SOTA Launches New Brand Identity

Online Travel Portal Undergoes Transformation to Connect to Growing Travel Market

Kuala Lumpur, 17 May 2012 – Creative Advances Technology Sdn Bhd (CAT) today announced a new brand identity for its online travel portal, SOTA.travel in line with its objective of making travel packages worldwide more accessible to everyone online.

SOTA is now known as ‘Smart Online Travel Assistant’ and the new brand involves a change in the logo, a new look and feel for the travel portal as well as more consumer-targeted messaging. The new look is aimed at presenting SOTA as a more consumer-focused online travel portal, moving on from the initial focus of providing an online platform for the sellers in the travel industry to one that focuses on reaching the buyers in the travel market.Second from left: En Rohizam Md Yusoff with Joanna Liao promoting the rebranded SOTA.travel, an online travel portal with travel mascots.

“When we launched SOTA in 2009, it was an acronym for ‘Standard Online Tourism Architecture’. Our objective then was to attract more travel agents to bring their travel businesses online. Now that we have a solid participation from the travel industry, we want to move to the new phase of being able to strongly connect with the consumers in the growing travel market”, said Rohizam Md Yusoff, CEO of CAT.

As compared to other travel websites where there is only one travel seller or a single online travel agent, SOTA.travel brings together multiple travel suppliers onto one single online platform, thereby giving consumers access to a wider choice of travel providers and products.Rohizam also explained the concept behind the new name, logo and web portal for SOTA. In essence, the name ‘Smart Online Travel Assistant’ intends to reflect a stronger connection with travel buyers worldwide by offering to assist them with their online travel buying experience instead of merely showcasing travel deals on the portal.

“Our aspiration for the SOTA is that it will become synonymous with online travel and will be the go-to website for travellers worldwide searching for travel deals online. So when people think about online travel, they will think SOTA”, added Rohizam.

He also stressed that the web portal’s URL address is www.sota.travel, without the ‘.com’ that many people are so familiar with for website addresses.

The revamped travel portal, www.sota.travel comes with an improved look and feel to provide better navigation and a seamless user experience for the travel buyers. The portal also incorporates other value-add features such as smart tips for travellers, recommendations on travel bargains as well as country-based weather forecast and calendars for smarter travel planning.

The rebranding exercise for SOTA includes a media blitz between May to October via print and online media channels. A mid-year school holiday promotional travel campaign was also launched simultaneously during the announcement of the new brand. The campaign will run from 17th May 2012 to 31st May 2012 and feature attractive travel packages to destinations such as Bali, Phuket, Osaka and Australia.