1. Nick Cooper
Executive Director, Head of Insights & Analytics, EMEA
12 May 2016
THE RISING IMPORTANCE OF
BRAND IN
TRAVEL & TOURISM MARKETS
2. Agenda
Section 1: Context for brand
Section 2: Industry consolidation
Section 3: Implications for brand
Section 4: Brand experience
Section 5: Implications for consumer insights
3. Itâs all getting much more
competitive out there
SECTION 1 - Context for brand:
4. Travel & Tourism â Context for brand
A critical industry, directly and indirectly accounting for 9.5% of
global GDP (source: WTTC)
Traditionally driven by operational excellence and financial
disciplines:
âą Seasonality
âą Thin margins
âą Commoditised offer
Branding an afterthought, not a central driver of the business.
5. Travel & Tourism â Context for brand
Today, the industry is undergoing
rapid change:
Consumers have more options than ever
Consumers are better informed than ever
Continuous disruption
6. Implications
You have to fight for your right to be noticed
TOM is more critical than ever
Communications are bigger and faster than
ever; they can work for you or against youâŠ
7. SECTION 2 â Industry Consolidation:
Airlines
Hotels & Tour Operators
8. Rapid pace of consolidation
United
Continental
US Airways
American
Delta
Northwest
Lufthansa
Austrian
Swiss
Germanwings
Air France
KLM
British Airways
Iberian
Vueling
British Midland
Aer Lingus
AIRLINES:
9. Rapid pace of consolidation
Marriott
Starwood
Accor
FRHI Holdings
Fosun
Club Med
âhospitality mega-mergerâ
Expedia
Travelocity
EQT
Kuoni
TUI AG
TUI Travel plc
HOTELS &
TOUR
OPERATORS:
10. Implications
You have to be clear about what you stand for
Scale creates greater ability than ever to invest in
marketing and building brands
You have to make decisions about which brand to back
11. Choosing your best brand bets
United and Continental
choseâŠ
Delta and Northwest
choseâŠ
US Airways and American
choseâŠ
12. SECTION 3 â Implications for brand:
Why bother with
brand?
âŠBecause if you donât
someone else will!
13. So how can brand help?
Brand builds equity across four key metrics:
Differentiation
Relevance
Esteem
Knowledge
Drives price
premium and
recommendation
Drives trial,
consideration, and
market penetration
Drives customer
loyalty
Drives
understanding of a
brand
Source: BAV
14. So how can brand help?
There has to be a compelling reason for consumers to choose you
âŠdifferentiation is often the foundation, leading to notoriety or status
Branding is no longer about defaults or purely practical benefits.
âŠyou have to build your own brand story, although it is increasingly
possible to project this
Brand is becoming a huge lever for success
...and you will go backwards unless you use it fully
27. Amplify:
⊠assets that combine
ownable ideas with those
elements of provenance
that you have selected
28. SECTION 4 - Brand Experience:
If you want to change
perceptions, change
reality.
29. In Travel & Tourism, changes in perception usually happen only
gradually
This is because brands in these sectors are
especially influenced by provenance.
Which can hold you back or⊠propel you forwards
30. But it is possible to accelerate
Authentic
Charming
Arrogant
Uncaring
Unreliable
Not trustworthy
Not innovative
Not dynamic
Emerging
attributes
Approachable
Trendy
Progressive
Energetic
Trustworthy
After the 2012 Olympics
Source: BAV, France, October 2012
Traditional
attributes
Before the 2012 Olympics
45. Create a sense of belonging so
that there is a human relationshipâŠ
⊠âitâs mine and I know how to
experience it.â
46. Take advantage of the speed
generationâŠ
⊠what used to take decades now
takes yearsâŠ
... what used to take years now takes
months.
47. Insights becomes a key driver of the brand and therefore the
business
Authentic truth
Desire & magnetism Speed
Positive provenance
1
Belonging
2
3
4
5
Focus on heritage and provenance has become a key marketing tool. However, there is an increasing dependency on pageantry and nostalgia for the brand Britian (which is in a two-year downward trend)