TUI UK&I Appoints Ogilvy PR as Retained PR Agency for Flagship Brands

Global travel and leisure company TUI has announced Ogilvy PR will support the nationwide communications for its flagship British brands First Choice and Marella Cruises on a retained basis.  

The appointment follows a three-month four-way pitch in which Ogilvy PR was the standout agency, demonstrating a unique approach to earned-first creativity with measurable impact. The agency brought its celebrated behavioural science, influencer and social specialisms into the mix. 

Ogilvy PR will be tasked with building impactful long-term strategies and creative, attention grabbing earned first activations. For First Choice, the brief is to build awareness with young travellers and shape perceptions of the brand as an expert in curated, next generation package holidays.  

For Marella Cruises, the team will be attracting more gen x'ers to choose to cruise for the first time. 

Nicola Dodd, managing director, Ogilvy PR, “From the minute this brief landed to finding out we’d been successful, the TUI team ran a stand-out pitch process and we wanted to win this dream brief from the outset! Shifting stubborn attitudes by showing the potential of brands is what gives us our creative spark – and this is exactly what we have been briefed to do. The team are already getting stuck in, and we are excited to build on the strength of these already brilliant brands help shape their stories and build their brand propositions to entirely new audiences.” 

Amy Dowling, head of markets communications, TUI UK& I, said, “Following impressive performances from all agencies throughout the pitch, we are confident that Ogilvy PR’s talent and breadth of specialisms will deliver strong strategic thinking and innovative creative against two very different briefs. We were impressed from the start at how Ogilvy interrogated the briefs and tried to understand the brands and their distinct audiences. We’re looking forward to getting some exciting plans off the ground and making noise for two exceptional travel brands” 

Andy Stern, head of marketing for First Choice, said, “Ogilvy’s outside-the-box strategic and creative thinking impressed us from the outset of the pitch process. The First Choice brand underwent a big relaunch last September, and as such we’re still on a journey of showing up for next-gen travellers and showing off what we bring to the table when it comes to the types of trips they want to take. We’re excited to be re-vamping our strategy with the Ogilvy PR team to engage with this audience.” 

Chris Hackney, managing director at Marella Cruises said, “We're thrilled to partner with Ogilvy - our PR agency for the brand. Collaborating with a variety of agencies and partners is crucial to our brand's success, and with Ogilvy’s earned media first expertise, we aim to inspire new to cruise customers to choose Marella Cruises through innovative earned media. We’re looking forward to seeing what Ogilvy will bring to this exciting new chapter for the brand.”