Route to Recovery for 2022.

The Strategy: Permission to Daydream

With a worldwide travel pause behind us, we knew the market was going to be flooded with travel reactivation communications. This campaign needed to cut through and secure that business-crucial booking.

Our audience are not digital natives, preferring DM to other channels. We identified our audience as a mixture of past bookers, warm prospects and those who had cruises cancelled, so the task seemed simple enough.

Until we spoke to guests.

We heard loud and clear that the pandemic had stirred a wide range of feelings towards cruising and travel in general. From concerns around safety, apprehension about future cancellations, frustration from previous cancellations and worries about an altered experience, to those who just couldn’t wait to get back on board again — so many different and conflicting mindsets that are impossible to segment on a database.

We identified one universal truth that united them all. In the wake of the pandemic, guests were looking for permission to daydream. Our strategy was to give them that permission, knowing that Cunard had their hopes and fears covered. To make that happen, we:

• Connected guests with their love of adventure and inspired them to look forward, whilst recognising and addressing their fears
• Wrapped all the adventure of the seas, the luxury of the ships, and the customer service Cunard are known for into a single gilt-edged, tissue-wrapped DM experience
• Created a piece of communication that would seduce guests back to their love of sailing and help them remember why they fell in love with it in the first place
• Stood out on the doormat for the quality of our communication, just as Cunard stands out for the quality of its service

The Solution: An invitation to exploration, delivered through the letterbox

‘Permission to daydream’ was a wonderful strategic platform. No matter what mental barriers Covid-19 had put up, we knew we could connect guests with their love of luxurious travel and innate sense of adventure, whilst navigating them through a sea of concerns.

Delivered through their letterbox was our Invitation to Exploration. Gilt-edged, on heavy stock, and worthy of a place at the Captain’s Table — this beautiful piece inspired guests to look ahead with positivity. It reminded them of the reasons they loved to travel with Cunard and encouraged them to start dreaming about their next voyage.

They were invited to dive into a luxurious brochure, layered with tissue, where 20 pages of stunning destination photography awaited. The whole package was held together with a branded belly band. Such carefully considered layering ensured a slow reveal as recipients unwrapped the pieces and served as a reminder of the brand’s reputation for exceptional quality.

This pack was something they could hold firmly in their hands, pore over with a partner and have the time and space to indulge in their daydreams of their next voyage — whilst reassuring themselves that Cunard had everything taken care of:

• Full-bleed photography created a sense of vast space and adventure, which contrasts evocatively with the sense of small that lockdown created
• Tone of voice was reassuring yet inspiring, with attention to detail throughout echoing Cunard’s service ethos
• 20 pages of stunning destination photography spanning Norwegian fjords, the Mediterranean, North Cape and Iceland
• A clear and concise CTA left guests with no doubt that we wanted them back on board

Results: When guests are given permission to dream, they book

As this was the first itineraries launch since the pandemic had hit, we were unsure what to expect — especially with the valid concerns about travel that our guests had flagged.

We need not have worried. Connecting guests with their love of travelling the seas with Cunard and giving them permission to daydream saw the DM campaign deliver incremental revenue adding up to an impressive ROI of 25:1 in the 4 weeks following launch, measured against the no mail control group.

As well as a high volume of bookings and significant revenue boost, we also saw a positive impact on driving bookings direct to cunard.com, improving revenue per booking and harvesting valuable first-party data — leading to a new guest segmentation and Test and Learn programme.

And the fact that this DM pack captured the hearts of our audience enough for them to share it on social media was the icing on the cake. Unprecedented organic sharing from an audience usually reluctant to do so — proof that when a piece of communication is crafted with the same care as the brand it represents, guests don’t just book. They tell others.

A hugely successful return to sailing for Cunard.