by By: Elise Sokolsky
Jet2Holidays released a commercial in early 2024 designed to capture the thrill of experiencing a vacation the viewer would never forget. Jess Glynne’s catchy and upbeat hit “Hold My Hand” plays while the ad follows a family easily making their way through an airport, lounging and indulging at their resorts’ pool and restaurant, and having a day of waterpark fun. The essence of the commercial was tied into the tagline “Nothing Beats a Jet2Holiday”. This tagline, meant to make viewers want to experience their own convenient and stress free vacation, but instead it turned into the staple phrase for one of the biggest memes in 2025.
By summer 2025, TikTok creators had twisted the uplifting message presented in the ad into a space for them to present their travel horror stories. Millions of users have now paired Glynne’s cheerful jingle and the company’s tagline with disastrous travel footage such as traveling issues, hotel and lodging catastrophes, and other vacation related tragedies.
One of the most viral clips comes from TikTok creator @BradBen, with their video now sitting at over 42 million likes. The video shows him opening huge curtains in his lavish hotel room, only to reveal a window no larger than a magazine. Viewers in the comments laugh at the irony of the upbeat slogan to reality, but also the disproportionate window to the curtains. Some audience members joke back about the satiric nature of the video by commenting “Thanks… FOR NOTHING”. Overall, the contrast between the ad’s promise of greatness and his less than suitable window became an instant hit.
The phrase “No Publicity is Bad Publicity” rang true with the Jet2 brand, as they took the meme to their advantage. While this wasn’t the attention they had expected, their marketing embraced the trend rather than fighting it with promotions and challenges. They created the #NothingBeatsAJet2Holiday challenge, in which they encouraged users to share their travel fiascos for the chance to win a £1,000 holiday voucher. They even went as far as to create their own version of the meme on the brand’s TikTok account, including employees singing along to the commercial tune in various locations. Their encouragement of this unseen turn of events allowed Jet2 to engage and collaborate with the many viewers they had amassed during the viral trend, and furthermore allowing creators to enter for a chance to win their own Jet2Holiday.
With “Nothing Beats a Jet2Holiday” becoming one of the most recognizable slogans of the summer, it’s hard not to say that their commercial was a success. Their reach expanded to unexpected audiences, which wouldn’t have happened without their viral commercial.
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