Riviera Travel

Riviera Travel is one of the UK’s most respected tour operators, specialising in escorted tours, river and ocean cruises to destinations across the world. They hold two Which! Awards and have built a loyal following of discerning travellers who value quality, expertise, and exceptional service. When they needed to establish a clear travel brand strategy for the next exciting chapter of their growth story, I was brought in to support that work.

From June 2019, I worked in partnership with Siân Coles and Billie Austen at Austen & Coles Partners. Together, we were tasked with defining and articulating Riviera Travel’s brand narrative — giving the business a sharper, more compelling story to take into the market. The starting point was a thorough review of their offline and online presence: examining how the brand communicated, what it stood for, and where there was opportunity to go further.

From that foundation, I helped to position the brand’s personality, tone of voice, and overall brand story. This is the core of any strong travel brand strategy — getting clarity on what makes a travel business genuinely different, and translating that into language and visuals that connect with the right audience at every stage of their journey.

Once the strategy was in place, I supported the internal Riviera Travel marketing team with the roll-out across their entire customer journey — from first awareness through to on-trip and post-trip communications. This was a substantial project in scope, covering both acquisition and retention touchpoints in equal measure.

Key deliverables included a brand book, product positioning frameworks, new-look content, campaign creative, brochures, direct-mail materials, digital assets, and customer collateral. Each element was designed to feel cohesive and on-brand, while also being practical for the internal team to work with day to day.

The travel brand strategy continued to evolve since that initial roll-out, with support across a range of marketing activities.

Riviera Travel is a business with real pedigree — and developing their brand strategy has been one of the most rewarding projects in my portfolio.