Advertising Case Study

Carnival Cruise Lines

Company Background
Carnival Cruise Lines is one of the worlds leading cruise lines, with 23 ships sailing to a variety of exciting and beautiful destinations including the Caribbean, Alaska, Bermuda, Hawaii and Europe, just to name a few. The company prides itself on offering fun and memorable vacations at a great value.

Facebook Executive Summary

Client:

Objective: Develop and grow its Facebook fan base, and promote and drive entries for two consumer sweepstakes Solution: Continuous Facebook Ads campaign supported by Sponsored Stories Key Lessons: unning Sponsored Stories on an R ongoing basis can contribute to significant and steady fan growth C omplementing paid media with high-quality content can help build an audience that is not only large but also active and engaged

Objective
Carnival Cruise Lines has been active on Facebook for several years. Our overall goal is to engage the community and expand our brands overall presence, says Jordan Corredera, Director and General Manager at Carnival Cruise Lines. For us, Facebook is really about engaging our customers and keeping the conversations going between vacations, as well as educating rookie cruisers who arent sure what to expect. We are very focused on content and we want to provide value. In the spring of 2011, the company launched a new ship, the 130,000-ton Carnival Magic. It also ran two sweepstakes promotions designed to increase the already high levels of engagement it sees on Facebook. A Facebook marketing campaign centered on its upcoming promotions and the launch of the new ship provided the perfect opportunity for Carnival Cruise Lines to engage its community and draw new fans.

We dont really see Facebook as media, as we do with display ads, etc. Facebook is about the community and fostering engagement. Its not a pure awareness play -- its a meeting point for all of our constituents to stay up to date with us. We also see it as a new form of lead generation.
Jordan Corredera, Director and General Manager, Carnival Cruise Lines

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Approach
Carnival, together with media agency Razorfish, began running Marketplace Ads in the first half of 2010. The company has continued to run these ads as part of an ongoing fan acquisition effort, with Age, Location and Likes & Interests targeting. Carnival also used Marketplace Ads to promote its two sweepstakes, Live Nation and Fun-A-Thon in the spring of 2011. The Live Nation promotion enabled people to win VIP seats at concerts in Carnival port cities while the Carnival FunA-Thon contest awarded 24 prizes in 24 hours, including a free cruise on the Carnival Magic. To enter the contests, people had to like the Carnival Cruise Lines Facebook page. The Marketplace Ads were targeted to U.S. residents over the age of 21. The company also used Sponsored Stories to complement the Facebook Ads and amplify word-ofmouth marketing about the contests. By using Page Like Sponsored Stories, Carnival looked to surface news of people becoming fans of the Carnival Cruise Lines Facebook page to their friends and networks. Sponsored Stories is a great tool to have, says Stephanie Leavitt, Senior Manager Online Experience and Operations at Carnival Cruise Lines. As we build a larger and larger audience, we also expand the network of friends of fans that we can tap into. For the Carnival Magic launch, Carnival Cruise Lines used its Facebook page as a hub of activity, featuring a variety of engaging content for its fans. On the day the Carnival Magic was officially named in Venice, Italy, the company posted 11 videos highlighting the ships inaugural festivities, including a tour of the vessel, the naming ceremony and an interview with the captain. After all videos were posted, fans could participate in a Facebook quiz based on the videos for a chance to win a cruise for four to the Caribbean.

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Results
In June 2011, Carnival became the first cruise line to reach one million Facebook fans. The company can now reach more than 150 million friends of those fans through Friends of Connection Targeting. 373,033 people, almost one-third of the total, have become fans directly though Facebook Ads. In June 2011 alone, 185,000 people became fans of the page. 11 million people viewed Carnivals Wall during the 24 hours of the contest when a prize was given away each hour. The page posts drew more than 20,000 likes and 5,000 comments in 24 hours. 70,000 people entered the Fun-A-Thon sweepstakes on Facebook. This event actually blew almost every other event weve ever done out of the water, says Eric Schechter, Social Media Manager at Carnival Cruise Lines. More than 50 percent of the fan base is comprised of daily active visitors to the Carnival Facebook page. Engagement has been through the roof, Jordan says. We have a very, very high fan engagement percentage, compared to our overall fan base. Each brand wall post garnered an average of 2,500 likes per day and 1,700 comments in July 2011. In one day, the videos celebrating the launch of the Carnival Magic were viewed more than 65,000 times.

Carnival says it is very pleased with the size of its Facebook community and the level of engagement and connection that people have with the brand. We have so many active fans sharing with their friends the things that excite them about cruising with Carnival, Eric Schechter, Social Media Manager at Carnival Cruise Lines, explains. We really value this participation. If someone has a question or wants more information and a fan gives his or her feedback, its a lot more credible and real than if we answer as a brand. When a fan says something positive about his or her experience, it holds a lot more weight.

The Future
Carnival Cruise Lines has made major investments in its social media activities. This years national television advertising campaign ends with a callto-action to join the company on Facebook. The launch of another new ship is on the horizon and social media will play a major part in its promotion and celebration. The team at Carnival Cruise Lines points out that it approaches social media not simply as a tool, but as an overall strategy. The company has also begun to integrate Facebook into the Carnival.com website and to explore the possibilities of social commerce. We have fully integrated Facebook, and are really excited about what it could do for our brand, says Jordan.