“There’s no need to mock your competitors!” – “An absolute disgrace” – “It’ll never be as good as going to a professional” – “Try calling the Internet for help at 4am!”
If there’s one thing Webjet did REALLY well this week, it was fire up a whole lot of travel industry professionals with its new TVC.
The ad rolled out across major channels this week during peak viewing times.
It runs for only 30 seconds, but in that half a minute agents around the country say the online booking site managed to insult them by implying consultants are lazy, withholding information from clients and failing to offer a full range of travel options.
“We knew there were heaps more from looking online, and she [the agent] goes maybe five…”
The actress in the Webjet TVC says
Check out the full ad below:
Did you detect a little shade?
The KarryOn reader who tipped off the editorial team about the Webjet ad on Tuesday, says she was “disgusted by the way they [Webjet] portray travel agents” and a whole lot of others agree.
In fact, they along with other industry partners jumped on KarryOn’s Facebook page to practically declare war on the company by showcasing agents’ strengths.
Among them was Brian Christou, Sales Executive at Air Mauritius, who reiterated what the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) has been saying for years – without an agent you’re on your own.
“Majority of travel agents have extensive training and first hand experience and will always deliver to ensure that their customers are 100 percent satisfied.”
Brian Christou, Air Mauritius Sales Executive
“This commercial really portrays travel agents as being idiots and that’s not the case. Both webjet and travel agents have access to exactly the same number of flights. There’s no need to mock your competitors.”
Also going on the defence was Loredana Maricchiolo from Corporate Traveller who compared self-bookings to a self-hair cut:
Going after the online site’s weaknesses was Lozza Watson who claims Webjet doesn’t “even show all the options”, while Ryan O’Connell from Wendy Wu Tours pointed out how complex airfares can be without a professional.
People like Lachlan Burnet and Kyung Foreman saw a big positive in the 30 second ad and said agents should take it as a compliment because the company is just trying to stop “losing clients to bricks-and-mortar agencies”.
On the other side of the verbal battle, Aaron Phibbs from a multinational engineering company said agents need “get over” themselves and if “you’re good enough you’ll get clients”.
Want more on the story? Read Matt Castell from Flight Centre’s open letter to Webjet here