Defining luxury travel since 1967.

Since its foundation in 1967, airtours has been one of the most established and globally recognised luxury travel brands.

The management of airtours decided to put out a pitch for a turn-around strategy with the aim of rejuvenating the brand and making it accessible again to the younger, high-income, and discerning customers.

The challenge

airtours, the most traditional and globally influential German luxury travel brand, was literally threatened to die with its customers in the past decade. The market was also already subjected to an increasing democratisation of traditional luxury, which until then had only been defined by accessibility and availability – price and location.

Marcus Podorf’s team was responsible for airtours’ relaunch planning and implementation, rolled-out at the Wunderman agency network who managed this account for 3 years. This responsibility is an outstanding example of how small dedicated teams can develop effective and directly operationalisable solutions for companies which have very concrete business challenges and need appropriate solutions.

‘In the beginning of 2017, almost 8 years after the relaunch, airtours was able to announce that the average age of its customers had dropped from 55 years (2011) to 45 years and that 34% of its customers were regular customers.’ – airtours Public Relations, 2017

The relaunch strategy

The starting point for our change strategy was not only the market, that is, the desired people (target groups) — as is often the case in marketing — but more importantly the DNA, the values, and the origin of the brand, and on the other hand, in particular, the existing, current ‘customer journey’ of all airtours customers and multipliers.

This integral approach ensured that wherever the brand conveys value promises through its experience, these can be transformed into the present and all customers and users of the brand can be taken along and reached.

It allowed us to not only identify all the interactions between the users and the brand — both on the B2B side and on the end customer side — but also roll out the relaunch reliably and with extraordinarily high consistency within 9 months after the inception of the project.

In addition, we were able to establish new experiences and new services for the brand and, in particular, even new service promises at various touchpoints, instead of simply rebranding the existing media in the classical way that is, simply ‘redesigning’ and ‘repackaging’ them.

The brand vision: airtours becomes the ‘guide’ and ‘gateway’ for exclusive travel experiences.

The actual transformation of the brand began while establishing a new vision for the company by defining a corresponding role for the brand for the entire travel market and its participants. This definition clearly stated as to what experience airtours would like to offer everyone — no matter where they are in the world, whether as employees, travel agency and operating partners, or marketing partners, or as end customers and travellers, that is, users of the brand, its products, and services. This brand vision formulates the highest demand on any action.

This integral approach ensured that wherever the brand conveys value promises through its experience, these can be transformed into the present and all customers and users of the brand can be taken along and reached.

The brand promise: priceless guidance

The brand vision was then translated into a brand promise in the next step, which is also resilient and verifiable as the essence of the benefit or experience delivered by the brand is beyond the generic one or that offered by the competitors.

This integral approach ensured that wherever the brand conveys value promises through its experience, these can be transformed into the present and all customers and users of the brand can be taken along and reached.

The strapline: Defining Luxury Travel Since 1967.

The design of the airtours brand is based on two basic principles: to reflect uncompromising excellence and leadership and the unique ability to inspire. This is also expressed in the timeless claim for the brand — the strapline.

Wherever the brand promises value through its experience, these experiences can be reviewed to provide validity to the uniqueness of the brand.

A brand is never solely expressed through its visual appearance, but is shaped by the actions of the people who keep and enliven their unique promises in their day-to-day dealings and provide a unique individual touch.

The brand beliefs: discerning, passionate and insightful

The operative actions of the company and its employees are translated into the three beliefs of the brand and the culture of the company, which together form and define the personality of the company.

These brand beliefs shape the works and actions of airtours — from identifying new offers, tailoring new travel experiences, and experiences in dealing with customers. All convictions and beliefs apply equally to airtours employees as well as external partners such as the airtours Business Club and communication agencies, which are in direct contact with airtours brand customers via communication tools such as emails. They create the unique customer experience of the brand and of the company.

The design idea: discover luxury

A jewellery box was used as the metaphor for designing the airtours brand: elegant on the outside and precious and beautiful in the inside, which explains the truly unique experiences and memories created by airtours.

Three basic elements give the brand its charisma and lend it a unique, unmistakable, and a recognisable design: the airtours logo, the airtours Hallmark, and the strapline.

The airtours logo is a visual expression of the company and sums up its core values, which the company always lives up to. In order to maintain the power of the symbol, there are clear and rigid rules for its application, which must also be adhered to consistently.

The airtours ‘Hallmark’ represents the modern development of the historic airtours logo. This brand device depicts the many years of experience of airtours and their stamp of quality and that airtours only provides unique and luxurious travel experiences.

The Strapline ‘Defining Luxury Travel since 1967’ is a clear commitment to the company’s origins and leadership.

The transition phase: the airtours manifesto

First, for the internal transition of the brand and its convictions into new offers, these were first translated into a manifesto that expresses the requirements of the operative action and the high demands placed on the brand, its appearance, and its offers in an explicit manner.

airtours is home to the world of luxury.

airtours experiences are subject to an unrelenting selection, and our customers belong to an exclusive circle. We ensure that each individual receives the best. We recognise and master the trends on a large scale, internationally and without borders; we discover and communicate the local treasures and peculiarities.

We have the curiosity and flexibility to discover what is ‘in’ and to weigh the sovereignty and the experience of what is of lasting and exclusive value.

The airtours brand is always characterised by self-confidence and sovereignty. airtours has the power to make strong statements, is modern and cosmopolitan, but never fashionable and universal. Inspiring and sometimes surprising, but always unmistakably the leader in providing the best experiences.

The airtours design is ambitious and sophisticated, showing a desire for perfection and a love for attention to detail. Pictures and colours, positions and proportions — nothing is arbitrary or interchangeable.

Communication for a luxury travel brand

In the communication of the airtours brand, a contrast should always be created between the simple design and the rich application in order to make the role of airtours as a ‘Guide and Gateway’ tangible.airtours has opened the way to a detailed world of discovery to its business and private customers, which goes far beyond the usual — the luxury experience is noble, special, and tasteful, yet unique and individually crafted for each person.

Three basic elements give the brand its charisma and lend it a unique, unmistakable, and a recognisable design: the airtours logo, the airtours Hallmark, and the strapline.