Shearings invests in trade marketing and incentive to promote rebrand

Leger Shearings Group will invest in trade marketing and a January incentive for travel agents as part of its campaign to promote a rebrand and reposition for its Shearings brand.

The new look is the first major change since Leger Holidays acquired Shearings in June 2020 and follows extensive research with customers and staff.

Liam Race, Leger Shearing Group chief executive, said: “Since we rescued the Shearings’ brand over four years ago, we’ve kept changes to a minimum.

“There were many loyal customers who stayed with the brand and we didn’t want to alienate any customers with major changes too soon.”

He told a Travel Weekly webcast: “The repositioning and rebranding exercise of Shearings has taken us almost a year to realise.

“We acquired the brand and assets in the midst of the pandemic, so we didn’t really have the time to put our stamp on it.

“Now we have, it’s a really exciting transformation and a strong personality change for the brand.”

He said more than 10,000 holidaymakers were surveyed online, including ‘old’ and ‘new’ Shearings’ clients.

This was followed by a “revolutionary” market research study using neuro-marketing technology and EEG (electroencephalography), which records electrical activity of the brain.

This involved 41 participants, who were invited to Leger Shearings Group’s HQ in Rotherham, to take part in the EEG study.

Their reactions to marketing content and adverts were measured, to assess their attention, engagement, excitement, interest, relaxation and stress.

“All the research from customers boiled down to taking the hassle away,” he said, highlighting how the new Shearings strapline is ‘hassle-free holidays’.

As the research showed customers don’t like airports, parking or carrying suitcases, Shearings’ escorted tours will “take care of everything”.

Studies into Shearings marketing, and that of competitors, also showed how customers were “caught in a land of indecision”, being presented primarily with price and product, he added.

“The great work our team has delivered will resonate extremely well and move us away from price and product and more about personality,” he said.

A new website and advertising campaigns will launch in mid-December, with new brochures published at the end of the year, and a new TV advert to be broadcast in early January, followed by radio advertising.

A travel agent incentive will launch in the new year but there are no plans to increase the trade team beyond Ashley Dellow, Leger Shearings Group’s head of retail sales.

Race said “phenomenal” marketing campaigns will launch in January for Shearings, Leger and the group’s specialist brands.

“We’re going to invest more in marketing next year than we ever have done. We are investing heavily within direct but also trade marketing as well,” he said.

He said trade sales account for about 10% of the group’s business and there is “scope for growth” – although he doesn’t expect it will grow beyond about 15%.

“We’ve got a great partnership with the likes of Hays, Midcounties Co-op and TTNG (The Travel Network Group).

“Travel agents are a key part of our business. There are certain shoots of growth within certain partners, and it’s trying to amplify those.

“If we suddenly start to see a transition towards more travel agent sales, then we will invest and there will be more Ashley Dellows.”

Shearings’ new mini-breaks product range is part of the transition too, he noted, as they will attract new, younger customers.

“The current target demographic for Shearings is 55-plus. Our new tone of voice, new product range [will be] probably more 50-plus,” he said.

“That five-year drop in in target audience is what we should start to see.

“We have changed the tone of voice massively, from almost that news announcer, very corporate, to friendly – someone you would like to go and have a coffee with and have a chat. That is the transition we’ve gone on.”