Webjet is entering a new era. After 27 years, the Australian online travel agency has unveiled the biggest brand refresh in its history – complete with a new look, new products, and a clear mission to reconnect with a new generation of travellers.
The transformation forms a core pillar of Webjet Group’s FY30 strategic plan to double total transaction value (TTV) by 2030, and follows the company’s demerger from Webjet Limited in September 2024, which opened new opportunities to accelerate top-line growth.
Developed in partnership with The Hallway, the strategy aims to reposition Webjet from a flight-centric OTA to a go-to local travel companion for Australians and New Zealanders, capturing a greater share of the travel wallet and expanding into adjacent verticals.
At a well-attended rebrand launch event in Sydney yesterday – which drew around 120 partners across the travel, aviation and tourism space- Travel Weekly sat down with Group CEO & MD, Webjet Group, Katrina Barry to talk about what’s driving the rebrand, how the ‘Go Somewhere’ platform came to life, and where the brand fits in an increasingly competitive travel landscape.
Why rebrand now?
“We’re 27 years old, and there have been plenty of chapters in that story. But one thing has been constant – our look and feel. And that’s the problem,” Barry said.
“Last year we spent 3 months deep in strategy, starting with market research. We spoke to 3,500 customers, looked at the last three trips they took, how they researched, when they booked, who they booked with, how they paid. We repeated that three times to build a big body of work.”
Whilst 73 per cent of Australians knew who Webjet was and trusted the brand, a far smaller number were familiar with them.
Barry says the rebrand isn’t just cosmetic. It’s about bringing Webjet ‘back to the forefront’ for a new generation.
“You don’t do that with a marketing campaign alone. We’re launching a new look and identity, but also new product verticals – from tours to packages and business travel. Then we’re putting serious cash behind promoting it.”
Keeping heritage while evolving
The balance with a rebrand is keeping heritage whilst changing perception Barry said.
“There’s a risk with every rebrand. That’s why this has been 14 months in the making. We did the research, the data work, the brand strategy, and then we tested everything.
We’ve held on to our heritage. We didn’t throw everything out. Even the mouse-plane logo – most people didn’t even realise it was a mouse – has evolved rather than disappeared. It’s retro, people remember it, and 71 per cent of people recognised it in testing.”
‘Go Somewhere’: a platform built on insight
“Our research informed the brand strategy — what we stand for, what we’re known for, what benefits we deliver.
We’re known for flights, especially domestic, but we’re extending to tours and packages to capture more of the travel wallet.
At the heart of it, people start thinking about holidays by saying: ‘I just want to go somewhere.’ That’s where the creative platform came from. It’s authentic, relatable and true to what we’re about.”
Competing in a crowded marketplace
As airlines, supermarkets, and tech giants increasingly compete for travel dollars, Barry says Webjet’s strength is its homegrown trust.
“Customers don’t want to book their flights here, their car over there, their hotel somewhere else. They want to do it all in one place. That’s what we’re building.
We’re iconically Australian and New Zealand. We don’t aim to be a massive global player like Expedia. We had 1.4 million transactions last year – all we have to do is add hotels and keep growing that relationship.
There’s nothing quite like knowing your travel company is based here. If there’s a problem, you’re talking to someone who’s in your country, not a mystery call centre.”
The role of loyalty
“We’ve never had a loyalty program before – that’s changing. If you don’t have loyalty, you just have transactional customers. With loyalty, you build relationship customers.
Australians are obsessed with points. It’s one of the biggest liabilities on balance sheets, which is why airlines devalue points to shrink that liability. When that happens, it opens opportunities for others to offer value. That’s where we’ll play.”
From transactions to emotion
“Historically, Webjet’s been about price and transaction. Now we’re deliberately adding emotional connection.
Great brands have a reason you buy them – and an emotional pull. Nike stands for aspiration and achievement. Apple stands for smart, savvy leadership.
Our ‘Go Somewhere’ campaign is about inspiration. We want people to think of Webjet not just for a cheap flight, but because they want to travel and have a holiday.”
Standing out through service and tech
Barry says smart technology and strong service will remain a key differentiator.
“We’re using AI and Amazon Web Services on the backend to make servicing seamless. If you call us, you won’t have to re-explain your problem every time. The system knows what you’ve already told us.
We aim for up to 99 per cent of transactions to be self-service. But if you need help, it’s there 24/7, and it’s not tied to one person. That’s the advantage of being local.”
Growing the product offering
“On the hotel side, we’ve streamlined everything through one piece of API, and our partners are ecstatic. We’ve also partnered strongly with players like G Adventures and Intrepid Travel on touring.
Customers just want us to solve their flight, their hotel, their transfer – all in one place. And that’s what we’re delivering.”
While Barry’s vision sets the strategic direction, delivering it at scale falls to Webjet’s first-ever CMO, Oonagh Flanagan.
Webjet ramps up marketing with 82% spend boost
Also speaking at the launch event, Flanagan – who joined the business five and a half months ago – said one of her first priorities was laying strong foundations to support Webjet’s next growth phase.
“When I joined, Katrina had a vision. We had a strategy in place to double TTV in the next five years. I really quickly understood that I needed the foundations to be correct, and so I got moving. I needed to do it smart, I needed to do it fast,” she said.
That meant bolstering the team with skills in personalisation, CRM and data, relaunching the company’s entire martech stack, and replatforming its website to create more flexibility and opportunities for partners.
“No team in this industry, or any other, can survive without a really good team of experts outside their ecosystem,” Flanagan said. “One of the other things that was really critical for me was to build an agency ecosystem that could sustain us as we move into this important time.”
The result is a significantly bigger marketing push, with Flanagan confirming Webjet has increased its marketing investment by 82 per cent for the next half of the year.
“We used to really only operate down here in always-on, looking at conversion. That delivers great results for you – don’t worry, we’re still going to do that. But we want to expand and grow our market share, and the only way we can do that is to operate in the time when people are just starting to think about their journey. That’s where the money is going.”
Flanagan pointed to brand data showing that customers who arrive directly or via organic search are not only 1.5 times more likely to convert, but are worth around 30 per cent more than those acquired through other channels.
“That’s the power and strength of consistent brand investment over time. It makes sense for all of us in this room for us to invest in our brand, because everyone benefits,” she said.
Central to the relaunch is an updated logo and wordmark, refreshed imagery and tone of voice, and a renewed focus on connecting emotionally with travellers through the new creative platform, Go Somewhere.
“The 10,000 journeys that Katrina mentioned – those 3,500 Australians – they said they loved us, they said they knew us, but they did tell us we were desperately in need of an upgrade. They also told us that the little mouse-plane is a really important distinctive asset for us. We did not mess with that, but we wanted to bring it kicking and screaming into contemporary times,” Flanagan said.
“Most of all, we’ve been brave and courageous. In a time when lots of brand agencies, creatives and marketers focus on product and functionality instead of emotion, we’ve chosen to connect on an emotional level with customers. We want to stand out. We want to be distinctive. And that’s what Go Somewhere is all about.”
