McRackin
Super Moderator
Club 18-30 tries to shed 'sex and sangria' image
By Chris Hastings and David Bamber
(Filed: 07/03/2004)
It will soon be goodbye to sex, sea and sangria. The Club 18-30 holiday group that specialises in debauched holidays for young Britons is going upmarket.
The company has asked Saatchi and Saatchi, its current advertising agency, to come up with a new image that is "less male" and "less aggressive". Other advertising agencies have also been asked to think along similar lines.
The revamp is part of a concerted bid to attract more "sophisticated" and "self-assured" young holidaymakers.
It is believed that the company wants to tone down some of the most raucous parts of its holiday packages, emphasising instead a new range of sports and keep-fit activities that might be more attractive to high-income earners.
The success of its recently introduced "club chillin" initiative that allows revellers to rest between clubbing sessions, rather than party all night, has highlighted the benefits of a more relaxed approach.
Until now, the company's holidays in Ibiza, Corfu, Cyprus and Crete have been notorious for their hedonistic mix of sexual promiscuity and drunkenness.
In recent years, however, the carefree image has been damaged by a series of well-publicised scandals involving some of the company's staff and customers.
Most recently, three Club 18-30 representatives were arrested for organising bar crawls for up to 500 holidaymakers in the Greek resort of Faliraki. They were later acquitted. The drink-fuelled antics of some of the holidaymakers included stripping off in front of local people.
Police in the resort on the island of Rhodes made a series of arrests and imposed restrictions on such pub crawls.
In a separate incident last October, five company reps were charged with debauchery after they were filmed staging what was alleged to be an oral sex competition on a beach in Corfu.
Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel operator that bought Club 18-30 in 1998, has been concerned at the impact such incidents have had on its business. In December, bookings for Faliraki were down 68 per cent on the previous year.
A spokesman for the company said that it was seeking a more sophisticated clientele. "We are reviewing the sort of holidays we provide in the light of research," he said.
"Our market is still very much aged 18 to 24, but it is a market that wants different things from two or three years ago. The audience is far more sophisticated than it once was."
In the past, Club 18-30 has emphasised, rather than concealed, its downmarket image, commissioning a series of smutty advertisements that left very little to the imagination.
James Griffiths, the account director for Club 18-30 at Saatchi and Saatchi, said: "There are plans to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the brand and to make changes. I doubt we will become Club 18-40, but the review is only just getting under way.
"There have obviously been difficulties over the past year and we are having to review the future of the brand. We are trying to appeal to a wider market."
Julie Kirkbride, the shadow culture secretary, said she welcomed anything that would improve the image of Britons abroad. "I think British people should act with more dignity abroad and anything Club 18-30 can do to help that should be welcomed. It isn't good for Britain's image abroad if we are thought of as a nation of lager louts."
Bar owners in Faliraki last night agreed that the 18-30 brand needed an overhaul. Caroline Lee, 28, who works at the Alabama bar in Faliraki, said: "I think they are closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Companies such as 18-30 have already gained Faliraki a bad reputation that it does not deserve.
"Until 2000 we had a nice crowd every summer, then it started getting out of hand. There has been a lot of drunkenness and bad behaviour and I am sure that is the reason why business is down in recent years."
A spokesman for the British Embassy in Athens declined to comment.
By Chris Hastings and David Bamber
(Filed: 07/03/2004)
It will soon be goodbye to sex, sea and sangria. The Club 18-30 holiday group that specialises in debauched holidays for young Britons is going upmarket.
The company has asked Saatchi and Saatchi, its current advertising agency, to come up with a new image that is "less male" and "less aggressive". Other advertising agencies have also been asked to think along similar lines.
The revamp is part of a concerted bid to attract more "sophisticated" and "self-assured" young holidaymakers.
It is believed that the company wants to tone down some of the most raucous parts of its holiday packages, emphasising instead a new range of sports and keep-fit activities that might be more attractive to high-income earners.
The success of its recently introduced "club chillin" initiative that allows revellers to rest between clubbing sessions, rather than party all night, has highlighted the benefits of a more relaxed approach.
Until now, the company's holidays in Ibiza, Corfu, Cyprus and Crete have been notorious for their hedonistic mix of sexual promiscuity and drunkenness.
In recent years, however, the carefree image has been damaged by a series of well-publicised scandals involving some of the company's staff and customers.
Most recently, three Club 18-30 representatives were arrested for organising bar crawls for up to 500 holidaymakers in the Greek resort of Faliraki. They were later acquitted. The drink-fuelled antics of some of the holidaymakers included stripping off in front of local people.
Police in the resort on the island of Rhodes made a series of arrests and imposed restrictions on such pub crawls.
In a separate incident last October, five company reps were charged with debauchery after they were filmed staging what was alleged to be an oral sex competition on a beach in Corfu.
Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel operator that bought Club 18-30 in 1998, has been concerned at the impact such incidents have had on its business. In December, bookings for Faliraki were down 68 per cent on the previous year.
A spokesman for the company said that it was seeking a more sophisticated clientele. "We are reviewing the sort of holidays we provide in the light of research," he said.
"Our market is still very much aged 18 to 24, but it is a market that wants different things from two or three years ago. The audience is far more sophisticated than it once was."
In the past, Club 18-30 has emphasised, rather than concealed, its downmarket image, commissioning a series of smutty advertisements that left very little to the imagination.
James Griffiths, the account director for Club 18-30 at Saatchi and Saatchi, said: "There are plans to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the brand and to make changes. I doubt we will become Club 18-40, but the review is only just getting under way.
"There have obviously been difficulties over the past year and we are having to review the future of the brand. We are trying to appeal to a wider market."
Julie Kirkbride, the shadow culture secretary, said she welcomed anything that would improve the image of Britons abroad. "I think British people should act with more dignity abroad and anything Club 18-30 can do to help that should be welcomed. It isn't good for Britain's image abroad if we are thought of as a nation of lager louts."
Bar owners in Faliraki last night agreed that the 18-30 brand needed an overhaul. Caroline Lee, 28, who works at the Alabama bar in Faliraki, said: "I think they are closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Companies such as 18-30 have already gained Faliraki a bad reputation that it does not deserve.
"Until 2000 we had a nice crowd every summer, then it started getting out of hand. There has been a lot of drunkenness and bad behaviour and I am sure that is the reason why business is down in recent years."
A spokesman for the British Embassy in Athens declined to comment.
