Collette rebrands in bid to distinguish tours

DAN SULLIVAN JR., president  and CEO of the travel company recently rebranded as Collette, talks with Kristine Chochrek, the company's vice president of marketing and advertising. Sullivan said the choice to rebrand would distinguish Collette's guided tours from
DAN SULLIVAN JR., president and CEO of the travel company recently rebranded as Collette, talks with Kristine Chochrek, the company's vice president of marketing and advertising. Sullivan said the choice to rebrand would distinguish Collette's guided tours from "sun and fun" vacation travel. / PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Your grandparents knew it as Collette Travel, your parents knew it as Collette Tours, and you’ve know it as Collette Vacations – until now.
Renamed simply Collette, the 96-year-old travel company’s newest branding efforts, which went live in January, are intended to reinforce its evolution as a customer-centric company focused on the benefits of a life-enhancing, guided-tour experience for its older, core audience – particularly today’s Web savvy, independent-minded baby boomers.
A third-generation family-owned business, the firm bought the website domain name “gocollette.com” and is spending capital to bid against competitors for keywords, so the company’s offerings will be easier to find online, said President and CEO Dan Sullivan Jr. and Kristine Chochrek, vice president of marketing and advertising.
The firm has shortened its name in order to sharpen its brand identity and crafted the tagline “Guided by Travel” so as to keep the company mission front and center, they added.
As years pass, the younger group of baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 is reaching their 50s and 60s, and differs from older clients, who remain key customers and the object of marketing strategies, Chochrek explained.
“The folks coming into that boomer audience are different than the boomer audience of 10 to 20 years ago,” she said. “They travel more. They’re online-savvy. They want that guided experience but they want that flexibility to travel on their own as well.”
Sightseeing, for example, is structured but mixed in throughout each day with time off to give the traveler increased flexibility, Chochrek and Sullivan said.
The name change evolved through market research in which the company found that “what people know us as is ‘Collette,’ ” Sullivan said. At the same time, the word “vacations” brings to mind “sun and fun” travel, which is not what Collette offers, he said.
“We don’t do beaches,” Sullivan said. “We do guided touring, so we had to change that concept. Why would you buy Collette as opposed to something else? It’s a life-enriching experience if you take our tour.” Collette’s redesigned logo is intended to reflect both the past and the company’s forward-thinking momentum, Sullivan and Chochrek said. The globe, which symbolizes former President and CEO Dan Sullivan Sr.’s trip to the 1964 World’s Fair, is connected to the “C” to represent Collette’s commitment to travel, while the linked “t’s” suggest the motion that comes with being on the road.
In developing guided travel tours, 15 product managers, including Sullivan, travel seven continents to sample firsthand the type of experiences that Collette customers are looking for: authentic culture, rich meals, interaction with people and impressive sights – along with the conveniences and comforts of contemporary travel, Sullivan said.
Collette’s marketing push is the outgrowth of two years of research and planning, Chochrek and Sullivan said. Staying true to its core mission of cultural immersion in destinations has led to company growth, Sullivan said.
The company ranks 18th on Providence Business News’ Top Private Companies list, with reported revenue of $216.5 million in 2012. Sullivan said Collette has experienced double-digit growth for four consecutive years, with the last two years constituting record-breaking revenue. The company also has increased advanced travel reservations for 2014 by 37 percent, he added.
Providing a journey intended to be worry-free also differentiates the company from competitors, said Chochrek and Sullivan. Collette is the only company in North America that picks up and takes travelers to the airport if they live within 50 miles of that airport and book their air arrangements with the company, Sullivan said.
“What we’re really selling is a better life, which is a lofty condition, but the company employees are really passionate about what they do,” Chochrek said. •

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