Why no Celebrity TV spots?

[PartyAllDaTyme]

I just watched an NCL spot on the ol' boob tube. It got me thinking-- no, not about taking an NCL cruise, but I've seen spots for RCI, Carnival, Holland America, Disney. Does anyone ever recall seeing, at least recently, a TV campaign for Celebrity? How about outside North America?

 

A while ago, there were about five videos on the X website-- three :30s and two :15s, as I recall-- I went to look for them to provide a link but couldn't find them. If they're still on the website, they made it difficult to find them, which is the opposite of what you'd want to do. When I first saw them, I thought, "Wow. When these start airing, I'll bet it'll really boost X's sales." They were very well done, and obviously cost more than a few bucks to produce. Never saw them on TV.

 

Why is X hiding their light under a bushel? I would have thought they could have at least bought time on the Travel Channel. The only thing I can surmise is that they were an attractive feature for the website, but they felt it wasn't worth the additional expense of buying airtime. Maybe I'm prejudiced, since I once worked in TV, but I feel TV spots are a good bang for the buck, especially with a great visual spot, as these were.

 

OTOH, I suppose it's in my best interest if they don't air these. After all, the more demand there is for Celebrity Cruises, the higher the fares will go!

[librarylady19]

I have wondered the same thing! Probably why most people have never heard of Celebrity Cruises. I do remember a couple of ad campaigns in the past (long before I sailed X) - one featured a woman in the MDR giving an Oscar-like acceptance speech. the other was really clever - its tag line was "I consider this a temporary exile" and a couple were recalling how their butler brought tea, long stemmed roses, etc. That's how I feel whenever I return from a wonderful cruise!!

[ORV]

Perhaps they are filling the ships without additional promotion.

[YOW]

Apparently some time back, Celebrity decided to shift the TV portion of its ad spend more into Internet etc. IIRC it may have been addressed in Dan Hanrahan's Q&A threads or one of those online conference things he did.

[juliawinston]

I remember seeing them about a decade ago, but nothing recently.

 

RCCL had some cool mini-movies that they made and showed on Tivo. They got me excited about cruising, but with Celebrity :p

[Clydesmom7865]

They don't need them. It reminds me of the model car I bought back in 2004: the Toyota Matrix. They were SO popular that no dealer needed to advertise them. If you didn't order it from the dealer you didn't get one. Even the used ones now are in demand.

 

Celebrity's reputation stands on its own and I am certain they are having no trouble filling the ships with the methods they already use. Why spend the enormous amounts of money TV ads require if you don't need them?

[sp2]

The last Celebrity TV ads that I can recall are the ones already mentioned, featuring cruisers who are now back from their cruise and having trouble adjusting to real life when last week they were being treated "like a Celebrity". Seems to me that was around the time Millie debuted. Certainly haven't seen anything featuring the Solstice class ships. They were good commercials I thought.

On our TV here in Canada, I seem to be seeing more commercials for Disney and Carnival lately. Royal Caribbean had their "Get out There" ads a few years ago but don't see any of those lately either.

I don't recall seeing Princess or HAL commercials in recent years either. Perhaps, as others have said, they have no trouble filling the ships so don't need to advertise, or are focusing on internet based ads.

[runner15km]

I get a advertising flyer almost monthly in the mail but many years since i have seen a tv ad.

[PatC]

The best commercials were way back when Celebrity first came out. Simply The Best with Tina Turner singing her song. Now that was a great commercial:D Up until a few years ago, at the final formal night they introduced the staff to this song and the folks went crazy.

 

As has been stated, I don't think they have to advertise. They do just fine filling the ships through word of mouth and repeat customers.

 

Now if they'd only enhance the perks for their long-time "simply the best" loyal folks it would make it even better.

[CFamilyWales]

The only Companies advertising in the UK are Royal Caribbean, who advertise and promote the most, followed by a little activity from P&O and Saga.

[TLCOhio]

As I recall from reading some past media articles, Celebrity has shifted most of their "mass media" money into the Internet. Television has gotten more "chopped up" and requires a pretty large "mass" of dollars to be effective. They, of course, do lots of mail. With the Internet, they believe they can better "target" their message. I see their messages lots on many news media-related websites. It's a changing, highly competitive world out there, but they also need to fill up those large ships that keep coming out of the production facility in Germany.

 

It was friends who had sailed Celebrity who got us interested in them, plus their excellent series of port stops and value pricing that got us to try them after using three other more upscale and smaller ships. As you see from my live/blog below, we were happy with the product and results! Fun, too!

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 62,025 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[YOW]

I see their messages lots on many news media-related websites.

 

I do as well. What I wonder is, how many of the banner-type ads we see on other sites are triggered by cookies, from us having visited the Celebrity site, the Celebrity boards here on Cruise Critic, etc?

[TLCOhio]

I do as well. What I wonder is, how many of the banner-type ads we see on other sites are triggered by cookies, from us having visited the Celebrity site, the Celebrity boards here on Cruise Critic, etc?

 

Great point/question! Today's technology, in the hands of smart people, can be extremely powerful in matching advertisers with targeted customers. Celebrity knows something or they wouldn't be spending their money that way. That's why Google, Apple and Facebook have grown so much and others (like Kodak and daily newspapers) have faded and/or getting ready for the grave yard.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 62,025 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[DivasDare]

Its funny that every website that I venture on that had advertisements, X is in the corner beckoning me to click, or day dream about an impending vacation. And the mailings come so often that they are just like a postcard from a loved one.:D

[i guide the sky]

I just watched an NCL spot on the ol' boob tube. It got me thinking-- no, not about taking an NCL cruise, but I've seen spots for RCI, Carnival, Holland America, Disney. Does anyone ever recall seeing, at least recently, a TV campaign for Celebrity? How about outside North America?

 

A while ago, there were about five videos on the X website-- three :30s and two :15s, as I recall-- I went to look for them to provide a link but couldn't find them. If they're still on the website, they made it difficult to find them, which is the opposite of what you'd want to do. When I first saw them, I thought, "Wow. When these start airing, I'll bet it'll really boost X's sales." They were very well done, and obviously cost more than a few bucks to produce. Never saw them on TV.

 

Why is X hiding their light under a bushel? I would have thought they could have at least bought time on the Travel Channel. The only thing I can surmise is that they were an attractive feature for the website, but they felt it wasn't worth the additional expense of buying airtime. Maybe I'm prejudiced, since I once worked in TV, but I feel TV spots are a good bang for the buck, especially with a great visual spot, as these were.

 

OTOH, I suppose it's in my best interest if they don't air these. After all, the more demand there is for Celebrity Cruises, the higher the fares will go!

 

Coming from a young generation. I think tv spots are becoming less effective. I don't even have cable. Watch everything off Internet. Even if I did I would just dvr through commercials. OTOH, I constantly get advertised celebrity on almost every web site I visit. But that is probably because of all the time I spend here and checking for price drops on the X site.

[pdcat21]

I remember seeing television spots for Solstice right before she debuted. I remember them because I would get so excited seeing them knowing I would soon be trying all the things they mentioned like the lawn and the specialty restaurants.

[Karen@Steve]

Could be that their market research shows that TV doesn't give them as much bang for the buck as their web and print advertising. BTW...just saw an RCCL commerical during the Superbowl. The sea was calling...

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Thanks, everyone, for the responses thus far.

 

Yes, those of us who see Celebrity banners all over the place see them because of cookies we get when we visit the Celebrity website. If no one has heard of Celebrity or at least has had occasion to visit their website, the money they spent for some videos that were perfectly formatted for TV spots was money wasted. When I saw the videos, they were obviously (to me) made to be TV spots. Why script them and edit them to a perfect :30 or :15 if you don't intend them to be used on air? A web video could be any length, or could be much longer than a :30.

 

And yes, they fill the ships without TV buys, but supply and demand says that they could charge more and have fewer Tuesday specials. Like I said, good for X, bad for us. When a potential new cruiser decides to book that first cruise online, do they even know about Celebrity? By getting their name out there so people think of Celebrity in the same way they think of Carnival or Disney, but as the upscale alternative, they'd have to get a whole lot more ships to keep up with demand. Maybe they're working towards that.

 

I assume they did market research, but was it the same bunch that was responsible for "X the rules"? TV ads may not be as effective with Generation X, Y and Z, but their primary customer base is still the 50+ crowd (and have most of the disposable income), who still watch TV. They have been attempting to skew younger lately, though, so this may enter into it.

 

Oooooh, an ad campaign aimed at Generation X! Get it? Celebrity? X? Generation X? Huh? Hahh? I claim credit.:)

[i guide the sky]

 

I assume they did market research, but was it the same bunch that was responsible for "X the rules"? TV ads may not be as effective with Generation X, Y and Z, but their primary customer base is still the 50+ crowd (and have most of the disposable income), who still watch TV. They have been attempting to skew younger lately, though, so this may enter into it.

 

Judging by the distinct change in decor and general feel of the new S class ships. It has always been apparent to me that X is trying to appeal to the 30 and 40 crowd more and more. Basis on the demo still on board most X cruises I would say quite ineffectually but still the change is sharp from the celebrity of the early 90s and 00s, IMO.

[macruisefan]

X doesn't seem to be seeking out the television watching demographic. And based on the really terrible programming these days, I'm glad! It's bad enough I have to listen to people at work talk about these pathetic shows. The last thing I want to do is be on a ship full of them!

 

Celebrity does a lot more print advertising (Travel & Leisure, Con de Nast, etc...). I guess they are hoping that at least some of their guests have intellectual functioning above the level of a second grader:D

[i guide the sky]

Celebrity does a lot more print advertising (Travel & Leisure, Con de Nast, etc...). I guess they are hoping that at least some of their guests have intellectual functioning above the level of a second grader:D

 

Guessing if this were the case they wouldn't have dancing with the stripes as an onboard activity. Seems that show is the epitome of those shows your speaking of.