The travel agent has appointed the AAR to conduct a review, which will centralise the account into one agency.
The business is currently split between TBWA\London, Farm and the Manchester-based agency Home. All three agencies were appointed to a roster created in a marketing strategy overhaul in July 2004. This ended TBWA's 11-year contract. As a result, TBWA was made to pitch for projects against the company's other agencies and its advertising budget was reduced by £3 million.
TBWA's relationship with Thomas Cook dates back to 1993, when the travel agent awarded its account to Bainsfair Sharkey Trott. The agency was later merged first into Gold Greenlees Trott and then into TBWA.
TBWA dropped the line developed by Lowe Howard-Spink, "don't just book it, Thomas Cook it", in favour of: "Take a Thomas Cook at this."
Thomas Cook is also reviewing its interactive business, split between Harvest Digital and Quantum, the digital arm of Thomas Cook's media agency, BLM.
Thomas Cook is the se-cond-largest travel group in the UK and the third-largest in Europe.
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
