In the beginning ... The year was 1997, and the venerable Cunard Line was in play. Carnival Corp. executives met and "kicked around what we would do with Cunard," Carnival CEO Micky Arison recently recalled.
"That's where the Queen Mary 2 concept came about," Arison said. "Cunard was a floundering, basically dying, brand. There was no point in buying it if we couldn't return it to its former state."
What had begun as a justification to buy a brand soon evolved into buying a brand in order to create a product.
"Remember, at the time 'Titanic' [the movie] was a huge success, and there was this big nostalgia thing going on," Arison said. "The transatlantic voyage is an aspirational thing ... like the Concorde."
The concept was huge, but at first the QM2 wasn't. By the time the final designs were complete, however, the Queen had grown up to 150,000-plus tons. It was not only a vessel that would carry a historic $800 million price tag, but it also would be the largest ship in the world when delivered in December.
In 2001, with plans to construct the QM2 well underway, Cunard executives from departments as diverse as marketing and marine operations took a cruise.
And in the middle of the Atlantic -- in the midst of nearly 1,800 carefree vacationers on the Queen Elizabeth 2 -- the future of Cunard -- and the features of its biggest project to date -- started taking shape.
"We all sat together and said, 'No barriers, no budget restraints. We're in the blue zone. If we could create the best product, what would it be?' " recalled Deborah Natansohn, Cunard's senior vice president of sales and marketing.
"We went through the [QE2] on a room-by-room basis. And we talked about what we wanted to see happen. We set out to do two things," Natansohn said of the QM2. "One, to capitalize on the history and the traditions of Cunard, which are very strong and respected. At the same time, we had to create a ... product for baby boomers."
The vision was to keep the ship grand and gracious while at the same time innovative and contemporary.
"And hot," Natansohn said. "Hot in terms of the thing to do."
During their time in the "blue zone" on the QE2, members of the team conjured up some outrageous ideas.
"For example, we wanted to have a big laser light show," Natansohn said. "But then we found out that would distract airplanes."
More down to earth, the choice of amenities that resulted from those similar conceptual get-togethers were designed to attract baby-boomers. To wit, the ship features all the brand-name goodies that cruisers and upscale vacationers have come to expect: Different food choices (menus from two celebrity chefs), a Canyon Ranch spa, a Chanel boutique and a Veuve Clicquot champagne bar.
Earlier this year, Natansohn was in a chartered jet several thousand feet above France's Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, where the Queen Mary 2 is well on its way to completion.
A few rows up, Cunard's president and chief operating officer, Pamela Conover, chatted with Princess Cruises CEO Peter Ratcliffe. Everyone was wearing Cunard buttons that said, "I Can't Wait."
The group was returning to London after an all-day tour of the vessel.
"The sheer height of the ship -- it's an exhilarating experience," Natansohn said, as the QM2's steel frame disappeared from view.
"The scale reminds me of how much we have to do to make sure we communicate this experience to the marketplace."
Since the Carnival purchase and the launch of the Queen Mary project, the storied Cunard brand has taken on a new energy. In mid-2001 the company signed with ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York and changed its tagline from "Advancing Civilizations for 140 Years" to "The Most Famous Ocean Liners in the World."
"The previous administration focused on the history of the line," Natansohn said. "But our research showed that's not why people buy a vacation. We wanted people to say, 'Do you want to travel on the world's most famous ship?' "
The next step was to put product out there with a brochure.
But because there was no product to photograph, Cunard had to make do with historical references, a lot of black-and-white photos, color snatches from onboard fabrics and snappy digital images.
The brochure became something of a collector's item when limited edition sets were introduced in May 2002.
This year, Cunard launched a $5 million campaign with the tagline "Can You Wait?" (see story, below). Sister brand Carnival Cruise Lines' sales reps, meanwhile, were recruited to help pass along the Cunard message.
So far, 27,000 of the curious have signed up for the QM2's inaugural season. Natansohn said 65% of those are people new to the Cunard brand.
With the Queen Mary 2 only a few months away from launch, Cunard this month launched its direct-mail campaign and sent out "Countdown to QM2" e-mails.
In mid-July, there were 179 days, 4,296 hours and 257,760 minutes to the QM2 debut.
Ad campaign aims to sell the experience
The Queen Mary 2's eye-catching advertising campaign is a little different than the standard ship-at-sea ad: It depicts women who are so excited to sail on the QM2 that they've gotten dolled up well in advance.
Women dressed in elegant, outrageous, Vivienne Westwood dresses waft through their everyday lives in the kitchen or at work dreaming, one supposes, about their turn on the Queens Room ballroom -- the largest at sea, Cunard literature notes.
Designing an ad without a ship to show was tricky. But Patrick O'Neill, the executive creative director for TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York, which also designed Cunard Line's Queen Elizabeth 2 ads, said the "Can You Wait?" campaign is an "experience ad."
"We wanted to create ... the feeling of fame and escapism. The dreamy-like quality: When you are planning your vacation, you transport yourself somewhere else."
The Cunard campaign was unique, according to Serena Duff, the agency's director of strategy, because Chiat\Day and Cunard formed partnerships with magazines to go beyond the printed page ad. For example, Vanity Fair will throw a big bash onboard the QM2 when the ship first arrives in New York in April, Gourmet magazine will host celebrity chefs onboard and Architectural Digest will organize parties in celebrated homes to promote the vessel.
"I was overwhelmed at how well the negotiations went," said Duff. "[The magazines] know what a huge cultural event this is. They're still coming back to us with more ideas."
The fact that women are the focus of the Cunard ads is no accident, and O'Neill said the gowns in the ads were "really attention-getting -- and they really contrast reality.
"And fun," he said. "I think cruises are fun."
"Women create fashion trends," said Deborah Natansohn, Cunard's vice president of sales and marketing. "Why does someone pay $700 for a Louis Vuitton bag or a Prada bag, when they can pay much less for something just as functional? It's a statement about who you are.
"Being among the first to go on the QM2, that's something of a status element. I want the QM2 to have status," she said. -- R.T.
To contact reporter Rebecca Tobin, send e-mail to [email protected].