Kuoni

Putting Kuoni back on the map

  • Brand Strategy
  • Proposition
  • Naming
  • Visual identity
  • Verbal identity
  • Brand guidelines
  • Brand launch

Once an icon of adven­ture, Kuoni pio­neered char­tered long-haul escapes, open­ing extra­or­di­nary trav­el to UK audi­ences and set­ting the stan­dard for lux­u­ry. By 2023, that mag­ic had fad­ed. The brand had become syn­ony­mous with Indi­an Ocean hon­ey­moons — aspi­ra­tional, yes, but exclu­sive, out­dat­ed, and rarely cho­sen. Per­ceived as expen­sive and pre­dictable, Kuoni had lost its edge and rel­e­vance with a new gen­er­a­tion of travellers.

In a sea of same­ness, it need­ed to stand out again. Our task was to reassert Kuoni’s lead­er­ship in lux­u­ry trav­el by mak­ing it not just admired, but active­ly cho­sen, through a revi­talised brand that was mod­ern, mean­ing­ful, and unmis­tak­ably Kuoni. We repo­si­tioned Kuoni from a respect­ed tour oper­a­tor to a dis­tinc­tive, mod­ern brand guar­an­teed to wow, brought to life through an impos­si­ble to ignore identity.

RECLAIM­ING THE WOW

At the heart of the strat­e­gy was a sim­ple truth: trav­ellers don’t fall in love with star rat­ings; they fall in love with moments. Kuoni had long owned the ulti­mate wow moment, the hon­ey­moon, but that mag­ic had nar­rowed into a niche. We unlocked that her­itage of wow and broad­ened it for every jour­ney with a bold new promise, ​“Go wow or go home.”



A WORLD OF WOWS

We rein­tro­duced and reimag­ined Kuoni’s icon­ic globe as a dynam­ic sym­bol of wow moments around the world, reassert­ing its sta­tus as a glob­al trav­el leader. Adding Trav­el to the logo trans­formed Kuoni from a provider into a mind­set — a brand that rep­re­sents how to expe­ri­ence the world, not just where to go.

“This wasn’t just a visu­al rebrand­ing exer­cise; it was about revi­tal­is­ing a once mar­ket lead­ing brand that had lost its way and giv­ing us a strong foun­da­tion to grow from.”

Caroline Child, Marketing Director, Kuoni


WOW YEL­LOW

“Wow Yel­low” became the brand’s heart­beat: bright, joy­ful, and impos­si­ble to ignore. More than a colour, it was a state­ment, a mod­ern expres­sion of lux­u­ry that felt invit­ing, not intim­i­dat­ing. Paired with a sophis­ti­cat­ed sup­port­ing palette, it cap­tured the warmth and opti­mism of those unfor­get­table ​“wow” moments Kuoni cre­ates for every traveller.

“I have nev­er worked with a brand part­ner who felt so much part of the team from the very start, and that are as strong in the think­ing as they are in the doing.”

Caroline Child, Marketing Director, Kuoni

EXPE­RI­ENCE OVER DESTINATIONS

We shift­ed Kuoni’s entire visu­al and ver­bal sto­ry­telling from places to feel­ings — from des­ti­na­tions to expe­ri­ences. Nar­ra­tive-led pho­tog­ra­phy cap­tured awe through human detail: a hand graz­ing a ripe man­go, the hush of a safari sun­rise, laugh­ter in mon­soon rain.

WARM, WIT­TY AND WONDERFILLED

Gone were the tired trav­el plat­i­tudes; in their place, a voice that felt con­fi­dent, human, and filled with won­der. Every word was writ­ten to inspire emo­tion, and make peo­ple feel the wow before they’d even packed. Head­lines invit­ed curios­i­ty, copy built antic­i­pa­tion, and even book­ing flows car­ried a spark of per­son­al­i­ty. Across every touch­point, Kuoni sound­ed mod­ern, warm, and unmis­tak­ably alive. It no longer spoke like a lux­u­ry trav­el brand, but like the thrill of trav­el itself — fresh, joy­ful, and impos­si­ble to ignore.

BRING­ING WOW TO EVERY INTERACTION

The new iden­ti­ty wasn’t made to live on a screen, it was built to shine every­where. We worked close­ly with Kuoni’s teams to bring ​“wow” to every touch­point, from dig­i­tal jour­neys to its 27 high-street stores and John Lewis loca­tions. Every ele­ment, from shopfronts glow­ing in Wow Yel­low to copy lines on book­ing pages, invit­ed trav­el­ers into the expe­ri­ence before their trip even began.

“Not only am I for­tu­nate enough to now have a fab­u­lous new brand iden­ti­ty to play with, but it’s one that actu­al­ly works in real life — not just in the Guide­lines document!”

Caroline Child, Marketing Director, Kuoni

Impact

  • Commercial impact
    While overseas travel bookings fell across the market (-12.1% Jan, -14.9% Feb, Accord Travel Report), Kuoni grew total booking revenue +8% YoY.

  • Audience growth
    Core couples (55+) booked nearly +20% more holidays and increased spend +30% YoY.

    Younger couples (35–54) spent +10% more per trip, proving Kuoni could be aspirational and accessible.

  • Engagement
    Website visits +19.4%, calls +17.5%, email enquiries +17.9%, appointment bookings +49.2% – clear signals of renewed relevance.

  • Brand experience
    Shopfronts revitalised in Wow Yellow stood out on the high street, drawing customers in. Internal teams embraced the toolkit with pride, using it to tell richer stories. Press and partners took notice, amplifying the refreshed brand.

  • Scalability
    Initially created for Kuoni UK, the identity is now being explored in other markets as a blueprint for growth.

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