March 11 2007

Cruise Thomas Cook boosts marketing activity

As travel sites move higher up the visitor rankings online, Cruise Thomas Cook has appointed online marketing agency Harvest Digital to help drive traffic to its site. Behavioural advertising, paid search, including demographic search targeting, and an affiliate marketing campaign will all be used.

Many studies show that the internet is the most important channel for internet users when researching and buying holidays and competition in this sector is growing as companies such as Asda and Woolworths move in.

With three quarters of holidays either researched or booked online, "the travel industry provides a wonderful reminder, if anyone still needed one, of how integral the internet has become in the life of today's consumer," says Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings. Some 55% of internet users book their holidays online - only 7% of internet users book on the high street, according to a Nielsen//NetRatings study.

Thomas Cook, ranks number 6 amongst travel companies online (with a 3.79% share of the market), according to Hitwise, and took 17th place in the IMRG Hot Shops List in January. it saw visitor numbers increase by 153%, compared to December's level of traffic, according to comScore.

"January has historically been the time to plan travel, and this seasonal trend is now being borne out online, with many travel sites seeing their traffic more than double," says Bob Ivins, Managing Director of comScore Europe.

Press release follows:

Cruise Thomas Cook, the specialist cruise arm of Thomas Cook, has appointed online marketing agency Harvest Digital following a three-way pitch. The agency will manage its online creative, media planning and buying, search and affiliate marketing to drive traffic to its site, www.cruisesthomascook.com and increase bookings. Cruise Thomas Cook works with a variety of cruise operators including Royal Caribbean Cruises and Ocean Village to offer a range of packaged cruise deals, including some exclusive offers. It has access to the widest range of cruise holidays on the market, and provides objective advice to ensure customers find a holiday that's perfect for their preferences and budget. Harvest Digital has developed creative which features aspirational photography of cruise holidays and is booked it on media including Teletext.co.uk. The agency is also running behavioural advertising on Yahoo!, paid search on Google and MSN, including demographic search targeting, and an affiliate marketing campaign bought through buy.at. Commenting on the appointment, Darren Stott, Head of Sales and Marketing at Cruise Thomas Cook, says, 'Harvest Digital has brought a strategic approach to our online marketing in order to make all the elements of our integrated marketing work together. This includes up-weighting the search bidding in line with our TV schedule and driving traffic through affiliate marketing which will support our drive to increase sales through the online channel.' Emma Wilson, Director at Harvest Digital, adds, 'Thomas Cook is a brand trusted to offer the best holiday packages and is the UK's number one in cruise sales. We have combined targeted scheduling with demographic and behaviourally-targeted online marketing in order to increase niche brand awareness as well as sales for the brand. We will test and optimize the media mix to drive volumes of targeted traffic to their site.' The account will include online marketing for Cruise Thomas Cook's Ventura, the superliner designed for Britain, scheduled to launch in 2008. Harvest will combine display, search and affiliate marketing to generate bookings for the Ventura, which features a 3D cinema, several Marco Pierre White bars and restaurants, expensive modern art and a rock school for teenagers.

Emma Herrod