P&O Cruises new campaign ‘Holidays as varied as you’

Usually in late December and January we’d be launching a new P&O Cruises Wave campaign full of optimism, buoyed by our phone lines and website being inundated with Guest bookings at our busiest time of the year. Well, the holiday market may feel somewhat different right now but that hasn’t stopped us getting back out there with an exciting new campaign.

So why now? While we may still be busy preparing for our return to what we all love, there’s a sense that the end to this pandemic is on the horizon. Having been very quiet as a brand for the past nine months, it’s important that we get back out there with a bold new campaign to remind Guests of the amazing holidays we provide.

Six months in the making

Developing this new campaign has been incredibly challenging. Like many facets of our business right now – our pause in operations has been extended time after time and Guest sentiment towards holidays has, in turn, evolved dramatically. But if there’s any silver lining, it’s that our pause in operations has afforded us an opportunity to really revaluate what it is about our holidays that Guests love and what sets us apart from other holiday providers. We conducted multiple online focus groups with Guests and prospective Guests and the respondents were amazingly unified when it came to what they found so exciting about a P&O Cruises holiday: the fantastic choice and variety that we offer. They waxed lyrical about the chance to try new things and see new places; to be both adventurous and to completely relax  in one holiday, or even on the same day, which gave us plenty of food for thought.

These sentiments are summed up nicely by our campaign endline – ‘Holidays as varied as you’. Just as important was the insight that different individuals wanted entirely different things from relaxing on board, the destinations and their experience in general. This led our creative team to a campaign ethos which seeks to acknowledge through P&O Cruises years of experience that we understand our Guests like no one else. ‘You do you and we’ll do the rest’ is a thread throughout our campaign that acknowledges our ships, our service levels and our eclectic on-board experience along with our Guests’ individuality.  

Introducing our new campaign

‘Holidays as varied as you’ launched in early January with a manifesto ad to introduce Guests to the big idea. Written in a friendly, upbeat style it invites everyone to remember everything we can offer them including open seas and supercharged sunsets, conceding that after 2020, ‘they’ve never looked so good’ (an undeniable truth surely?). Our manifesto ad features in full pages in national newspapers and via a video on social media. This opening statement will then be built upon with a series of brand adverts in newspapers and magazines, a series of short videos in social media, CRM and Travel Agent activity.

Take a look for yourself…