CASE STUDY

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Southampton City Council – A Caribbean Explosion!

Southampton is one of the UK’s premier and busiest cruise ports. This April, the biggest cruise ship in the world (160,000 tons), Royal Caribbean’s “The Independence of the Seas” arrived in Southampton for her naming ceremony.

The Aim

Southampton City Council decided to organise a Caribbean Festival to increase public awareness of “The Independence of the Seas” and to showcase her on-board activities as Royal Caribbean wished to appeal to a wider, younger audience, without alienating its traditional audience. CG was asked by Southampton City Council to develop a campaign to promote the festival and to encourage people to attend the free event at Mayflower Park. The main objectives were to create a buzz in the city around the ship’s arrival, to increase brand awareness and to show an effective working partnership between Royal Caribbean, Southampton City Council and Business Southampton.

The Approach

  • CG worked closely with Southampton City Council to produce a range of material to promote and reflect the festival’s content
  • CG implemented a campaign across a range of media – posters, DL leaflets, outdoor banners, and online marketing
  • Promotional material showed the wide array of free activities on offer, using hot and vibrant colours and illustrations evocative of the Caribbean
  • CG developed and implemented competitions through both printed marketing material and through broadcast media on Wave FM
  • CG designed and developed a logo in the style of hand-painted signs in the Caribbean which could work across any application to make the event’s promotional material easily recognisable
  • CG selected images of The Independence of the Seas which could work across any part of the campaign. These showed an aerial view, an angle which wouldn’t be visible from Mayflower Park but would serve to illustrate the sheer scale of the ship

The Results

The success of the festival was evident from the thousands of visitors who attended the event. The temporary beach put in place in Mayflower Park proved a great success and allowed visitors a grandstand view of the ship.