Red Dot Tours
Trips of a thousand lifetimes.
Read this if you’re looking to: scale a complex offer.
Headline
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Swap the guidebook for a good story
It’s the year 2000, and the Red Dot founders are deep in conversation over a couple of Lion lagers at Colombo’s Cricket Club Café. The plan is simple: show travellers the Sri Lanka they love, and make them fall in love with it too. Fast forward 25 years and they have a mature business, growing team, and expanded territories. Here’s how we transformed the brand to better reflect the depth and meaning behind their trips.
Web Copywriting
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A page-turner of a trip
There’s very little differentiation in the tailor-made travel sector. When everyone’s an “award-winning expert”, no one’s standing out. Our brand immersion revealed a rare richness and unparalleled variety in Red Dot’s approach, which we neatly tied up in our positioning line: ‘Trips of a thousand lifetimes’.
Web Copywriting
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Where tea and stories flow
Red Dot wanted to expand their customer base to appeal to a younger demographic. So we analysed travel trend reports as well as pages of TripAdvisor reviews to get to know their target audience, revealing a shared interest in down-to-earth, immersive cultural connection.
Positioning statement
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A thousand threads
With so much to talk about, we faced a dilemma: to lead with sustainability creds, unique accommodation, local expertise, or the unparalleled variety of activities on offer? This is why we love frameworks. They let us say all those things, just not all at the same time. Getting clear on the information hierarchy, as well as the difference between a promise and a proof point, was essential to avoid information overload.
Journal entries
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Principles
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A voice with a pulse
It’s generic statements galore in travel land. So we took inspiration from our own travel journals to bring vivid descriptions and specificity into the copy.
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A world away from the well-trodden path
‘Once-in-a-lifetime experiences’, ‘immersive holidays’, ‘paradise escapes’… bland, clichéd language leaves people feeling uninspired. Red Dot’s voice is as fresh as a cool Toddy on a hot day, painting a picture instead.
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We speak from local expertise
Every traveller knows of the Taj Mahal. Not every traveller knows where to find the best freshly fried samosas in Agra. Red Dot’s voice is where its local knowledge shines through.
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We play with juxtapositions
Red Dot trips can’t be summed up in a single word or experience. Pairing contrasting adjectives and descriptions is how we express the variety and choice on offer.
Web Copywriting
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Choose your adventure
Working alongside the design team, we wrote copy for core pages, destination overviews, sample itineraries, and other key moments. Ultimately delivering a vastly upgraded digital experience that speaks directly to the needs and aspirations of today’s discerning traveller.
Credits:
Creative Direction: Kirsten Murray and Form
Positioning and Messaging: Kirsten Murray and Zosia Swidlicka
Tone of Voice and Web Copy: Kirsten Murray and Zosia Swidlicka
Visual Identity and Web Design: Form
Website Build: Saberion
