Club Med: Luxury vacations from the tailor

With the new campaign, Club Med wants to move away from the image of a provider of loud club vacations à la Ballermann, where every guest has to take part in the entire entertainment program. Instead, the travel provider is positioning itself as the first address for premium vacations on five continents - still all-inclusive, but at four- and five-star level. For example, holidaymakers can book private villas in Mauritius with their own pool, butler and private golf and tennis lessons with Club Med. These accommodations are exactly the opposite of what is commonly thought of as a "club vacation". This makes them a perfect fit for the travel company's new strategy. "By 2012, we will have upgraded the majority of our 80 resorts to premium level and built more luxury resorts," emphasized Pierre-André Gremaud, Marketing Director of Club Med, at the launch of the new campaign. "Our core message is that in future everyone will be able to enjoy a luxury vacation tailored to their needs at Club Med."

The campaign includes print motifs, online banners, a Facebook page, a microsite and surprising ambient activities such as clothes hangers, which are distributed in dry cleaners with the message "So that you too can return from your vacation in top form". The four print subjects visualize the "tailor-made" message with dreamlike scenes from the beach, the golf course or tennis court and under water, which were printed on the clothing of the testimonials - because tailor-made vacations feel as good as a shirt tailored to your body. The print subjects are placed in the daily press, magazines and special interest titles, the banners on Annabelle.ch, Schweizerfamilie.ch and Gofeminin.ch, for example. "We deliberately focused on women when addressing them because they are more open to new ideas than men and usually have the most important voice when planning a vacation," explains Gremaud. Club Med is also using events to draw attention to its repositioning: Last week, Jennifer Ann Gerber, Miss Switzerland 2001 and presenter of the SSF program "Golfers Only", played mini-golf with passers-by on Zurich's Hechtplatz. A similar event also took place in Basel. Both events were filmed and the films will be incorporated into the campaign. All subjects, banners and activities refer to the microsite Der-neueclub- med.ch, which explains what "the new Club Med" actually is: a guarantee for a luxurious and tailor-made vacation.

Tailor-made and playful

The microsite also plays with this idea, where users can click on whether they want to book a vacation alone, as a couple or with children and what their needs are: The selection ranges from a varied sports program in summer and winter to pure romance and a luxury spa. The travel provider even offers childcare for children from the age of four months. Once users have made their selection, they are offered various Club Med resorts that fulfill their wishes. And those who are already in vacation fever can even upload a photo of themselves, swap their face for that of the testimonial and take a look at themselves in their dream environment. The new communication campaign was designed by Saatchi & Saatchi Zurich and was launched on May 9. "For the realization of the campaign, Club Med has found a partner who is very familiar with German-speaking Switzerland and can assess the needs of our target group well," says Gremaud.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich