New branding gives Members more powerful message

Building on its already strong consumer brand awareness ABTA is defining its offer to consumers with refined messaging and a new strapline “Travel with confidence”. ABTA has revised its consumer branding following an extensive brand review to deliver a stronger message about what ABTA Members and the Association offer consumers.

The new “Travel with confidence” strapline will be rolled out from the 3rd November and will replace “The Travel Association” branding in all ABTA consumer facing marketing materials. All ABTA Members will receive a marketing toolkit in the coming days explaining the changes and how they can use the new branding.

The new messaging follows a comprehensive external and internal review process that involved focus groups with both members of the public and ABTA Members, consumer research and consultation with branding agencies. The review found that consumers have a strong trust in the ABTA logo. They also have a good understanding of what ABTA does and most value the organisation for its part in resolving complaints through the independent arbitration scheme and the access they get to ABTA’s customer support helpline and support team. Consumers also highly value ABTA’s role in raising standards through the Code of Conduct, which helps ensure customers are treated fairly and given accurate information about their travel arrangements.  There is a good understanding of ABTA’s role in financial protection, although consumers more value the general protection that ABTA offers as recourse when things go wrong.

“Travel with confidence” exemplifies this package of support, protection and expertise that ABTA offers consumers through its services and benefits.

Mark Tanzer, ABTA Chief Executive, commented: “ABTA already has an extremely strong brand with 75%* consumer recognition and we are always looking at ways to build on and deepen the understanding of what we do. ‘Travel with confidence’ is a powerful and dynamic message for our Members to use on their frontline, in their marketing and on their digital channels. It will help to differentiate their business because it builds on consumers’ strong trust in ABTA and our Members.”

“We believe that our consumer offer is stronger than ever. Over the past few years we have made significant investment in our systems to enhance our handling of customer enquiries, we have developed greater consumer resources on our website and introduced new initiatives to raise industry standards, such as our work in health and safety and sustainability. Additionally we continue to run our helpline for customers, which receives over 10,000 enquiries a year.”

The rollout of the new branding will be supported by a range of new marketing tools for Members to use, including: videos, leaflets, and a revised logo with the new “Travel with confidence” strapline. Window stickers will be available next year as part of the Member renewal packs. ABTA will also launch a national advertising campaign in the New Year highlighting how ABTA ensures consumers can travel with confidence and encouraging consumers to look for the ABTA logo when they book.

ABTA will continue to use its “The Travel Association” strapline for corporate and trade communications.

Mark Tanzer continued: “This is a phased rollout, we appreciate Members will want to update their materials in their own time. We would encourage them to use the new branding as soon as they are able as we believe it enables them to better communicate the benefits of their ABTA Membership to their customers. This revised strapline is about telling consumers much more about why they should choose our Members, or why they have made a good choice already.”

The updated logo and strapline and Benefits of Booking with an ABTA Member leaflet are available to download.