Thomas Cook Airlines - Takeover my Trip

Thomas Cook Airlines in the UK has announced a “social media marketing campaign” fronted by celebrities, called Takeover my Trip.

Takeover my Trip takes the form of a three part video series. The idea is to highlight a different destination each time, each appealing to a different demographic.

Social media fans are able to interact with the campaign “to make decisions on how each trip unfolds in real time.” There are also Facebook Live streams from each location.

The series began when reality TV star Samira Mighty, who was in the show ‘Love Island’, flew to Palma de Mallorca and stayed at the Cook’s Club Palma Beach, a Thomas Cook own-brand hotel.

Subsequent visits will see comedian Ben Shires going to New York, and kids’ TV presenter Alex Winters going to Turkey.

We’ll be honest, we instinctively had an eye rolling moment when we heard that Thomas Cook was sending a Love Island star to Mallorca. However, the way the airline has split the celebrities and destinations is actually quite smart.

No doubt about it, some of Thomas Cook’s demographic does involve the under 25s who want a cheap flight so they can party in Spain.

But it also has an interest in promoting longer haul destinations like NYC (hence the choice of a comedian to explore the city) and family friendly options (so a children’s TV presenter is being sent to Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.)