Carnival Corporation to Debut its First-Ever Super Bowl TV Commercial
World’s largest cruise company asking consumers for input on final four concepts for its Super Bowl TV commercial – with participants having a chance to win a yearly cruise for life
Created by the Atlanta office of world-renowned advertising agency BBDO and directed by Academy Award® winner Wally Pfister, the all new Super Bowl TV commercial will anchor the company’s multi-brand marketing initiative to entice more people to consider cruising as an exceptional vacation option
MIAMI (December 18, 2014) – Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest travel and leisure company, today announced it will unveil the first TV commercial from its new multi-brand national marketing initiative during the Super Bowl airing on Sunday, Feb. 1, on NBC.
The commercials were created by BBDO Atlanta, part of BBDO Worldwide, which was recently named Global Agency of the Year by Adweek magazine and is currently ranked the world’s most creatively awarded advertising agency network in The Gunn Report. BBDO collaborated with Academy Award-winning cinematographer and Hollywood director Wally Pfister – best known for his work on Transcendence, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy –to develop Carnival Corporation’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial. The final commercial will be a 60-second spot selected from four full-scale production ads.
The final Super Bowl TV commercial will be sourced from the company’s recently launched “World’s Leading Cruise Lines Marketing Challenge” that gives consumers across North America the chance to provide Carnival Corporation with input on its new advertising creative. Hosted by Cedric the Entertainer, this interactive crowdsourcing contest lets consumers “join the company’s marketing team” and vote for their favorite creative concept with a chance to win a grand prize of a yearly cruise for life.
Carnival Corporation also announced today that it has narrowed the field of original creative concepts in the Marketing Challenge to four “semi-finalists” based in part on consumer voting and input, and all four concepts are now in full production under BBDO Atlanta and Pfister’s direction. The final elimination round kicking off today will narrow the field to two finalists, giving consumers a chance to provide input on the final two concepts, one of which will be the featured TV commercial airing live during the Super Bowl in February.
"There is no bigger stage than the Super Bowl for telling our story, and we’re excited about the opportunity to start a new dialogue with consumers about cruising and use their input in helping us pick the creative concepts,” said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation. “With this phase of the marketing initiative, we want to capture what is so special about cruising and sailing in the open sea.”
Added Donald: “I personally think some of the concepts are better than others, but what really matters is what millions of guests think. Our goal is to convince those who have never cruised to give us a chance to show them why over 10 million people a year sail on one of our nine brands and why so many of our guests cannot wait to sail with us again.”
To Check Out and Vote on TV Spots, go to WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com
Consumers can visit Carnival Corporation’s new campaign hub created by BBDO Atlanta – WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com – for details on how to vote in the Marketing Challenge and be entered to win a cruise every year for life. Starting today, rough-cut preview videos of the semi-finalist ad concepts are available for review and voting. The final elimination round will help determine which two finalists emerge from the following spots:
- “Getaway”: Cruising gives guests the chance to get away from all the stresses of life
- “Cruise Virgin”: These people tell consumers about their first time to cruise – which they will happily remember
- “Message in a Bottle”: Special moments of cruising are in a message in a bottle
- “Mystery Spot”: This idea contains a surprise that will remind people just how special the sea can be
All four semi-finalist concepts are now in full production under the artful direction of BBDO Atlanta and Pfister, who will use their wealth of storytelling experience to bring these four creative concepts to life and help capture the essence of cruising. Pfister’s extensive experience spans decades of filmmaking in Hollywood, including directing Transcendence starring Johnny Depp earlier this year and serving as director of photography on dozens of films, including Moneyball, The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception, which earned him an Oscar® in 2011.
“It’s an honor for me to get to work with Carnival Corporation and BBDO Atlanta to fully develop and direct these four new ads that will help tell the story of why cruising is such a great vacation, and it is an even bigger thrill to know that one of these creative concepts will run during the Super Bowl,” said Pfister. “This is a great opportunity to reach a massive audience with a reinvented view of what cruising can mean. My role is to create an emotional connection to the experience of cruising, so I want to show people that a cruise can move you in many ways, and help us reconnect with each other and with the majesty of the open seas.”
Carnival Corporation’s first-ever Super Bowl TV commercial is part of the company’s recently launched multi-brand marketing initiative that for the first time incorporates all nine of its global brands with television, digital, social and contest elements in an initiative to drive increased awareness, consideration and demand for cruising.
To Find Right Cruise, Check Your CRUISE-A-NALITY and Consult a Travel Agent
Among many integrated elements within Carnival Corporation’s new marketing initiative, consumers are able to use WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com as a hub for new tools, functionality and content from the company’s nine brands, including the popular new “CRUISE-A-NALITY” tool that helps vacationers decide what type of cruise vacation and brand experience is right for them based on a series of personality-focused questions.
In addition, Carnival Corporation is encouraging travelers to contact a travel agent, who can offer valuable insight about cruising and how to help find the right cruise.
Also, as part of the campaign Carnival, is giving away multiple free cruises and an additional grand prize on Twitter. Users tweeting what they love about cruising to @CarnivalPLC with the hashtag #LoveCruising will be eligible for a series of free cruises as prizes, with one individual selected at random to receive 100 days of cruising on a choice of Carnival Corporation’s U.S.-based brands.
All sweepstakes rules and eligibility information are available at WorldsLeadingCruiseLines.com.
About Carnival Corporation
Carnival Corporation & plc is the largest cruise company in the world, with a portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK).
Together, these brands operate 100 ships totaling 212,000 lower berths with eight new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2015 and 2018. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 and the FTSE 100 indices. Additional information can be found on www.carnival.com, www.hollandamerica.com, www.princess.com, www.seabourn.com, www.aida.de, www.costacruise.com, www.cunard.com, www.pocruises.com.au, and www.pocruises.com.
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Media Contacts:
Roger Frizzell, Carnival Corporation, RFrizzell@Carnival.com, (305) 406-7862
Mike Flanagan, LDWWgroup, Mike@LDWWgroup.com, (727) 452-4538
