In my last Insight,
I asked if river cruise lines were missing the boat (pun intended) on younger
travelers by failing to market to them. David Winterton, U.K. marketing manager
for Emerald Waterways, objected online that he thinks about millennials in
everything he does for the three-year-old European cruise line. It sounded like
he had some insight of his own on the future of river cruising, so I gave him a
call to talk about brand identity, younger models and getting travelers hooked
on rivers while they’re young.
Q: Who do you see as the stereotypical river cruise customer?
A: Your article was pretty spot on in that the majority of the
river cruise companies are very much targeting that older demographic of
55-plus, and if you get on board, you find that most of them are probably
65-plus. The majority of river cruise companies, by way of their imagery, their
pictures, their models, their look, their feel, are all gearing themselves to
55-plus.
David Winterton
Q: What do you try to do differently with Emerald?
A: Although we’re happy having those guests that are 55-plus on
board, what we’re trying to do is very much reduce the average age. We’re doing
that in lots of different ways. Our ships are brand new. They’re deluxe ships with lots of innovation on
board. We have the indoor pool on the back of the ship that turns into an
indoor cinema by evening. In the cabins, because we have Apple TV, we have
music channels. We also have Emerald Active, so all of our ships have bikes on
board, and we’re doing either tailored tours by bike, or they can go off and do
their own thing. We provide them with maps, and they can go off and explore the
area and cycle down the Danube or down the Rhine.
Q: Is having that independent experience something younger
guests want?
A: That’s it exactly. I think with the older demographic, they
like being active and they love having bikes, but they still want someone to
guide them. Whereas with the younger clientele, they’re happy to have a map and
go off and explore.
Q: How are you marketing to younger travelers?
A: Our whole brand is all geared up with fresh, modern color
palettes — greens, pinks, purples. We’ve done three or four film shoots now
where we’ve taken models on board. Yes, some of the models have been 45-50, but
a couple of the models have been around 35. So, we’ve started to introduce
imagery of younger guests on board. And I think that’s the key. So many of the
river cruise lines are using imagery of 55, 60-year-old people, which is great.
But if a 35-year-old looks at a brochure and sees their parents or grandparent
in the brochure, that’s going to put them off.
We’re also adapting the channels we’re marketing in. Particularly
in the U.K., we’ve looked at social media campaigns. We’ve targeted potential
guests on Facebook. We’ve introduced a social media campaign called Off the
Beaten Track that ties back into the biking experience and wanting to do
independent tours and go explore. We’ve worked hard at promoting where they can
go explore off the beaten track at our various destinations.
Q: Why is it so important for the industry as a whole to reach
out to the younger demographic?
A: The younger demographic are our future. Once we as an industry
have got them hooked on river cruising and making them understand why river
cruising is such a fantastic holiday, they’ll come back time and time again.
Q: Do you see the river cruise industry segmenting to target
different guests?
A: We all promote ourselves as luxury; we all promote ourselves
as all-inclusive; we all say we’re five star. And I think from a customer point
of view, they are researching, they’re getting all their brochures and many of
them are struggling to bring out their unique selling points. That’s what all
of us need to work a lot harder to do. I’m working hard on Emerald Waterways to
distinguish why someone should book an Emerald Waterways cruise over one of our
competitors. Price-wise we’re very, very competitive. We come out with the same
campaign messages. With ocean, Cunard is very different to Royal Caribbean,
which is very different to Norwegian Cruise Line and Celebrity. But do, as an
industry, river cruise lines get across why Uniworld is different to Viking or
Scenic? I don’t think we’re there yet.