Park Holidays UK
Creating differentiated brand identities to drive growth in holiday home ownership
The Challenge
Park Holidays came to Cognosis at a pivotal moment in their business evolution. Having recently acquired a new business operating in their core area, they faced the complex challenge of establishing distinct brand identities for both their original brand and the newly acquired business.
The fundamental question they needed to answer was: "How do we create differentiated value propositions for two brands that must coexist within the same business, both primarily serving the holiday home ownership market?"
The project mission was multifaceted. Park Holidays needed to evolve their value proposition for each business, ensuring it was rooted in genuine customer insight. This required a clear customer segmentation to be able to identify the key strategic and operational implications of meeting each groups’ needs.
Park Holidays chose Cognosis for this project based on a longstanding and trusted relationship with our senior leadership team.
The company saw the key opportunity extending beyond just differentiating brand communication. They wanted to understand their customers at a deeper level, identify what truly drove purchase decisions in the holiday home ownership market, and translate these insights into practical, meaningful operational initiatives which would strengthen the brands’ propositions and ultimately drive commercial growth.
Cognosis has a brilliant ability to blend strategic rigour with real-world practicality. They really took the time to understand our business and adapt to our culture, which meant ideas landed quickly and effectively. The team helped us unlock clear, actionable customer insights that shaped our brand positioning and how we communicate across our brand portfolio. It was a genuinely valuable partnership, and they delivered.
Brad May
Chief Marketing Officer
Our Approach
Over six months, we partnered with Park Holidays to develop differentiated, evidence-backed brand propositions for their two businesses: Park Holidays and Park Leisure.
Our approach utilised a tailored methodology for value proposition development, designed specifically to address the unique challenges of brand differentiation under a single business structure, within the particular context of the holiday home sector.
The methodology followed a structured three-phase approach:
Phase 1: Business and Industry Context
We began with comprehensive stakeholder interviews to gain full insight into the business and industry context – understanding the specific characteristics of the sector and the strategic priorities of the company.
Phase 2: Customer Research and Market Analysis
We partnered with a research agency to conduct extensive customer research, including a comprehensive survey and focus group sessions across a representative sample of the client’s parks. This primary research was complemented by thorough desk research, reviewing key market trends, competitive landscape analysis, and existing brand positioning in the holiday home ownership sector.
Phase 3: Proposition Development and Strategic Implementation
The insights gathered enabled us to create differentiated, evidence-backed value propositions for both Park Holidays brands.
As part of the overall process we conducted two collaborative workshops with the Park Holidays team to test and develop ideas, as well as ensure buy-in and strategic alignment:
Session 1 - Proposition Definition: Customer insights and key hypotheses derived from surveys and focus groups were shared. This included detailed analysis of purchase decision drivers and confirmation of typical consumer profiles. We then explored how to best shape brand identities given the limited awareness of the current brand positioning.
Session 2 - Operational Implications: We examined the practical implications of reinforcing two separate brand identities through an operational lens. Proposed ideas covered everything from financial transparency and community building initiatives to premium amenities and security features that would differentiate each brand's offering.
These sessions involved the Chief Marketing Officer and other members of the marketing team including the Head of Strategic Insight & Analytics. The CEO was briefed and consulted at key project milestones, with the final project findings presented to their executive board.
The Impact
1. Evidence-based brand differentiation - Clear, insight-driven value propositions for both brands to support a creative brief for brand communication development. The research revealed specific customer needs and preferences that enabled the business to position each brand distinctively while avoiding market confusion.
2. Strategic customer segmentation - The project identified distinct customer segments for each brand, providing Park Holidays with a clear understanding of who they were targeting and why. This segmentation was rooted in actual customer behaviour and the sector’s unique, often strongly emotionally driven purchase decision drivers.
3. Operational clarity for dual-brand management - Provision of key insights to support the specific customer needs for each brand. This gave the business a clear understanding of the practical, operational implications and a roadmap for their implementation to strengthen the brand propositions in tandem with refreshed brand communication. This covered, for instance, specific guidance on financial transparency, community building approaches, and the premium amenities and security features that would differentiate each offering.
4. A customer-centric decision-making framework - The insights into holiday home ownership purchase decisions equipped Park Holidays with a sophisticated understanding of their customers' decision-making process. This framework enabled them to refine their sales approach and marketing strategy for maximum effectiveness.
