Digital Marketing, eCommerce & Customer / User Experience Strategy, B2C + B2B (Meeting Planners)
Company Royal Caribbean / Sector Travel & Tourism, Cruise Ship Lines
Digital (Augmented Reality) Experience Generates Reservations for Unfinished Ship
by Christopher Vickers, Atlanta-based Brand, Advertising + Content Marketing & Communications Strategist & Creator
Background For many Americans, cruise ship vacations are, as one cynical industry veteran said, “For newlyweds, the over-fed and nearly dead". She wasn’t entirely wrong. Research shows large segments of frequent ‘cruisers’ are twenty-something newlyweds or 55 and older. And many of the most popular cruise lines do in fact make food available 24/7, including all-you-can-eat sundae bars, midnight feedings and always-on fro-yo machines throughout the ship.
Royal Caribbean Deck
Yet unlike most cruise lines Royal Caribbean works deliberately to attract younger couples and families in their 30s & 40s by designing and promoting a more active cruise experience. Yet when completion of an amazing new ship is 12-18 months away, how is a cruise line to generate excitement and reservations?
Opportunity Royals’ new ships incorporate innovative and active onboard experiences, including large rock walls for climbing, an artificial wave machine for surfing, two cantilevered whirlpools 'floating' high above the ocean, a water park and more. In order to promote the amazing onboard attractions and other areas of the ship a year in advance of completion, we employed a little movie magic including 3-D renderings, high-def video and actors performing in front of green-screen.
Royal Caribbean Suite
Approach Using Royal’s ship art and drawings we created 3D architectural renderings, shot HD video, then seamlessly composited the full motion HD video into each 'scene' - rock wall, wave machine, etc. Simultaneously we built a custom microsite, then embedded the entire experience and each ‘scene’ into it. The entire online experience and each scene are interactive, allowing users to explore each activity, click on areas and crew and passengers within each scene, activating more information about the feature, or activating 'passengers' and 'crew' speaking (talking to camera) about the activity, and enabling users to navigate from scene to scene.
Navigator of the Seas Stateroom
The microsite is immersive, making viewers feel like they are walking around a finished ship. The bottom of the microsite includes an always-on menu to navigate, including opening the Royal Caribbean main site to shop cruise dates, prices, chat live with agents and make reservations. The microsite was promoted across a variety of paid, owned and earned media, including email to the 2.5MM in Royal Caribbean's database. Consumers were kept up-to-date about the progress of the ship’s construction and its features in the year leading up to the ship’s actual launch.
Outcome One Royal Caribbean marketing executive said "Results are beyond expectations". In key metrics, including awareness, shopping and reservations, she continued "To date, this new ship launch is the most successful in Royal Caribbean's history". In addition to strong email Open and Click-thru rates, key microsite and business KPIs included:
Royal Caribbean Deck
Visitors to the ship microsite spent an average of nine (9) minutes exploring, per session
33.7% of visitors to the microsite clicked thru to continue shopping, chat with agents and to make reservations on Royal Caribbean's main site RoyalCaribbean.com
Over 2,000 reservations were booked via the microsite during the first two weeks
The Royal executive continued "With nearly 34% of visitors clicking thru to shop cruise dates and prices on the main site, the new microsite is successfully moving consumers towards reservations". Another said "Average time spent of nine minutes is a testament to the microsite’s success.”
Agency IQ Agency