Situation – to capitalise on the TUI masterbrand, the UK business was due rebrand from Thomson to TUI in October 2017.
My role – Whilst preparing for a relatively straight-forward rebrand, we discovered that Thomson Cruises would not be able to rebrand to TUI Cruises as they already existed as a separate business (a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises and TUI in Germany). My role was to escalate this issue and present viable options and costs for Thomson Cruises rebrand.
Solution – Working collaboratively across the business (with the brand team in Germany and the UK) we reviewed possible options to try to retain the TUI link and concurrently worked with various agencies to develop and conduct consumer research on alternative names. Research proved the strength of the Thomson and TUI brands and was hard to overcome, so this became an iterative process that was finally completed in 2017 with “Marella” meaning shining seas triumphing in research.
The major “win” for Thomson Cruises was to continue to use the TUI “smile” on the funnel (the precedent for this was already established) and to rebrand the hull to the dynamic wave design which is strongly linked across the customer journey (on planes and buses/ coaches).
Outcome – Marella Cruises was launched in October 2017 across the full fleet and has now been fully adopted by customers. This was a complex and reactive situation that took time to resolve, but highlights the importance of trust and good communication and collaboration to make the best of this situation.