Thomas Cook Works With Edelman Public Affairs To Campaign For A New Bank Holiday

Edelman Public Affairs is working with Thomas Cook UK & Ireland to advise on its lobbying campaign to secure government support for an extra Bank Holiday for the British, a key initiative for the company. The account will be led by Alex Bigg, Managing Director, Edelman Public Affairs, and Luke Pollard, Senior Account Manager.

As part of the launch strategy, a survey of MPs was commissioned to gauge their support for a new Bank Holiday. The company is asking its customers to sign a petition calling on the Prime Minister to support the introduction of a new bank holiday in Britain. The campaign 'Vote for a Free Day' includes a nationwide campaign with TV advertising, high street store activity together with lobbying outreach by senior Thomas Cook executives.

Bronwen Griffiths, PR Director at Thomas Cook, said: "We're calling on the Government to seriously look at the number of Bank Holidays that Brits have. At the moment it's unbelievable that we sit almost at the bottom of the European bank holiday league with only eight days off a year."

Luke Pollard, Senior Account Manager, Edelman Public Affairs, said: "As the long hours’ culture in Britain continues to grow, working with Thomas Cook to persuade the Government to reward hard working Britons is a very exciting project. We are thrilled to have been chosen to work on their biggest ever political campaign."

Editor’s Notes

All 800 of Thomas Cook's UK high street stores are participating in the campaign asking customers to sign a petition to be presented to the Prime Minister calling for a new bank holiday.

In the first two weeks of the campaign, 135,000 names signed the petition in store and online at www.thomascook.com, with new signatures being added at a rate of about 15,000 a day.

The campaign was launched with the release of a survey of MPs finding that nearly 60 per cent of MPs support a new bank holiday. The ComRes survey found that nearly 70 per cent of Government MPs support a new bank holiday whilst only 30 per cent of Conservative MPs would vote to support a new bank holiday.

Edelman is advising on strategy and public affairs outreach for the campaign.

For further information contact:

Luke Pollard

Senior Account Manager, Edelman

020 7344 1291

luke.pollard@edelman.com

Bronwen Griffiths

PR Manager, Thomas Cook plc

01733 417268

Bronwen.Griffiths@Thomascook.com