Kayak explores holiday sounds in January ad as Brexit looms large over travel brands
Instead of showcasing the ususal aqua blue pools and orange sunsets, holiday search engine Kayak has focused its new year TV campaign around the sound of travel.
Like Tui and Lastminute.com, Kayak is forging ahead with its January marketing blitz even in the face of Brexit uncertainty for travel brands. The company has teamed up with London DJ and Producer duo Eli and Fur for the spot, which will launch on Boxing Day (26 December).
Building on the message that planning is the most important part of any journey, the ad is part of the firm's wider 'Travel Pros' initiative. It sees Eli and Fur fly to Japan to create a music track based on the sounds they encounter while exploring – from jamming with taiko drummers, and the slurp of ramen.
The campaign will run in the UK, Polish, Spanish and French markets.
Contentious headlines emerged over the weekend declaring that no-deal Brexit contingency plans could see Britons advised not to book holidays after next March. However, despite the uncertainty travel brands have told The Drum that they won't pull back on marketing activity during the key January trading period.
Lastminute.com said that “the recent messages in the media about travel to Europe post-Brexit should not create an unnecessary level of panic” and as such its marketing plans remain unchanged.
“While there has been a certain level of scaremongering, we’re not seeing that same level of uncertainty from our customers, in terms of our forward bookings and holiday searches for next year - and we will be running the traditional seasonal activity, such as our annual January sales, as we normally would,” a spokesperson added.
Tui has already launched its marketing activity that will run into January and will kick of a wave of activity for its First Choice brand come Boxing Day.
“Bookings for summer 2019 are currently ahead of where they were for last summer at the same point in time and the overall market also reflects that trend, which shows that UK consumer demand for summer holidays is not diminishing despite the backdrop of Brexit,” a spokesperson claimed.
“We’ve also been given reassurance that air carriers from the UK will still be allowed to fly even in a no deal scenario. We will operate our holidays to the EU and our other amazing destinations as planned and customers can continue to book their holidays with us in confidence.”
British Airways and Virgin echoed this sentiment, with the latter stating that it is “well prepared for all Brexit scenarios”.