Carnival Docks Its Advertising | Beyond Madison Avenue

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

Carnival Docks Its Advertising

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

Carnival, the world's largest cruise operator and owner of the Costa Concordia, has suspended is broadcast, digital, and direct mail marketing for its namesake line, Carnival Cruise Lines, for an unspecified amount of time, reports the Vancouver Sun. In case you haven't heard, the Costa Concordia hit a reef off the coast of Italy due to negligence of the ship's captain. Unfortunately the death count is up to 16, with a little more than a dozen missing. The announcement of the suspension of Carnival's advertising comes close to a week after the crash.

Though the wreck occurred at the start of the cruise industry's peak booking season, it seems that Carnival is following precedent. Airlines and oil companies, according to the article, usually pull television ads when there are fatalities during accidents and incidents. (Remember the airplane ad situation in Mad Men during Season 2?) And though BP had its crisis response team out in full force during the situation in the Gulf, it did wait to place more national ads after the cleanup process was fully in place.

This suspension in advertising comes during a time when Carnival was boosting its presence in the media. According to Nielsen, Carnival ran 10,213 ads on television last year, which is a 12% increase. Carnival executives said that they will take the time and evaluate the marketing across brands and regions, making sure each brand responds correctly to its specific audience. It should be noted that the Costa Concordia is operated by Costa Crociere SpA, a unit owned by Carnival Corp. Carnival Cruise Lines, and the namesake unit operates mostly in the Caribbean, while the former operates mostly around Europe.

With the amount of press coverage on this unfortunate incident, what will the advertisements for Carnival look like, once it reemerges? Like the BP Gulf ads, the new Carnival ads may highlight the new and improved safety precautions the cruise lines will implement. With much of the attention on the captain, the cruise line operator may show its potential passengers the strict training and recruitment of officers it will enforce. The ads will probably have to shift from destination, to ship experience, because people won't travel to the Bahamas if they are unsure that they'll make it.

An advertising response after a crisis is always interesting. Let's hope Carnival firsts takes care of the families who have suffered during this event, before diving into repairing its brand.

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

Beyond Madison Avenue on