Kuoni hopeful brand revamp will distinguish it from 'sea of sameness'

Kuoni chose brand experts ODA for the revamp for the express reason that it had never worked with a travel client.

"They did screenshots of brochures and websites and found a ‘sea of sameness’ – everyone is category advertising, not brand advertising," said Duguid. "They’re selling holidays, not brands.”

Duguid added ODA was surprised how competitive the sector was and how little customer loyalty existed.

He added the research had also shown Kuoni’s image to be “quite conservative” and needed to be “more contemporary and relevant”.

The rebrand also sees the return of the Kuoni globe after some years. Duguid explained: “It says travel; plus, we’ve been increasingly synonymous with the Indian Ocean, but Kuoni has always been a worldwide operator.”

He added the return of the globe would become more relevant when new destinations were introduced. 

Agents will receive the new branding for the turn of year campaign, while the first of Kuoni’s 27 stores to carry the new fascia will be its relocated Manchester branch.

“It won’t be head to toe yellow, it’ll be accents of yellow,” Duguid stressed, adding the change to the shops would help customer confusion. “There was feedback that not everyone that walked past our shops understood what we did.”

Another part of the revamp is pricing. Duguid said he had realised Kuoni was in some cases “really quite significantly” more expensive than competitors and had begun remedying this during peaks earlier this year.

“The UAE and Caribbean is where we’ve made the most significant reductions," he said. “We’re hearing from agents that they’ve seen a step change in our competitiveness."