Travelocity and McKinney + Silver Launch Roaming Gnome Ad Campaign; Roaming Gnome Enjoys Crackin' Good Time With Savvy Traveloci
January 05 2004 - 7:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Travelocity and McKinney + Silver Launch Roaming Gnome Ad Campaign;
Roaming Gnome Enjoys Crackin' Good Time With Savvy Travelocity
Travelers SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Geared toward
today's savvy travelers, Travelocity, the most popular travel site
on the Web, and its advertising agency, McKinney + Silver of
Raleigh, N.C., today launched the multi-dimensional "Roaming Gnome"
advertising campaign. (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040105/DAM004 ) Pilfered by
some Travelocity(R) travelers, THE ROAMING GNOME(SM), the two- foot
original character with a red hat, will be featured in a series of
advertisements in media outlets including DIRECTV, cable
television, national and local radio, and national and local print
spots. The campaign's initial budget is approximately $80 million.
"We believe that the best trips start at Travelocity, and we want
to share our excitement with other travelers," said Susan
McLaughlin, vice president of marketing for Travelocity. "With The
Roaming Gnome as the central figure of this campaign, we are
highlighting Travelocity's no-surprise philosophy when it comes to
the entire travel shopping experience, while also allowing
consumers to witness the wonder of all the fantastic places he
sees, all made possible through Travelocity." In the ads, The
Roaming Gnome writes to his owner Bill, telling of his experiences
while traveling, including cliff diving in Mexico, skiing the
winter slopes, enjoying a stinky wedge of cheese in Quebec and
flying -- complete with eye covers. All of the ads include the
tagline, "Book with Travelocity: Don't Forget your Hat(SM)." The
line signifies how Travelocity takes care of all the customer's
needs. "The Roaming Gnome is a character that we believe consumers
will come to love and embrace," said David Baldwin, executive
creative director for McKinney + Silver. "He is a lens that allows
travelers to share in his enthusiasm of seeing all of these
magnificent places for the first time, and he is a great medium for
sharing Travelocity travel stories." The ad launch follows a
three-week pre-publicity campaign, during which the gnome's
fictional owner, Bill, searched for his gnome online, in cinema
ads, posters and the classifieds. Interested searchers visited
Bill's site at http://www.whereismygnome.com/ and thousands more
called in to report sightings as well. A television spot teasing
the campaign that featured a news reporter interviewing several
people on the lookout for The Roaming Gnome ran on Jan. 1 during
the 2004 Rose Bowl. The rotund, three-dimensional character, who
hails from Great Britain and sports a pointy red hat, blue coat,
and distinctive long, white beard, represents the spirit of
Travelocity travelers with his adventurous, enthusiastic and
fun-loving nature. A longtime tradition in Europe and the United
Kingdom, gnome "kidnappings" have been a source of amusement for
those who "nick" the small, garden creatures for travels throughout
the world, photograph the gnomes and mail the photos with "ransom"
notes back to their owners. About Travelocity Travelocity, a Sabre
Holdings(TM) company, pioneered the online travel space and
continues to be the most popular travel service on the Web, giving
consumers access to hundreds of airlines, thousands of hotels and
cruise, last-minute and vacations packages, and best-in-class car
rental companies, all backed by 1,000 customer service
representatives staffed to provide 24- hour assistance. With 41
million members, Travelocity is the sixth largest travel agency in
the United States. It has been recognized worldwide for its
leadership in the online travel space, and it operates or powers
Web sites in five languages across four continents. Additional
information about Travelocity can be found on the Web at
http://www.travelocity.com/ . Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG)
is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and
providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel
industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at
http://www.sabre-holdings.com/ . About McKinney + Silver Founded in
1969, McKinney + Silver is a creatively renowned advertising agency
whose clients, in addition to Travelocity, include Audi of America,
the Ad Council, Fieldcrest Cannon, First Citizens Bank, Full Frame
Documentary Film Festival, Lands' End, the NASDAQ Stock Market, XO
Communications and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., McKinney is an independent
operating unit of Havas, a NASDAQ-listed firm that is one of the
world's largest communications companies. In addition to
advertising, McKinney + Silver offers brand identity and graphic
design services through mckinney. design. More information is
available at http://www.mckinney-silver.com/ . Contact: Judy
Haveson ( ) (212) 554-7425 Mary Kate Smither ( ) (972) 488-4790
VOLLMER MCKINNEY + SILVER Contact: Janet Northen ( ) (919) 821-6461
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040105/DAM004
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Travelocity CONTACT: Judy
Haveson, +1-212-554-7425, or , or Mary Kate Smither,
+1-972-488-4790, or , both of VOLLMER, for Travelocity; or Janet
Northen of McKinney + Silver, +1-919-821-6461, or Web site:
http://www.travelocity.com/ http://www.whereismygnome.com/
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