MIAMI, Nov. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival
Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's
largest cruise company, today announced its first-ever multi-brand
marketing initiative incorporating all nine of its leading global
brands to drive increased awareness, consideration and demand for
cruising as a great vacation option at an exceptional value.
Targeting consumers who are new to cruising, the campaign will kick
off on November 24 with several digital and social
elements and will continue to ramp up through 2015.
As part of the marketing effort, Carnival Corporation will
introduce the "World's Leading Cruise Lines Marketing Challenge" –
an interactive crowdsourcing program in which CEO Arnold Donald and celebrity emcee Cedric the
Entertainer ask consumers to "join the company's marketing team"
and pick their favorite TV ads from a selection of creative
concepts, with the chance for one lucky participant to win a yearly
cruise for life.
Carnival Corporation's newly redesigned World's Leading Cruise
Lines website – WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com – will serve as the
campaign hub. The new site will feature content from each of the
company's nine brands and also house new tools and functionality in
support of the campaign.
The campaign elements are designed to educate consumers and
especially non-cruisers on why cruising is an extraordinary
vacation experience at an exceptional value. The campaign
will help consumers understand how contemporary cruising has
evolved, with grand cruise ships offering something for everyone
and how common myths about cruising are untrue. The campaign will
also encourage consumers to consult a travel agent as a valuable
resource for planning a cruise vacation.
The goal of the marketing program is to help inspire consumers
to consider cruising as one of their top options when planning
vacations -- and, ultimately, to grow demand for cruising. While
cruising continues to grow in worldwide popularity, with nearly 22
million people expected to have taken cruises in 2014, only
about 3.3 percent of people in North
America in any given year go on a cruise – providing a
significant marketing opportunity.
"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 Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald. "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."
Donald added: "I'm asking consumers to join our marketing team
and weigh in with a vote as well as give us their advice on our
upcoming marketing efforts. In return we have an extraordinary
giveaway – one lucky person will win a cruise a year for life! So
we encourage people to go to WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com, and
check out the advertising concepts. We like all of them but want
help in choosing the best one. While on our site, we encourage
people to also check out our CRUISE-A-NALITY tool. 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 Corporation's marketing initiative will include the
following elements aimed at growing awareness, consideration and
demand for cruising among consumers:
- The "World's Leading Cruise Lines
Marketing Challenge": Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald and celebrity emcee Cedric the
Entertainer will invite consumers to "join" the Carnival
Corporation marketing team and help select creative elements for
the marketing initiative. On WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com Mr.
Donald will introduce six distinct advertising concepts and ask
consumers to help further shape the stories, as well as vote for
which ad concept does the best job of both dispelling
misconceptions about cruising and bringing the cruise experience to
life.
- CRUISE-A-NALITY: One aspect of
WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com allows vacationers to find their
"CRUISE-A-NALITY," which is an interactive tool to help consumers
find their individual cruise persona -- type of cruiser based on
likes and dislikes -- from a total of 30 personas. After answering
six simple questions, the CRUISE-A-NALITY tool provides consumers
with their persona, cruise brand recommendations and links to find
more information to begin planning their vacation – with a reminder
to contact their travel agent for additional guidance on which
cruise is right for them. Once visitors know their CRUISE-A-NALITY,
they are encouraged to call their travel agent as well as share
their results through their Facebook and Twitter social media
channels.
- Twitter Contest: Carnival Corporation
will kick off the launch of its new Twitter handle, @CarnivalPLC,
on November 24 with a contest
encouraging consumers to share what they love about cruising. In
addition to instant prizes for tweets at 50,000, 150,000, 250,000,
400,000, 500,000 and 750,000, one individual will be selected at
random to receive, for themselves and a guest, 100 days of cruising
on their choice of Carnival Corporation's U.S.-based brands to be
used at their discretion.
- WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com: This
site – which promotes the company's nine brands – serves as the hub
for both the campaign and an information source on cruising options
and experiences on Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard, Holland America
Line, Princess Cruises and Seabourn in the U.S.; AIDA Cruises in
Germany; Costa Cruises in
Italy; and P&O Cruises
(Australia) and P&O Cruises
(United Kingdom). The site will
help serve as a continuous communication platform for consumers and
travel agents.
All sweepstakes rules and eligibility information will be
available at WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com.
About Carnival Corporation
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise company in the
world, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines,
Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises,
Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 101 ships totaling 214,000 lower
berths with seven new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2015
and 2017. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland
America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in
Alaska and the Canadian Yukon.
Traded on both the New York and
London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only
group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the
FTSE 100 indices. Additional information can be found
on www.carnival.com, www.hollandamerica.com,
www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de,
www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com, www.pocruises.com.au,
and www.pocruises.com.
SOURCE Carnival Corporation & plc