• by Tanya Gazdik , September 23, 2013

Carnival Cruise Lines is launching a $25 million-plus national advertising campaign featuring the unforgettable and memorable vacation moments experienced every day by the cruise line's millions of guests, as captured through their own lenses. 

The "Moments That Matter" campaign includes thousands of real vacation photos and videos from past Carnival cruisers, collected through social media.

The campaign is “aimed at a broad, national audience of both first-time and repeat customers and uses images and videos from our guests to convey what a Carnival cruise is really like,” said Jim Berra, chief marketing officer for Carnival Cruise Lines. 

“We believe this fall presents a great opportunity to accelerate the brand recovery that is already underway,” Berra tells Marketing Daily. “The new campaign is designed to showcase fun and memorable moments that happen every day on our ships and remind people what has made us successful for 40-plus years.”

The tone of “Moments that Matter” is a departure from previous campaigns, he says.

“We’ve transitioned from fun and humor to more emotional territory,” Berra adds.

When Carnival put out the call, past guests submitted more than 30,000 pieces of "cruiser generated content," ranging from small moments like lounging poolside to larger-than-life moments like marriage proposals, each reflecting people's most treasured vacation memories.

Those looking to book a cruise are much more likely to listen to recommendations from previous cruisers.

“There's a level of trust there that can't be fabricated," says Pete Johnson, executive creative director, creative lead for Arnold Worldwide, Boston, which developed the campaign in partnership with Carnival. "That's one of the reasons we decided to showcase meaningful moments experienced by past guests in the creative. It's a way to create a real representation of the memories that can be made while cruising with Carnival."

The campaign is part of a fall marketing push by Carnival Cruise Lines to stimulate consumer interest in the brand. More than $25 million in total will be invested across broadcast, radio, digital and direct mail between now and December.

While that does not represent the brand's total annual advertising spend, it is substantially higher than what the company normally invests during the fall time period. 

The campaign will continue during first-quarter 2014, which is a critical reservations period for the cruise industry known as "wave season."  Within the call-to-action at the end of the spot, consumers are encouraged to contact their travel professional, as part of the line's ongoing effort to drive more traffic to its travel agent partners.

The new TV spots debuts today and will air on major prime-time network shows including “How I Met Your Mother,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Big Bang Theory” and “The Voice,” leading cable networks including Bravo, TNT, TLC, ABC Family, TBS and Food Network and online on Yahoo and YouTube.