‘Cruising is having a moment right now,’ Heidi said, flashing them both a smile. ‘Once purely the realm of the rich and retired, the perception of cruising as a see-it-all have-it-all option for the younger generation is starting to emerge, and we need to double down on it in our PR.’
‘Amen,’ Brooke said, stirring her coffee.
‘We all know this generation live on their phones. They can travel the world without ever leaving the house through their tiny screen. All they need do is type a city name into the search box on YouTube or Tik Tok and someone out there will have been there, filmed it and shared it. They have zero attention span and a desperation for the “new”. The untouched. The space where no one else has been – where no one could even imagine to be. And we can give that to them.Youcan give that to them.’
Greg looked about ready to nod off. We weren’t telling him anything new.
‘And so, we propose a global PR campaign to get people talking about those hidden gems, to reconsider cruising beyond the obvious.’
I turned the first board, like a magician’s assistant.
‘Unimaginable moments from Excalibur Cruises.You already love the line, now let me walk you through the executions.’
I turned the second and third boards, which were full of beautiful faces.
‘Fronted by influencers and YouTubers and the many different celebs out there who use crew, crews and cruise as part of their identity. Lana Cruise, Annabelle Cruz, The Surf Shack Crew… all brands in their own right, with access to ten million subscribers between them – and that’s allowing for a generous amount of crossover.’
‘Never heard of them,’ Greg barked, his silver hair glinting under the fluorescent lights.
‘These are the people influencing the next generation,’ Brooke said, gently. ‘And we do need to meet the young people where they are.’
‘One payment, one cruise, a hundred ways to look at it. I’ll let the work speak for itself. Kat?’
I was poised and ready to postulate. ‘Absolutely.Unimaginable momentscan’t be pre-planned, so this becomes a game of one-upmanship that can be accessed by anyone. It’s not about money, but experiences, available to all – and everyone can play.’
Heidi jumped in. ‘This audience use firsts as their currency – they don’t just want to live their best life – they want to be seen to be living it. Social media is their proof platform, and this campaign will help them see cruising is the best way to do that. There is no frame of reference for what might happen on an Excalibur cruise.’
Greg’s face started to soften, despite looking at photos of kids he’d never heard of and an idea that felt alien to his generation.
‘The beauty of this campaign is its stretchability. It works at all levels from your average nine-to-five Gen Z on minimum wage all the way up to major celebrities. We target the audience with the stories that will resonate most.’
‘For example…?’ Greg said, steepling his fingers.
I pulled out our hero image and Brooke gasped. A couple swimming in bioluminescence, under the stars. ‘Wowzers!’
I smiled. ‘Exactly.’
Greg put his glasses on and leant forward. ‘Wow, where is that?’
We’d got them both.
‘On an Excalibur cruise of course,’ Heidi chipped in, delighted with their reaction.
‘Is it?’ Greg looked a little closer. ‘Oh, yes. I see it now.’
‘Esmeraldahas docked in the background,’ I said, pointing to the image with my pen. ‘And this couple have found a little piece of heaven for an on-shore swim.’
I pulled up another board and handed it to them. ‘Then here we have a group of friends volcano screeing in the Azores.’
‘That looks incredible,’ Greg said, turning to Brooke. ‘Is this possible to do?’
‘Sure is. And it wouldn’t be the kind of thing our regular passengers would go for.’
‘We’ve got hundreds of ideas on this, but the real stories will come from our customers and that’s where the crew idea can stretch beyond influencers. Cruising with your girl crew, your uni crew, your rowing crew – and of course we would showcaseEsmeralda’s crew as well. They’ll have some stories to tell.’
‘Hell yeah – plenty of juicy tales to be shared there. Barbie Queue alone is a whole TikTok waiting to happen,’ Brooke said.
‘How does this translate into PR?’ Greg asked with a frown.
