Ongoing Advice

Tarsh Consulting provided consultancy services to OctopusTravel, an on-line travel business, and its sister company Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) for more than a year, prior to their sale to Cendant. This comprised ongoing strategic advice, media relations, workshops on branding, crisis management and the creation of the OctopusTravelCLUB.

Crisis Management

A tour bus, chartered by GTA on behalf of a Japanese tourist group, suffered a fatal crash on a motorway in France.  GTA first learnt about the incident when four major Japanese TV stations called up demanding answers.

GTA turned to Tarsh for guidance.  Working in close liaison with GTA’s General Counsel and Japanese market manager, Tarsh prepared a carefully-worded statement which was read out a few hours later, in English and Japanese to TV reporters who had gathered at GTA’s head office.  Tarsh followed up all reporters with additional information as soon as GTA discovered it.

Owing to this open approach, reporters did not become suspicious and rapidly shifted their attention elsewhere.  The association between GTA’s name and the crash was not widely reported and lasted less than 24 hours.