By
Sean Dudley |
Carnival is to launch its first marketing initiative that incorporates all nine of its leading global brands.The new initiative will target consumers who are new to cruising and will begin on 24 November with several digital and social elements, all of which will gain further momentum in 2015.
The marketing programme aims to educate and inspire consumers into considering cruising as one of their top options when planning holidays.
Despite an approximately 22 million people taking cruises in 2014, only 3.3% of people in North America go on a cruise each year.
As part of the strategy, Carnival is introducing the ‘World’s Leading Cruise Lines Marketing Challenge’, an interactive crowdsourcing programme that asks consumers to pick their favourite TV advertisements from a range of creative concepts.
A new website Worldsleadingcruiselines.com – will act as a hub for the new marketing initiative and an information source on the various Carnival brands.
“Across our portfolio of nine brands and more than 100 cruise ships visiting over 700 destinations around the world, Carnival Corporation carries more than 10.5 million guests a year, accounting for one out of every two people who cruise anywhere in the world,” said Arnold Donald, Carnival Corporation CEO. “With so many distinctive experiences offered by our industry-leading brands, we truly believe the Carnival family has a cruise for everyone. Our job is to help people understand why cruising is such a great vacation, and to help them find which of our nine cruise brands is the right one for them.”
A further element of the initiative is a new interactive tool to identify consumers’ ‘cruise persona’ by answering six simple questions. The tool, named CRUISE-A-NALITY, then gives consumers recommendations to cruises that fit their persona and provides links to more information based on their answers.
“We encourage people to also check out our CRUISE-A-NALITY tool,” said Donald. “It’s a fun and easy way to find out which of our cruise brands is the best fit for their personality. Finding the right cruise brand to sail helps make sure people have a good experience, and we are excited that CRUISE-A-NALITY can help do just that.”
Carnival has also launched a new Twitter handle – @CarnivalPLC – and will host a contest encouraging consumers to share what it is they enjoy about cruising, with prizes being given to the posters of selected tweets.