21 July 2008

Thomas Cook named as 'super brand'

Thomas Cook has been named one of the UKÃ¢â¬â¢s leading brands in the Top 100 Superbrands 2008 list, hundreds of places ahead of its closest rival in the travel agent and tour operator category.

The announcement follows a selection process by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA) on behalf of the Superbrands organisation, tapping into the views of a voluntary council of experts and over 1,500 consumers.

Now in its twelfth year, Superbrands has become a key annual barometer on the performance of brands across a wide variety of sectors.

Thomas Cook UK and Ireland executive director marketing Simon Carter said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœFor the past three years, we have been steadily moving up the rankings and are now at our highest ever position in the Top 100.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœBest of all is the huge and ever widening gap between ourselves and the next tour operator in the list.Ã¢â¬~ Thomas Cook is ranked 72, 11 places higher than last year and 270 places ahead of Kuoni, which comes in at 340, almost 100 places higher than last year.

Thomson, which was ranked 161 last year, has slipped off the list this year, as have Virgin Holidays (314 last year) and First Choice (428 last year).

By Linsey McNeill