NCL
Corp. has unveiled a $100 million brand identity campaign that it
said intends to convey its "Freestyle Cruising" concept to
consumers and the trade via a national television, print, online
and street advertising campaign, a new Web site and all new
promotional materials.
Were not targeting
any age, demographic, or income level, said Scott Rogers, NCLs
senior vice president of marketing and sales at a launching event
for the press in New York. Were looking for a person who is a
nonconformist.
Rogers showed a
series of television commercials and print advertisements that NCL
said will distinguish the line as an off the clock cruise
experience, where guests can eat, dress, and do what they feel like
in comparison with a typical, regimented, cruise where everyone is
on a tight schedule and looks and does the same thing.
The campaign, which
features a new logo for NCL, will go public on Oct. 2. The logo
shows NCLs new mascot, a small white fish, swimming against a
school of small blue fish
Weve done a lot
research, said Andy Stuart, NCLs executive vice president of sales,
marketing and passenger services. Overwhelmingly among people who
havent cruised its because they dont want to wear a tie, they wear
one to work. They dont want structure. These are the barriers to
cruising.
GSD&M, the
creative agency behind the new brand identity, created two
30-second television spots that hope to convey this by showing
cruise guests responding to synchronized watches, marching from the
pool to the dining room, clad uncomfortably in tuxedoes and gowns,
in unison.
The image then
switches over to the NCL ship where some passengers are relaxing by
the pool, others are dressed casually at a Tepanyakki restaurant,
and a voiceover says NCL -- where youre free to do whatever. (The
NCL passengers also happen to be younger, slimmer, and more
attractive than their counterparts.)
The print ads
humorously convey the message as well with lines like Our dress
code. Wear something. And You must board. You must disembark. Thus
ends the list of musts.
There will be out of
home marketing in the New York area including dry cleaning bags
emblazoned with Whatever this is, you can wear it onboard with the
NCL logo.
There will also be
ads in transit hubs with the fish graphic
and headlines like Go your own way, and on the ABC SuperSign in New
Yorks Times Square, with a banner that says, Where Youre Free To Whatever.
To
contact reporter Johanna Jainchill, send e-mail to [email protected].