UPJ “Affluent Travel” kit

: At the core of the kit a custom Word template document, designed by Shaun Waugh in-house, bespoke edited by “Affluent Travel” UPJ crew Ana, Kelly & Roz as required. Printed and bound in the Propellor Studio in-house digital printery, the core of which was an A3 Fuji Xerox colour laser.

: Pionair Unparalleled Journeys | Rename, rebrand

: The Hidden Gems set of 3 escorted tour direct mail brochures.

Unparalleled Journey’s “Affluent Travel” toolkit… the essentials.

Aside from being a private air charter firm, owning aircraft and having air crew and air operations personnel on staff, Pionair was also a “best-in-class” inbound wholesale travel operator to the world’s finest destinations in the Oceania region.

The Pionair travel department had a group focussed on designing, marketing and operating escorted group air tours and a Free Inboard Travel, Unparalleled Journeys (UPJ) “affluent travel” group whose clientele was high-end travel agents in the U.S. and internationally.

At the core of the kit a custom Word template document, designed by Shaun Waugh in-house, bespoke edited by “Affluent Travel” UPJ crew Ana, Kelly & Roz as required. Printed and bound in the Propellor Studio in-house digital printery, the core of which was an A3 Fuji Xerox colour laser.

The UPJ people, lead by Tim Scott, Ana, Kelly, and Roz, were experts in treating all their guests as their most valuable guest, making them all feel welcome. I collaborated with the UPJ client to prepare the kit exclusively for renowned agents in the travel industry’s premium “Affluent Travel” sector in the U.S. and internationally. The toolkit was their one stop shop of “must have” tools for consulting with the UPJ crew to develop bespoke family and small group tours.

In the kit they could find helpful information about branded luxury accommodation and premium tourism experiences in the Oceania region; New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Islands of the Coral Sea and the South Pacific.

The integrated brand connection

The consistent application of the UPJ “all black” visual theme across all the printed collateral was successful in clearly communicating the company’s personality, philosophy and vision. The comprehensive programme of communications included the Pionair website. I created and managed a brand for UPJ which proved successful at launching and consistently differentiating the company from its competitors in the affluent travel market.

The UPJ brand personality, like its people, credible and authentic

Ana, Kelly, and Roz offered an exclusive enhanced set of services and paid special attention to their travellers leading up to and during their entire stay. They would go above and beyond to anticipate, not just meet, the needs of their guests and were frequently given bouquets by their guests and U.S. agents alike for making their trips as welcoming, seamless and pleasant a magic carpet ride that holidaying downunder could ever be.

At the core of the kit a custom Word document template, printed in-house

Word template documents are incredibly useful, time saving business tools that ensure consistency and clarity of messaging. I designed a polished, U.S. Letter size professional template document. The clarity of the design adheres to the highest presentation standards of the travel industry which helped Pionair UPJ to stand out, increase their business and gain success in the highly discerning U.S. affluent travel field.

The template document, custom illustrated set of regional maps and image library I created made it easy for my UPJ colleagues to input all the relevant information and images into their template within minutes. This ease of use meant they were able to create custom documents and required updates to the agent’s kit within minutes which they could share and run with in printed or electronic form.

Brand communications strategy

The front and back cover images of the folder are set against a rich black background. The cover image is a striking signature photo composite of the road to Mt. Cook rendered in the UPJ brand signature theme of an ‘all black’ sky. Aside from the obvious dramatic effect a black sky has with regard to intensifying the colours in landscape photos, this was also a pragmatic choice in order to assert a strong point of difference between our printed sales collateral and those of the competition.

The rationale

Like our competitors, Pionair leaned heavily on the likes of Tourism New Zealand and Australia’s State Tourism image libraries for sourcing royalty-free high quality images. The industry-wide use of great quality but generic images has the predictable result of making travel brochures appear generic, and printed collateral that lacks clear brand differentiation from competitors. My signature all black sky theme helped UPJ to stand out in that sea of sameness, connect with their high-end clientele on an emotional level and contributed to the fast growth of the business.

The agent’s kit also included…

The UPJ Affluent Travel booklet

The Hidden Gems trio of brochures

Credits

Printer: Croft Print Limited / Pionair Propellor Studio
Design firm: Pionair Propellor Studio
Copywriter: Ana Haase
Art director / designer / print production: Shaun Waugh
Type Credit: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica Neue Condensed, Helvetica Neue Extended