Independent travel agent consortium the Advantage Travel Partnership has unveiled a new visual identity, mission statement, brand values and digital platform.
It was shared with members at the consortium’s Conference in Malta this week and was heralded an “exciting new chapter in the organisation’s storied history”.
Created following extensive market research and consultation with members, staff, supplier partners and consumers, Advantage’s new brand identity is designed to reflect “a strategic repositioning that aligns with the evolving needs of its diverse stakeholders not only today but tomorrow’s dynamic travel landscape”.
“The time has come to create a more contemporary face for our business — one that authentically represents not just who we are today but boldly signals our aspirations for tomorrow,” said Advantage CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said.
Rather than having around 30 different brands within the group, the number will be reduced to a handful.
“Until now, we’ve operated with multiple brands and visual identities, creating potential confusion in the marketplace. Our refreshed identity elegantly simplifies our positioning, centred around a cohesive single-stop solution under the unified Advantage Travel Partnership umbrella,” said David Forder, Marketing Director.
The new identity has a strapline ‘We’re here for your journey’, to reflect Advantage’s commitment to “supporting all aspects of its members’ business journeys and their customers’ travel experiences”.
The group’s new vision is to be “the ultimate partner in the global travel community” and its mission is to “empower and advance the interests of our stakeholders, fuelling their growth and helping them to thrive with an industry-leading, single-stop solution”.
As part of the rebrand Advantage has developed a new website with a more sophisticated digital platform designed to help businesses more easily find their local travel agent. In the next phase, the search function will be developed to find the most suitable agent according to its specialisms.
Advantage hopes the new website will lead to a three-fold increase in the number of online leads.
“There were reasons why we have been restricted by our old website, mainly due to the tech set up of the old platform – it was a consumer platform but also one that runs our members intranet. Once we started on this journey, we realised there was so much more opportunity,” said Forder.
As the new brand is rolled out, Advantage will be engaging with members and partners to help them retro-fit the new brand and make full use of the brand assets available.
“We’re developing specialised guidelines and flexible options that enable them to incorporate our identity while respecting that their own branding naturally takes precedence,” said Forder.
He encouraged members to adopt the new branding to help Advantage elevate its position on a global stage.
But Advantage was not able to confirm if the cost of rebranding would have to be covered by members or by the organisation.
It said it would be carrying out an audit to see what the potential costs might be before making any decisions.
