Carnival Cruise Lines will debut a new branding campaign this month designed to capture the truly unique essence of the Carnival vacation experience, which embodies spirited and spontaneous fun. Under the tagline ‘Fun For All. All For Fun’ – the new campaign will kick off with special events featuring Guinness World Record attempts in Dallas and Philadelphia.
The first event, to occur in Dallas on Oct. 26, will involve setting a Guinness record for the world’s largest beach ball. The second event, to take place in Philadelphia on Nov. 2, will feature a Guinness attempt for the world’s largest piñata. Footage from the events will be used to create two TV spots, which will soon begin airing nationally, and eventually in select local markets as well.
The new campaign also includes both a consumer and trade magazine component with new travel trade ads beginning Nov. 10 and a series of four consumer ads scheduled to run in People the weeks of Nov. 17 through Dec. 8.
The campaign also features a variety of online elements including Towel Animal Theatre, which involves a series of online videos that depict towel animals, a signature Carnival cruise feature, having amusing conversations with each other while the stateroom’s occupants are away. The videos capture the fun, whimsical kind of spirit that towel animals bring to the overall Carnival vacation experience. The videos are currently running as part of an advertising buy on abc.com and beginning Nov. 3 will be available for viewing and downloading at www.carnival.com/funville. The new “Funville” web portal will also feature a number of other video assets, along with interactive opportunities.
The new campaign was created by Arnold Worldwide of Boston, the agency’s first major brand work for the world’s largest cruise line since Arnold was hired in May 2008. To develop the campaign’s creative concept, Arnold conducted an intensive study involving more than 3,000 consumers, many of whom are Carnival customers. “There is a real kind of meaningful fun on Carnival – their cruise experience is uniquely social, participatory, uninhibited and gives people the freedom to be who they are,” said Pete Favat, Arnold’s chief creative officer. “In today’s land of ‘too’ – as in too much work and not enough fun, we’re showing how Carnival’s brand of fun is more valuable than ever before.”
Added Ruben Rodriguez, Carnival’s executive vice president of marketing and guest experience, “In today’s chaotic world, people are overworked and overstressed. Research indicates that an estimated 51 million Americans will not use all of their vacation days this year. Carnival is on a mission to remind people that not only should leisure time and fun not be sacrificed within our lives, but today it is more important than ever, and a Carnival cruise provides a truly exceptional vacation environment for people to thoroughly relax and enjoy themselves,” he added.
The ‘Fun For All. All For Fun’ tag, along with a new look and feel, will be fully integrated throughout all appropriate communication channels, including brochures, direct mail and trade communications. These myriad components of Carnival’s new branding campaign are the first of a number of new marketing initiatives planned for the coming year.
Noam Murro will direct the TV spots. Murro is well known for his award-winning commercials for Volkswagen, Hummer, “Monsters” and Nike. Most recently, he directed the movie “Smart People.”
