DIRECT HOLIDAYS MAKES ITS BIG SCREEN DEBUT FOR LAUNCH OF 2010 BRAND AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

 

Direct Holidays has teamed up with the UK’s leading cinema chains, Cineworld and Odeon, to make its advertising debut on the big screen for the launch of the direct-sell holiday operator’s 2010 brand awareness campaign.

Created by Outside The Box, the ad, which was first introduced online this summer, will be shown at over 1,800 Cineworld and Odeon cinema screens nationwide – with a potential reach of 1.6million. 

The advertising campaign features a tongue-in-cheek 60 second spot called ‘No Sausage For Me Bob’ and portrays an every day scene in a greasy spoon.   As the scene unfolds, the men are soon put off their food when their eggs and beans are served up by the café owner, dressed only in his snorkel and apron.  Recently returned from holiday, the café owner embodies the strapline ‘The Direct Effect - make it last as long as you can’.   

The ‘No Sausage for Me Bob’ campaign kicks off in cinemas on Friday 20th November, where it will be screened during the trailers for Twilight Saga: New Moon.  It will subsequently be shown alongside St Trinians (from 18th December), Sherlock Holmes (from Boxing Day) and Avatar (from 18th December).

Concourse lounges in key cinemas in Manchester, Belfast, Birmingham, East Midlands, Newcastle, Bristol and Glasgow will also receive the ‘Direct Effect’ with standees and floor vinyls greeting cinema goers as they arrive. On-ticket advertising, washroom panel ads, counter cards and six-sheets will be used to create a continuous brand theme throughout the venues.

Steve Barrass, Managing Director, Direct Holidays, commented; “As a direct sell holiday company, we wanted a campaign that would put our brand on the high street in the run up to the busy holiday booking period.  By bringing our advertising onto the Big Screen in four of the festive season’s biggest blockbuster movies, we are able to communicate the Direct Effect ideals of value, fun, relaxation and escapism – all the elements we aim to bring customers who holiday with us.”

Jeremy Playle, Commercial Director at Digital Cinema Media (DCM), who brokered Direct Holidays’ cinema deal, commented: “This campaign cleverly captures the increasing excitement of booking and planning holidays, and works extremely well in the context of cinema, a medium designed to entertain in an engaging environment.”

As part of Direct Holidays’ cinema campaign, 5,000 customers will also receive tickets to the cinema via targeted door drops.

Direct Holidays’ cinema activity marks the start of a larger outdoor media campaign, which in January will see over 200 buses across the UK carrying Direct Holidays’ Summer 2010 adverts, roadside six sheets and building projections beaming the Direct Holidays branding to consumers across the country.

Additional press activity will see over 14 million inserts distributed in key national, regional and consumer press titles and tailored direct mailings sent to hundreds of thousands of households.  Brochure advertising panels in national press and consumer titles will be supported by an advertorial an display ads campaign in key women’s and TV listing weeklies as well as a targeted outbound email campaign.