Icon of the Seas
Leading the marketing campaign for Icon of the Seas was a career-defining experience. This groundbreaking ship represented Royal Caribbean's first new ship class in over a decade, and our challenge was to market it as the ultimate family vacation.
Over 2 years, I spearheaded a multifaceted campaign that matched the ship's unprecedented scale and innovation. My role involved directing the development of a strong product platform, a striking visual identity that captured the ship's essence, selecting impactful campaign music, crafting compelling scripts for broadcast and digital, and venturing into unexpected brand activations with Zillow and Fortnite, which pushed the boundaries of cruise marketing.
The results were phenomenal! Icon of the Seas achieved the most successful launch in Royal Caribbean's history including the single largest booking day (at launch) and highest volume booking week in Royal Caribbean’s 53-year history. Six months post-launch, we saw a 43% increase in guest bookings, with 47% of first-year sailings already booked. These numbers not only showcase the ship's appeal but also validate our marketing strategy's effectiveness.
This project showcases my capacity to develop and lead large-scale, high-impact marketing campaigns. Throughout the process, I demonstrated thorough and detailed planning, ensuring every aspect of the campaign aligned with our overarching strategy. My ability to synthesize consumer insights, market trends, and brand objectives resulted in a cohesive campaign that resonated deeply with our target audience.
The campaign's unprecedented success not only elevated Royal Caribbean's brand, but also reinforces my track record of delivering exceptional results in complex, high-stakes marketing initiatives.
Commercial
Advertising a new ship like Icon of the Seas presents unique challenges, as marketing needs to launch well in advance of the ship’s completion. This commercial combines CGI assets with real-life footage. By interweaving realistic visuals with digital elements, we ensure audiences can connect with the experience without relying solely on CGI renders. The result is a dynamic preview that feels authentic, inviting future guests to imagine their journey.
Icon of the Seas :30 Commercial
Icon of the Seas :15 Commercial
Visual Identity
Fortnite
THE CHALLENGE
Develop a way for people to experience Royal Caribbean’s newest and best-in-class ship, Icon of the Seas. Just one snag — the ship didn’t exist...yet.
THE IDEA
To capture the attention of Millennial families, we created a first-of-its-kind Fortnite-branded map gaming experience for young families to explore the ship and all of her one-of-a-kind amenities. To engage them, we took an imaginative spin on the popular game mode of Prop Hunt to create the most iconic version of hide-and-seek ever built.
This was a way to bring our brand and product to a place where families are playing and exploring in a way that’s really authentic and organic, and an opportunity to have a more immersive exploration of our ship in a non-traditional format.
THE RESULTS
Our branded map was live for 3 months and included gaming influencer partnerships and the inclusion in-game portals throughout this campaign as a way to drive traffic. KPIs for this campaign was focused on renting rate and average playtime, as these are the biggest indicators of a user’s desire to keep playing past round one.
Final results:
Over 2.2M minutes of total gameplay - That’s 4.3 years of gameplay!
5.76% Retention Rate (+15% vs. Benchmark)
14:45 Mins Average Playtime (+48% vs. Benchmark)