FROM OUTDATED AND UNCONSIDERED,
TO AN-DEMAND EXPERIENCE

Problem:

Royal Caribbean’s loyal base of holiday makers were getting older. The younger generation held long-standing negative perceptions of cruise holidays. As such the concept of cruising wasn’t even on this generation’s radar, let alone the Royal Caribbean brand.

These young travellers, hungry for adventure and new experiences, held real revenue potential for the brand because Royal Caribbean holidays and product offer really had changed dramatically. But the barrier of cruise holidays being a tourist trap, devoid of any authentic discovery, was a massive barrier to overcome.

Solution:

For this younger ‘new to cruise’ audience, the spirit of travel holds a high place in their hearts, minds and wallets. They strive to have experiences where they can try new things, visit new places and meet new people. We dubbed them our ‘Adventure Seekers’. But found that the reality of this group was that they were living on autopilot – 60% of them say they are looking for holidays that give the ability to try something new. But the reality was far different. They were doing less on their holidays rather than really meeting their adventurous needs.

Having uncovered this chasm, we saw a huge opportunity for Royal Caribbean to connect with ‘Adventure Seekers’ who hadn’t cruised before, and invite significant reappraisal of the cruise offer in the process.

COME SEEK

Invite curious travel bookers to push beyond their usual choices. 

And be blown away by the reality of Royal Caribbean.

Creatively we knew we had to move away from the familiar executional style of the category.

And because we knew our audience was cynical about traditional media, we knew we had to get into their lives and feeds instead.

We live-streamed real Royal Caribbean experiences via Twitter giving people a real-time look at what they were missing out on. We invented a first of its kind live, interactive out-of-home billboard giving people on cold, familiar streets a look at what they could be doing.

Results:

The campaign exceeded all three business objectives:

Increased overall brand preference by 12ppt

Increased bookings by 13% overall and 38% online y.o.y

Increased social impressions across channels by 92% y.o.y