THE essence of the service a competent, experienced and reliable travel advisor provides is being captured in the first ever consumer-facing brand campaign announced by the Virtuoso luxury travel consortium this week.
With the tag-line simply “So Virtuoso”, the creative campaign will be based on real stories from Virtuoso travellers, waxing lyrical about the experiences that were created by their advisors, which are often so much more than just a holiday.
The move was announced at the massive Virtuoso Travel Week event in Las Vegas, attended by about 5,000 Virtuoso advisor members and suppliers from across the globe. The group’s Senior VP of Marketing, Helen McCabe-Young told attendees “we are the leading luxury travel network becasue of you. Now for the first time ever we are going to launch a campaign to tell the world just how amazing you are”.
Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch told travelBulletin that while the So Virtuoso creative concept was now finalised, there were no concrete plans at this stage as to how much would be invested in promoting the idea, with advisors likely to adapt the messaging in their own client communications and brand presence.
Other major marketing initiatives announced at the event included a rebranding of the popular Virtuoso Life magazine as simply Virtuoso Magazine, and an enhancement of the group’s “Wanderlist” itinerary planning platform to allow suggested trips and ideas to be easily shared.
Upchurch and his colleagues showcased figures indicating the rapid recovery of the premium travel market, which is already tracking above booking levels in 2019. They also confirmed that travellers who are advised by travel agents spend more than those who book themselves, with Virtuoso advisors producing up to four times the value in bookings.
