“Group travel has an image problem”: Topdeck GM on the company’s big rebrand

“Group travel has an image problem”: Topdeck GM on the company’s big rebrand
By Alexandra Coulton


Topdeck has launched a new brand proposition along with three new destinations with a focus on authenticity and cultural immersion.

The new proposition Feel Real is aimed at travellers who are sick of “filtered tourism”, and are seeking the “visceral essence of travel”.

This direction is based on multi-market research across Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom into its target audience of 18-39-year-olds, revealing Topdeck’s audience are tired of mass-produced and duplicated moments.

As a result, the brand is seeking to distance itself from cookie-cutter travel to amplify aspects that are socially rewarding, culturally different and personally liberating.

Charles Knowlton, Topdeck’s global general manager said the company intends to break through the travel conformity trending social realms by redeveloping routes across the world, drawing attention to the elements of travel that ‘feel real’ and liberating individuals from the rules of normal life.

“Travel that feels real is at the heart of our brand and operations approach,” Knowlton said.

“We know that our customers desire deep culture, meaningful connections and to be able to not just see, but really feel a destination, as well as take in everything the journey has to offer along the way,”

“Travel has become commoditised and homogenous. Travel should be more than offering ‘copy and paste’ experiences.

“It should offer people the chance to escape the mundane of day-to-day life, meet new life-long friends, gain new perspectives and broaden their horizons. We deliver that, group travel delivers that, but group travel has an image problem, that we aim to overcome.”

The rebrand includes three new trips, including ‘intimate’ experiences in Sri Lanka

The rebrand will include a new website, digital marketing campaign and collateral, refreshed messaging, trip alterations and a series of new product releases.

The youth travel gurus launched three trips alongside the rebrand, marketed as “epically intimate routes” through Sri Lanka, Georgie (EU) and Ecuador and the Galapagos which will be available in 2020 and 2021.

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