Tom Stieghorst
Viking River Cruises recently extended its advertising sponsorship of PBS’ Masterpiece Theater for another year, as parent company Viking Cruises gets ready to launch its first ocean-going ship next May.
The sponsorship, begun in 2011, was perhaps the most successful marketing in the cruise industry last year, a year that saw several new campaigns from major cruise lines.
Masterpiece Theater’s showpiece is “Downton Abbey,” an upstairs/downstairs drama about an aristocratic estate in the English countryside and the intrigues of the family that owns it. But in addition to that franchise, it also broadcasts “Sherlock,” a kind of high-concept detective drama, and “Mr. Selfridge,” another British period piece..jpg "*TomStieghorst")
How does all this Englishness sell cruises? It is a bit of a mystery, but it seems to be popular with a certain segment of the U.S. audience, and it is that segment that Viking is after.
“Our partnership with Masterpiece is successful largely because of similarities between our audiences,” said Richard Marnell, senior vice president of marketing for Viking River Cruises.
“Viking’s guests, many of whom are Masterpiece viewers, enrich their lives through history, culture and exploration. We strongly believe in marketing the Viking experience to like-minded travelers,” Marnell said.
As simple as that formula sounds, many companies find it hard to execute, getting lost in a forest of marketing research and failing to find the message and the media needed to fully connect with their audience.
It takes some courage to not to hedge your bets to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. Viking CEO Tor Hagen has been disciplined about targeting the 50-plus couple as his market, and isn’t above saying that because he enjoys classical music and theater that his type of cruiser will too.
Now he’s reaping the benefits. It will be interesting to see if he will simply add Viking Ocean commercials to the Masterpiece Theater rotation or strike out in a new direction.