Less hassle, more holiday
Oak Creative operates as the Holiday Extras in house design team – and has done since our inception in 1991. As part of the Holiday Extras group of businesses, Oak Creative is strategically placed as a creative resource for the entire Holiday Extras group. Operating as an in-house design team, Oak Creative promises a professional and collaborative team approach, offering creative knowledge, rapid turn around and ideas.
Having a Creative Partner that understands us, understands how we are perceived and understands what we stand for has been essential.
As a travel business, explain to us how you navigated the journey through 2020 and 2021:
Holiday Extras had just finished our first big above the line campaign in Jan 2020 when Covid-19 started to impact travel. We quickly went from worrying about what the impact on travel might be, to trying to understand how long it might last, to realising that this was going to have a profound impact on the entire travel industry.
After the shock of the initial weeks, when we saw customers cancelling bookings and zero bookings through the door, we quickly moved to how we could help our customers book with flexibility and confidence once travel opened up. We knew travel would return one day but we had no idea when. So we worked on our strategy and on how to help customers to have the confidence to book when the time is right for them. I’m really pleased that now travel is back, we are really well positioned to help our customers travel hassle-free again.
What role has your brand identity played during this time?
In the early days of the pandemic, we were working really hard to protect our reputation with customers that were really upset that their plans had to change. This was painful for a brand like ours, that has built a reputation for hassle free travel and excellent customer service.
We prioritised making sure that every single customer that had a less than perfect experience was contacted and helped. We then built flexibility into our product range and we’ve established ourselves as a business that is here to help our customers go on holiday, even if times are tough, which I think will stand us in good stead for the future. I am pleased to say that our reputation is back to where it was in early 2020, if not better now.
How does the future look for Holiday Extras?
It’s exciting! We are starting to see green shoots of recovery and words such as “growth” being uttered again around the business. The main thing is that travel is back and people can go on holiday again.
At Holiday Extras our vision is to remake holiday-making. We want to help our customers travel hassle free whenever they go on holiday, whether that is here in the UK (which we are helping them book via our new UK Shortbreaks products) or overseas. We will support them with flexible terms which mean they have the confidence to book, with super fast, super smart customer service that completely removes the hassle. And we will provide them with incredible products, services and content that means they can get really excited about the holidays that they so richly deserve.
How important has having a creative partner been for building your brand?
Oak Creative have been by our side to help handle our brand reputation with care through what has been a pretty turbulent time. Having a Creative Partner that understands us, understands how we are perceived and understands what we stand for has been essential.
Before that, when we were working super hard building brand awareness and consideration, working with Oak was fantastic because the team there have always taken the time to get to know us really well and therefore instinctively knew what we are trying to achieve.
We know that whether we need a new headline image created for our homepage, new printed brochures for one of our partners, some branding ideas for a new product range or support for a big pitch, the team at Oak will bring a fresh perspective and tireless effort to the table.
