UPDATE:
Here is the latest ad in the campaign:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD5FBdZJ8ss
ORIGINAL:
With Thomas Cook closing in and Thomson clinging on to the top spot, this week is probably about the right time to launch a major new branding campaign at Expedia in Europe.
The reshaping of the company's branding - using the tagline "People Shaped Travel" - will begin in the UK and eventually roll out to Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
TV ads will be joined by radio, print, online and a social push as part of the campaign, designed by creative shop Ogilvy & Mather.
The idea behind the campaign is to show potential and existing customers the human side of the company - in this case by using members of staff that work at Expedia's European headquarters in London to highlight different languages, cultures and experience of those seemingly helping put travel products together for web users.
Marketing bosses reckon the campaign will stand out as it is in contrast to other efforts from travel brands which supposedly focus on sunny beaches, palm trees and the like.
The launch of the new campaign comes about 15 months after Expedia introduced the now infamous and grammatically awkward "Where you book matters" tagline in the US.
A number of countries, including the UK, took some of the "building blocks" creative from the TV ads, but never adopted the tagline. Sister company Hotwire is also currently in the middle of a major TV advertising campaign in the UK following its launch in April 2011.
Here is the UK version of the new 30-second TV spot.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPRh63qs2I