Thomson consigned to history as TUI masterbrand rolls out

Update 18 October 2017: Thomson’s rebrand and name change to TUI has been a two-year process, and the roll-out is now officially complete across all markets, including the UK. Customers will now see the TUI name and logo across shop-fronts nationwide. Read more about the rebrand on Marketing Week, Design Week’s sister title.  

TUI Group has confirmed it will be unifying its holiday provider companies, including Thomson, under the TUI name.

The rebrand will see companies including Thomson, First Choice Holidays, the Netherlands’ Arke and France’s Marmara lose their identifying brand names and take on the TUI name with the smile-shaped logo instead.

“The appeal of TUI and the Smile are extremely high,” says Fritz Joussen, joint CEO of the TUI Group. “A strong global presence of the TUI brand will strengthen the Group’s competitiveness in the digital age.”

The single identity will also be applied to TUI Group’s airlines, which includes 140 aircrafts belonging to brands such as TUIfly, Thomsonfly, Arkefly, Jetairfly and TUIfly Nordic.

A spokesperson for TUI Group says: “A strong one-brand policy will make it considerably easier to use the aircraft of the European fleet and the crews across the individual countries as demand requires it.

“The resulting increase in the effectiveness of TUI airlines is to enable us to deliver operational efficiency improvements worth 50 million euros per annum by 2018.”

The decision was confirmed at a strategy meeting and presentation of half-year results yesterday.

The meeting also provided an update on the merger between German TUI AG and UK-based TUI Travel PLC, which took place in January and which saw the formation of TUI Group.

The identity will begin rolling out in the Netherlands this autumn, to be followed by France, Belgium and other markets.