Carnival Cruise Line Introduces New Funderstruck Marketing Campaign

Carnival Cruise Line will launch a new marketing campaign, “Funderstruck,” that invites people to choose fun again by booking and taking a vacation, according to a press statement. 

Built upon Carnival’s brand platform Choose Fun, the company introduces an entirely new word – Funderstruck – to "describe the unmistakable feeling uniquely experienced when choosing fun on Carnival."

Funderstruck will celebrate what travellers want right now and something that Carnival is precision-engineered to deliver – unapologetic fun together with those you enjoy spending time with the most, the company said. 

Carnival will introduce Funderstruck first through CRM and owned social followed by a series of back-to-back campaign activations during two pivotal Holiday cultural moments.

The first Funderstruck spots will air on ESPN and ABC during the NBA on Christmas Day games, in addition to the game and pre-game sponsorships.

Funderstruck will then be featured with Carnival sponsoring the iconic Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration, through a collaboration with ABC and the New York Times Square Alliance.

In addition to the Christmas and NYE integrations, the Funderstruck message will be used across all Carnival owned channels, OOH placements in key port and feeder markets, :15 and :30 National TV commercials, and digitally led efforts highlighted by streaming video, streaming audio, podcasts, unique high impact display and video efforts, and social presence across TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.

In several spots, guests enjoy the many Funderstruck experiences that Carnival has to offer, from riding BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, to simply enjoying a delicious chocolate ice cream, most notably with other passengers who share an unabashed sense of euphoria and delight in being together again.

Click the image above to view Carnivals Funderstruck

“Funderstruck is the unmistakable feeling when you choose fun on Carnival, and the kind of joyful experience essential to people’s health and happiness,” said Pete Callaro, senior vice president of brand and product marketing for Carnival Cruise Line. “Carnival cruises are the perfect vacation to enjoy with those you’ve missed having fun with over the past year.”

The campaign, created by Anomaly, is an extension of the brand’s Choose Fun campaign that launched in 2018. All paid media and integration elements were created by the Initiative and supported by the public relations consultancy LDWW.

For additional information on Carnival Cruise Line and to book a cruise vacation, call 1-800-CARNIVAL, visit www.carnival.com, or contact your favourite travel advisor or online travel site.

Carnival TV Series Renewed for a Second Season

The Voyager with Josh Garcia (photo courtesy of Carnival Corporation)

Three of Carnival Corp.’s travel television series have been extended for a second season ABC and NBC stations.

The company made the announcement at the ASTA Global Convention at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.

Season two of “The Voyager with Josh Garcia” will premiere on NBC stations beginning Saturday, September 30.  “Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin” and “Vacation Creation with Tommy Davidson and Andrea Feczko” will debut on ABC affiliates the following week on Saturday, October 7.

The renewals come a year after Carnival’s first original travel programming and is part of Carnival Corp.’s focus on producing and distributing compelling experiential content.

All three shows were ranked as number one or number two in their time slot during the inaugural season.

“Based on the exceptionally positive viewing results and the overall increased interest in cruise vacations following our shows’ inaugural year, we are extending our programming and growing our content library for the 2017 to 2018 season,” said John Padgett, chief experience and innovation officer for Carnival Corporation

The company’s brands include Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, P&O Cruises (Australia) and P&O Cruises (UK), as well as Fathom, its immersive, enrichment experience brand.

“Championing the extraordinary experiences that our guests enjoy while on a cruise vacation via original programming is key to expanding the market’s awareness and generating demand for cruising,” Padgett added.

According to Carnival Corp., cruise vacations are growing 20 percent faster than land-based trips. That stat is evidence that Americans’ interest in cruise vacations is becoming more and more popular, it said.

It also cited an Adobe Digital Insights study, released earlier this year, that showed the number of visits to cruise websites had increased 32 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2017.

Three of Carnival Corp.’s original series—which debuted in fall 2016 and are distributed by Litton Entertainment—were honored recently with 10 Telly Awards for the best in TV and cable, digital and streaming and non-broadcast productions.

“Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin” broadcasts nationally as part of the daytime Emmy-winning block “Weekend Adventure,” a three-hour programming block airing Saturday mornings on 98 percent of the country’s ABC affiliate channels.

In season two, Corwin takes audiences to Iceland, Belize and Peru while also sharing his family with viewers as they visit Japan. There, Corwin connects with the one creature that’s alluded him for more than 20 years—the giant Japanese salamander.

The new season of the “Vacation Creation with Tommy Davidson and Andrea Feczko” will also be featured on ABC’s “Weekend Adventure.” It takes viewers beyond the typical travel show by personalizing vacations of a lifetime for couples, individuals and families facing hardship, in need of hope or seeking much-needed time together. 

From revealing the wondrous glaciers of Alaska to encounters with the mystical Moko Jumbie of the Virgin Islands, the show celebrates the importance of spending time with family and friends, along with discovering how the world can help people learn more about each other and their family history.  Along the way, viewers share their stories of overcoming adversity, while taking part in extraordinary experiences.

“The Voyager with Josh Garcia” returns for a second year as part of the network’s nationally broadcasted “The More You Know” programming block.

This season, viewers will travel with Garcia to Alaska’s majestic Mendenhall glacier, sample traditional Thai food in Bangkok and venture into the mountains of Taiwan to learn how traditional tea is farmed and prepared.

Adventures by Disney unveils short city tours

By Arnie Weissmann

Responding to changes in consumer behavior, Adventures by Disney is offering a long-weekend product in San Francisco and New York for the 2015 season.

Disney said that some vacationers want just a bite-size sample of their tours.

“We live busy lives,” said Adventures by Disney’s senior vice president and general manager, Ken Potrock. “A lot of people have concerns about whether they want to commit to a seven-, 10- or 14-day experience.”

The three-night, four-day Long Weekends are nonetheless designed to give a “deep dive” of the city, linked to Adventures by Disney’s format of storytelling, said Heather Killingbeck, the tour operator’s director of trip and program development.

The San Francisco tour will be based out of the Fairmont, and include a tour of LucasFilm, a Disney production partner, which is not typically open to the public; a day trip to Napa Valley and Silverado Winery, owned by members of the Disney family, where adult guests can blend their own private label wine (while their children infuse olive oil in another room); and a bicycle ride from the Embarcadero to the base of the Golden Gate.

A Long Weekend in Manhattan will include a visit to the “Good Morning America” studio during a broadcast (Disney owns the show’s parent company, ABC), dance lessons in a professional studio, a performance of “Aladdin” at Disney’s New Amsterdam Theater (including a hands-on backstage tour), an afterhours tour of the Tenement Museum that includes conversations with matriarchs from several immigrant families, as well as an immersive tour of Harlem which includes a meal of soul food at Amy Ruth’s.

Also, Disney will be going to the Amazon for the first time in 2015 — or more exactly, to the Napo River, a major tributary, in Ecuador. The river cruise will be aboard a new 20-cabin vessel, the Anakonda. In addition to looking for wildlife, the group will stop in villages and create their own souvenirs.

In the next phase of the 12-day/11-night Ecuador trip, guests will fly to Quito and learn to make ceviche in an upscale restaurant, then continue to the Galapagos for a land-based tour based out of the Finch Bay Eco Hotel on Santa Cruz Island. They’ll also take a private yacht to Santa Fe Island to view wildlife.

The inventory will be available for booking on May 21.