Thomas Cook explores Father Son bond with new campaign

In every Indian household, rural and urban, if there is one thing that fathers definitely pass on to their children, is their love for cricket. For father and child, watching cricket is a bonding exercise that slowly turns into a tradition. However, as the child grows up and discovers the world outside, the tradition starts to fade away. Therefore, this cricket season, Thomas Cook wanted to remind fans to travel from wherever they are, to watch the World Cup with their first cricket buddy, their father.

Thomas Cook India data has indicated a 30% rise in male travellers aged above 45 years and post - retirement as compared to 2018. With over 90% holidaying with their families, ‘Dad and Me’ travel is fast gaining ground today. For today’s cash rich, but time poor generation, the emotional appeal of travelling to spend quality time with their Dad is resulting in strong demand for outdoors-adventure, music and culture tourism; sports tourism being a significant driver.

This need for an emotional-connect is also seeing a surge in gifting of Instagram–worthy holidays to dads by millennial travellers. With add–on inclusions to pamper their fathers and ensure memories of a lifetime, the packages are usually upgraded with extravagant features like end to end chauffeur services, bookings in spa-resorts and fun-filled bonding experiences create an unforgettable trip.

The result is a digital video campaign #CricketDateWithDad which leverages this significant trend close on the heels of Father’s Day (June 16, 2019) and in sync with the on-going ICC Cricket World Cup.

The campaign has been conceptualized and created by Law & Kenneth Saatchi & Saatchi and includes an emotional film which is live on social media and digital mediums.

Speaking about the campaign, Mr. Abraham Alapatt, President, Group Head - Marketing, Service Quality & Innovation, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. said, “The new wave of father-child bonding trips is a significant opportunity for our brand. Through our campaign #CricketDateWithDad, we aim to focus on the sentiment shared by father and child, and induce in our customers the need to take time out from their schedules and spend some exclusive time with their first hero – their dad. With cricket being India’s passion and Father’s Day coinciding with the ICC Cricket World Cup, we’ve combined the two to present it as a compelling proposition to our customers.”

Speaking about the film, Debarjyo Nandi, Sr.Vice President, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi said, “We don’t realize until it’s too late that these moments with our dads will never come back. We don’t realize that while we have now moved on to watching matches with our friends, he’s still at home, probably watching it alone. We don’t realize that watching a World Cup in the stadium is probably on their bucket list too, which we should prioritize over ours…else regret not realizing this dream for the rest of our lives! ”

The film has garnered over a million views across social media platforms. With a 36% growth in bookings for the World Cup, the brand aims to encourage father–child travel engagement through common passions like cricket.