Mangoes they've booked themselves at turns out to not have a very healthy "family atmosphere". In the second TVC 'Foreign Exchange', three young women get stranded in a foreign country without any reliable way to get foreign exchange and get out. In 'Bus Tour', two Indian travellers book themselves onto a strange bus tour in a city, that is conducted in the night and with a tour guide who doesn't speak a language they understand, with no means to protest.

Commenting on the TVCs, Tista Sen, national creative director, JWT India, said, “‘Travel Smooth’ from Thomas Cook promises a trip wherein one does not need to deal with the anguish of planning. Rather than relying on the positives, we at JWT decided to highlight the woes associated with travelling. We have kept the TVCs very simple, real and utterly believable, showcasing the dual distress of travelling overseas. One can book through Thomas Cook and enjoy their holidays even before they start. It’s a simple promise that everyone can identify with.”

In addition to leveraging mass media advertising of print, TV, radio, outdoor hoardings, the communication plan includes includes social media, cinema advertising, out-of-home (OOH) media, point of sale merchandise and on-the-ground initiatives across key markets.

Credits:

Client: Thomas Cook India
Agency: JWT India
JWT creative team:
National creative director: Tista Sen
Executive creative director: Debjyoti (Debu) Purakayastha
Vice president and senior creative director: Vistasp Hodiwala                             
Associate vice president and senior creative director (Art): Raja Sarmalkar                             
Senior creative director (Copy): Sanchita Sinha                                             
Films  department:
Vice president and senior AV services director: Anupama Ahluwalia
Director AV services: Vishant Tejwani                                               
Production house: Nirvana  Films                                                     
Director: Ram        
Executive producer: Manjeet Bawa
TVCs in high-resolution