Thomas Cook calls digital pitch

By Ian Darby, campaignlive.co.uk, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 11:21AM

Thomas Cook has approached agencies ahead of a pitch for its digital business.

Thomas Cook: December 2012 TV campaign

The travel retailer is said to be on the hunt for an agency to overhaul its online presence, including its website. However, the full scope of the brief is unclear as talks are still at an early stage.

Mike Hoban, the Thomas Cook marketing director, is expected to lead the process of appointing an agency. He joined the travel company last year, having previously headed the marketing team at Confused.com.

Thomas Cook currently handles much of its digital activity in-house.

Last year, it appointed Havas Worldwide London to handle its advertising business. The agency created a campaign using the line "It's a wonderful world, explore it with us", which broke in March 2012.

However, Campaign's sister magazine Marketing revealed Thomas Cook was forced to cut back on some of its planned New Year 2013 marketing activity due to cost controls.

The group is heavily in debt but has embarked on a turnaround plan led by the chief executive, Harriet Green, and pre-tax losses declined in the final three months of 2012 to £127.9 million, down from £151.7 million in 2011.

Today, Thomas Cook announced  £50m of additional cost cutting and disposals of non-core businesses as part of its turnaround plan.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk