00:00:01
S1: Welcome to Herd Mentality, a podcast where we discuss the power of audio to move minds and markets. I'm Brittney Rigby, managing editor at Little Black Book, and each episode I sit down with creative thinkers, marketers and makers to discuss how the world's most creative brands use audio to make people think, feel and act. Today, I'm joined by Nicole Bradbury, senior marketing manager at Carnival Cruise Line. Hello. And two of the nation's best strategy director, Jack Cornwell. Hello. And creative director Damon Porter. Hi. At the very start of the year, the brand launched a new platform called Playaway, which debuted distinctive brand assets that the business can use for decades to tempt Aussies to take a cruise and reinject fun as the brand's essence. Welcome to the three of you. I'm going to start with you, Nicole. It was the first campaign from Carnival since acquiring P&O, and it was your first campaign with a notion. What business challenge were you facing when you briefed in what became Play Away?
00:01:07
S2: Um, yeah. So as you alluded to, this was the first campaign we ran post P and O. So in March of 2025, making sure I'm getting my years right. Um, yeah, the piano brand was sunset. We had their ships join our fleet. So essentially our ship fleet in Australia doubled. And our challenge was to really establish ourselves as the cruising brand in Australia. We're the only ones here year round. So we needed something distinctive, something memorable, something that was fun and humorous, like we are to get into market and really place our stamp, um, on the market. And, and I think play away definitely achieved that. And as you alluded to as well, when I briefed it in, I said, you know, we want something that can be around for ten, 20 years. Like we need, we need a Specsavers equivalent, um, for carnival.
00:01:57
S1: No pressure, no pressure, no pressure. Jack, how did you then tackle it strategically, knowing that that was the expectation?
00:02:05
S3: I think the biggest thing for me was obviously the name of the game was salience. So if we wanted this to last for the next sort of ten, 20, 30 years, everything has been about being really, really ruthless with how can we make, how can, how can we build that memory structure for Australians and then continue to build upon that for the next couple of decades?
00:02:25
S1: I imagine as well, it's a tough category in which to really make sure you're building the brand versus just building the category. And Nicole Carnival being the fleet that's here year round must help with that.
00:02:38
S2: But yeah.
00:02:39
S1: Getting people to think I want to take a Carnival cruise versus, oh yeah, a cruise itself could be nice or a holiday could be nice. Yeah. How did you think about building the brand itself?
00:02:48
S2: Oh, it is hard because, you know, when we had that switch, um, you know, no longer being in the market, they had really done that job for so many years. They were the category leader and they did a lot of category work, um, whether meaning to or not. And so that torch kind of got passed on to us. But obviously we have objectives that we need to meet from a business point of view, which does include growing the category as a whole because we are the mass brand. So for most people in this market, Carnival will be the first cruise brand that they engage with. So it's always a balance of, of doing that category job versus landing the message that we need to land. And I think, you know, the salience, the DBAs making sure that that is attributed to us. So people see that and go, I want to go on a Carnival cruise, not just I want to go on a cruise. And I think for us, we have so many lovely notes of personality that we can play on. Like there's that humor. Um, and I always call it kind of dad joke humor. That's kind of who we are. And so that's quite distinct for us. So we try and make sure that that's touching everything that we do as well.
00:03:56
S1: And Jack, when when we spoke about the work at the very start of the year, it really jumped out that the original brief was to evolve the old platform. And you pushed back on that and thought that actually aligning with the global positioning Carnival is calling felt better for the brand locally. Why was that?
00:04:15
S3: Yeah, I think Beyond Carnival is calling. I mean, Carnival has such a rich, amazing history of of play and fun dating back to, um, I'm testing myself here. I think it's 72.
00:04:27
S2: You're correct. Full marks.
00:04:29
S3: Even back to the original design philosophy, um, that Joe Farkas kind of pioneered, which is called entertainment architecture. The whole experience was meant to be, um, the ship is the destination rather than necessarily having to go somewhere. And we really wanted to embody that. And we kind of, you know, we felt like we were missing a trick moving away from that. We're like, this is such an amazing Ownable, um, you know, piece of our brand heritage would be silly to, to move away from that history and fun.
00:04:59
S2: This is what I love about Jack and the notion team, because I can remember when I brought all of you on board for that walk around, because I'm a big believer in when you bring on a partner or an agency, you have them see and experience the product. And luckily for us, we're in the harbour a couple of times a week, so it's quite easy. So I brought them on board, um, into, you know, what is our flagship, um, here in Sydney, Carnival Splendor, which is if you've ever been on board, you know that it's unlike anything you would see on land. Um, and I remember, you know, I kind of always spit out these fun facts about who designed it and, you know, the wacky things on board and no one's ever like, interrogated that before. And Jack was like, oh, what was his name? And then, you know, you come back in the briefs, they've answered that, um, directly. And I was like, you know, you've really taken the experience on board and thought about that for the campaign and just, you know, diving into those little notes of experience architecture as well.
00:05:51
S4: I think you really feel it too?
00:05:52
S3: Like as soon as you step on board, it's like every detail is it all is is like a feast for the eyes. And so, you know, we really wanted to bring that into, into comms and help people to feel that even before they've stepped on board one of our ships.
00:06:05
S5: I think that architecture actually set the tone for our campaign in a way. It was the first thing we saw that went, wow, this is different. It's fun, it's playful. How can we get the essence of that into into the idea and into the language?
00:06:19
S1: I mean, it's a really good observation to Damon creatively that you, you have to know the product or know the brand to then know how you want a consumer of that product or brand to feel. How, how important was it for you to feel like you understood the carnival experience before you kind of got stuck into it?
00:06:37
S5: Yeah, absolutely. And that's the same with every breath for me. Like I need to go and experience the product first before I can start working on it, whether that's Carnival or other products. I've done that my whole career. I'm a huge believer in that. But particularly for Carnival, there's such a breadth of experiences on board, and I think you need to to actually go on board and, and, um, and go up and down all the different levels, go and play the putt putt, go on the water slide. Um, have a lot of fun before you even start working on it. It definitely informed, um, how we approached the idea.
00:07:10
S1: Can you explain where you landed creatively? So for a listener who might not have seen the work or experienced the work in the wild yet surprising because it has been everywhere, but talk us through where you landed.
00:07:22
S5: Sure. I will try, um, but very simply put, it's, um, essentially showing Aussies the fun they're missing out on, um, on a carnival cruise. So we started with the insight that Aussies are, um, they're a little stressed. Um, they're overworked.
00:07:38
S1: Really.
00:07:39
S5: Yeah. Everyone's leaning into this insight at the moment. I know, but you know, there's interest rate rises, there's the pandemic, there's been so much that we're going through and, and Aussies are essentially. They're not having as much fun as they used to. Whereas on a Carnival Cruise, there's a lot of fun to be had. So really what we wanted to do was to, um, I guess evoke a sense of FOMO, um, to show Australians that there's a lot of fun happening on a carnival cruise ship. That was our starting point. And, um, the amazing team at ocean came up with this platform called Playaway. Um, which is an enduring brand platform. Um, and yeah, that's, that's as simple as it. It was a really simple, simple idea.
00:08:21
S6: While you're stuck in an ad break, Mr. Carlisle is stuck in Paradise. His daughters have buried him in the sand and turned him into a beautiful mermaid.
00:08:33
S7: Oh, wow.
00:08:34
S6: It's quite the holiday tale. You could play like the if you're on Carnival. Sleigh. Sleigh. Calais lace. Book your cruise today and play away on Carnival.
00:08:51
S1: And the work is really fun. So if I talk about, um, the Tvcs, for instance, there's three that launched at first and each of them has a dry voice over and kind of breaks the fourth wall and it focuses on a different set of characters, and it ends in a honking Cruz horn that's really distinctive. How did you think about which levers to pull in order to really bring that idea of fun to life?
00:09:17
S5: Well, for starters, I think when we looked at the Cruz category, um, there was a lot of montage style tvcs. And so that's something we spoke about from the get go that we didn't want to do a montage. Um, so once we had the Playaway platform, we looked at, um, we had the idea of why not do one experience per TVC. So just hero one, one experience, whether that's Sonia lying by the pool or the clay lays on the beach. H. That way the audience can sit with them in that moment and actually experience what it feels like to escape on a Carnival Cruise. And that for us was, was really, really important. Because too often, as I said in the in the cruise category, it's just a very quick cut visuals of here's everything you can get, but you don't actually really feel anything. And for, for us, it was really important that we wanted people to feel something when seeing this.
00:10:10
S1: What did you want them to feel? Nicole.
00:10:12
S2: Oh. Enjoyment. Excitement, enthusiasm. You know, all of those positive emotions. And I think it might not seem that revolutionary to only focus on one experience, but in this category, it's pretty unusual. Like, you know, we talk about the breadth of experiences and everything that's included in a cruise. And so the temptation as a marketer is always to go with more, more, more. And you don't want to miss out on something. You know, we want to talk about the food and the water slides and the entertainment and the kids club, etc.. Um, so it was a little bit scary. I mean, I know that sounds a bit scary for us to say. We're just going to focus on one thing and we're going to work hand in hand with media as well to make sure that instead of this one montage spot that you see over and over again, you're going to see different experiences across the media by with different characters. And, you know, we know that emotion is so important in storytelling and for that salience. And so it was a big bold move for us. Um, and it's definitely paid off.
00:11:14
S1: I love that because it also speaks to any creative challenge, but the fact that you've got it as a category or a brand challenge too, is, is kind of really nice in that it's distillation, right? Like it's, it's drilling down to what the core thing is and having the guts to take away and to distill further and to ask like, what the, what the one thing that you want to leave someone with is.
00:11:40
S2: Yeah. Because I think at the end of the day, you don't walk away from a holiday, You know, you might have a memory of a meal or a night out, but you walk away with a feeling and you're left with that feeling after that holiday and that spending time with your loved ones, or getting a moment of relaxation like the Carlisle family, for me, is just the most beautiful spot of him being buried in the beach with his daughters. And you know, the way he reacts to that is just the most perfect sound. Um, and makes me it made me well up the first time I saw it, like it was such a beautiful moment. And that's what I want people to be left with. Is, is not this shopping list of everything that's included. It's that feeling and memory of, of what it's like to be on holiday.
00:12:17
S1: Yeah. You mentioned sound. And when we're talking about these distinctive brand assets that you've built through this campaign that will last well beyond it, sound is really important. I mean, I mentioned the cruise horn at the end. Um, there's the dry voiceover. The, the radio spots are really interesting and that they feel, um, kind of almost bedtime story esque. And you can there's a real focus on the senses and like the sip of a drink and the waves crashing, but still ending with that with that horn. How did you think about sonic assets in particular?
00:12:57
S2: Well, that horn and music sting, we end every asset with that. So ideally you would hear that in another room as you're making dinner and go, I know that's a carnival ad. And I think that the beauty, you know, I once had a head of marketing say to me years and years ago, audio and radio are such an important channel to include in your media mix because they're the only thing that rely on sound alone. So everything else is so visual. Whereas, you know, this is adding another sense to that, you know, as a consumer, as you're engaging with this campaign. So as you said, the sip of the cocktail, you can hear the seagulls, the waves crashing, all of those things you can't see in a billboard. So I think it really helps paint this rich picture of what it's like to be on a carnival cruise. Um, and you know, definitely, as I said, that DBA is in every single thing that we do and it's so important. Um, and I remember when I briefed it in, I think I said, guys, we need seven DBAs we just bought because I.
00:13:54
S8: Think we got there. No, we did, we did. We definitely.
00:13:56
S2: Did. I counted because, um, uh, I had, uh, watched a webinar with Ritson and he had just done system one research and he was basically like, guys, this is it. There's no such thing as wear out. It's wear in, keep the same campaign year after year. And I was like, oh, great, we'll tick a box. And he said, you know, about seven DBAs is a sweet spot. And I said, all right, well, we'll tick that box as well.
00:14:16
S1: We want the sweet spot.
00:14:17
S8: Yeah, absolutely.
00:14:18
S2: Yeah.
00:14:19
S1: Jack, in terms of how those DBAs build memory structures, I imagine that's why thinking about this really media first helps as well, because when I've heard the radio ads and you're sitting in traffic or you're on your way to work, or you've just seen the out of home, and then you're hearing a radio ad, you know, half an hour later, how how does that sound? Kind of encode memory structures.
00:14:47
S3: I think you're going to get really sick of hearing me say this, but I think overall for us, salience was, you know, kind of numero uno for for the campaign. And part of that is obviously repetition, but it's also consistency. I think something we've talked about a lot is the feeling you get when you step on board a carnival ship is kind of irreplicable. Like you just get this sense of warmth and fun and entertainment. And I think to Nicole's point, we wanted the ecosystem to feel, to sort of draw on different elements. Because like you say, if you're watching something on social, you might not have sound on, but then you might be in the car and you might hear the radio. So I think it's important that we're always really consistent. So we're constantly betting in those debates and building those memory structures. But then across the board, we're kind of finding different opportunities where it where it fits to to bring different aspects of the brand experience to life. Yeah.
00:15:41
S1: You've mentioned it's working. Nicole. Could you talk to us about how the campaign has done so far? Six ish months on.
00:15:48
S2: Six ish months? Yeah. So I mean, cruise and travel is a long game. Um, you know, the, the booking lead time, you know, we're on sale until 2028 at the moment. So, um, it's definitely a long term play. We're seeing really good movement in some key metrics as well. Um, and commercial results. So yeah, I mean, overall, we're really, really happy with it. I had, um, coffee with a CMO a little while ago and she said it's the most distinctive audio campaign I've heard in a decade. And I went, I'll take that.
00:16:19
S4: Take that, Specsavers.
00:16:20
S2: I'll take that. It's awesome. Yeah.
00:16:23
S1: Like a competitor.
00:16:24
S2: Uh, not a competitor in a, in a different category, but, um, yeah, a CMO of, you know, very, very big brands. Um, yeah, for them to say that so that, that really, really means a lot, um, for someone to do that because I just think so often this channel audio is the afterthought. Like it's all about the hero TV. Seeing you storyboard that up and you produce that and then you go, oh, we better create a script to, to kind of talk to this. Um, whereas it was so well thought out from the beginning, you know, Angus does the voiceover for the radio and the TVC. So you've got that fantastic consistency. The, the structure and the formula is the same. Um, so it definitely wasn't an afterthought.
00:17:05
S5: We, yeah, we had Angus in the first presentation. I don't know if you remember, but yeah, he was a slight at the back and it can be a little bit risky putting someone in, you know, because you never know if you're going to get them. Right. So but we were always writing to his voice. It was so distinct. He's very warm, very friendly, very inviting. Um, and he's great at speaking to the everyman. And so we, we had Angus and we said initially we said Angus or someone like Angus. And then as we got further into the process, we were like, no, we really, really want Angus.
00:17:40
S2: I'm glad he came in on budget.
00:17:41
S5: Well, well, luckily the directors were friends with him. Yeah. And that's how we got him because he's he's in Hollywood and he's quite busy and whatnot. But they reached out to him and we got him on board. So he's fantastic. He's so dry and laconic as well. And whenever we would read these scripts out to to Nick and the team, we'd always read them in that style. Very dry, very, um, matter of fact. And that's where the humour comes from. Right. It's it's.
00:18:06
S2: The contrast.
00:18:06
S5: Yeah. The contrast between what you're seeing and what you're hearing. Um, but he, he, for me, I remember when he, he voiced that first um, campaign in the, in the booth and we were like, oh yeah, this, this is it, this is him. He's our voice.
00:18:18
S2: Yeah. And I think the dryness of his vo is also in such contrast with everything else you hear, you know, everything else is, you know, there's a a boppy track and it's all upbeat and it's fast paced and. Yeah. And it's such a change in pace from, you know, anything else that you hear.
00:18:37
S5: To that point? I mean, we we deliberately shot only three, um, three shots every commercial, 3 to 5 shots. So there was always an emphasis on the dialogue and, and the narration. It was always about that. That was the hero. Um, so everything else had to sit around that. So we wanted people to really connect with his voice and really, um, really feel a sense of FOMO as well when they're hearing his voice.
00:19:03
S1: Yeah. Listening as well. It asks something of you like they are, they are spots that stand out in the ad break because there is that breaking of the fourth wall. You're kind of being asked to imagine something or to do something. Even if you are in your kitchen making a coffee. Like you said before, Nicole, the voiceover is still asking you to paint the picture for yourself. You're still hearing the horn at the end. Mhm. Um, and to your point about Thinking about the audio at the very top. When you kind of think about what the idea is, it feels like with this campaign, it's done in a way that makes everything work harder, like the sonic assets have been given so much thought that it means that the radio spots will work harder because you've seen the TV spot. And that haunt is is really iconic. And I'm hearing the tune in my head now on the horn and the voice over is iconic.
00:20:03
S4: We won't test you.
00:20:03
S5: Just on that.
00:20:04
S1: I don't want to do the horn.
00:20:05
S5: To me, that horn is actually it's a two for one. It's it's a DBA, sure. But because we have it at the start of the TVC, it actually just transports you straight away from totally from where you are, whether that's in stuck in traffic or in your hearing on the radio or you're busy making dinner TV. It transports you straight to the cruise. And in my mind, only a sonic asset can do that. Like it's what, two seconds and you're on a Carnival Cruise. You know, visuals just can't do that. They can't get you there that quickly.
00:20:35
S1: And it's real shorthand.
00:20:36
S3: It's iconic. Like for anyone who's ever driven past Circular Quay, the horn blast is like, uh, it's iconic, right? Like everybody knows exactly what it is. And it does stop you immediately, particularly if you're in the car and you hear it on the radio, it's like, oh, okay, I need to kind of tune in. Something big's about to happen.
00:20:53
S2: Yeah. It's like I had pre, you know, play away self and now I'm now in a different world. I'm, I'm on a cruise. And I think that's how you feel when you step on board a carnival ship.
00:21:05
S1: Yeah. A sense.
00:21:06
S2: In a different.
00:21:06
S1: World. Transportation.
00:21:08
S2: Yeah.
00:21:08
S1: Like not just literally because you're on a boat that's moving.
00:21:11
S2: It's, it's a state of mind trance.
00:21:13
S1: Transportation.
00:21:14
S2: Transformation.
00:21:15
S1: How has it landed inside the business? Nicole? I mean, you said that, um, commercial metrics has improved, but how has it been received internally?
00:21:24
S2: Oh, fantastically like I have. Um, so we're part of a wider corporation. We have a few sister brands, but I have people from other brands from shared surfaces come up to me and say, I saw Jimmy last night. It's so funny. It's kind of like they're collecting Pokemon. They'll be like, a couple of months later, I saw Sonia and I was like, oh great, have you seen Kyffin? They're like, oh, not yet. Um, so it's really great. Um, and actually, um, our sales team on the road, um, they now have shirts that say on your Sonia.
00:21:51
S5: Oh, really?
00:21:51
S2: Oh. Shimmy shimmy shimmy. So when they're going out to visit travel agents to talk about what's new or, you know, how to improve their bookings or anything like that, you know, I've never, we've never had a campaign that has threaded that needle so completely all the way down to, you know, our on road sales team. So there's a lot of love, um, for the characters and the campaign itself.
00:22:12
S5: Well, those characters are really just archetypes of passengers, right? So Sonia's the busy mum who needs a break and, and needs a moment for herself. Jimmy was the youngish professional. Um, the clay layers were the classic family that needed a family break. And I think what's interesting for me is that they all escape in their own way. Right. So Sonia is very much like, this is me time. Jimmy is, you know, his energy is much more upbeat. Um, and the kids are having a great family moment. So I think that was really interesting for us was when we spoke at the start of the process, you talked about chill and thrill and people relax in different ways. It's not all just lying by a pool. It's often, you know, going to a show or going down a water slide. There's different energy levels that we needed to, um, needed to hit on and get across.
00:23:02
S2: Yeah. I mean, there's different energy levels for different people. There's also different energy levels for different occasions. Like, you know, me going on a cruise with my family is very different to me going on with a couple of girlfriends. So it's so important to show that breadth of experience. And, you know, I don't think anyone wants to see anything that's, you know, high energy all the time because I think that becomes overwhelming. And then if it's too low energy, it becomes a bit dull. So we needed to get that balance right. And I think that we really did.
00:23:26
S1: What I'm hearing is that the an ocean officers needs those t shirts.
00:23:30
S9: Oh, yeah. Yeah yeah yeah.
00:23:33
S2: I'll arrange some. I actually meant to tell you guys a couple of weeks ago. Um, but yeah, I'll, we'll as long as we get a photo of everyone wearing them.
00:23:39
S9: Yeah. Oh definitely, I love that.
00:23:42
S1: Jack. How, how has it shaped, uh, your thoughts strategically about where the carnival brand goes next, how you push the platform further?
00:23:53
S10: Well, I think.
00:23:53
S3: Play is such a multidimensional word, right? Like it's when you think of play, you might think traditionally of children playing or, or families. And for us, there's such a spectrum or a range of what player could mean, like Nicole mentioned, it could be your idea of play could be kicking back and relaxing with your partner. It could be going out for a lovely dinner. It could be high octane seeing an amazing show. Um, so I think for us, that's kind of the future is just dimensionalizing what play means and exploring, you know, all of the different ways to play on on on board Carnival. Yeah.
00:24:27
S1: What fun territory to get to play. Pun intended with as well. In. It feels like life can be really serious and lots of categories are facing big disruption. You know, the cost of cost of living pressures are real, and being able to like, own fun and play and escape must feel like really nice territory to lean into.
00:24:51
S9: Yeah.
00:24:52
S3: And it's so believable for the brand as well. Like it's not, it's not like we're an FMcG brand that's saying we're a brand all about play, right? It's, it's really authentic. It's really real. And I think the important thing for us is when guests step on board, you immediately go, oh, I get it. This is this is what you promised. And, and it really, really delivers.
00:25:10
S2: I think that's really important that there's no disconnect between our comms and the actual product, because we know if there is, it's going to fail every time.
00:25:18
S5: But it's true, right? Like the, um, I remember stepping on board for the first time and you're, greeted. You know, the people on board are so friendly, the staff are so friendly. You know, you have those little towel animals that we always talk about. Like they got us so much effort. I think the product really does live that promise.
00:25:37
S9: Mhm.
00:25:38
S1: I love that the feeling that someone else has thought of the small details, which means that you can really switch off and have fun in whatever way you want. Nicole, when we spoke earlier in the year, you, you said that, um, a big driver was to get first time cruisers to trial the product to book their first cruise. How have you seen that go so far?
00:26:00
S2: Yeah, really? Well, um, you know, depending on the itinerary, we have such a huge number of, of what we call new to cruise in actual terms. They're new to brand new to the carnival brand in terms of the data that we have. But when we were selecting the experiences that we wanted to showcase, um, for Play Away, I was so deliberate in choosing things that appealed to new to cruise. So, you know, in some campaigns we've done in the past, we have featured things like the nightclub or the the 80s Rock and glow party, because that's a marquee experience that we have on board every cruise. Everyone loves it. It's very hard to translate something like that, where everyone's dressed up in fluro and, um, leg warmers for the night to explain that what that is, and that feeling for someone who's never been on board a ship really, really hard. So we were like someone sitting by the pool having a cocktail. Everyone can relate to that. Everyone. You don't need to have gone on a cruise or even considered a cruise. Um, playing with your kids on the beach. Everyone can relate to that. You know, sitting at dinner and with some friends, you know, maybe there's not a way to dancing up on a plinth, you know, that's unique to us. But we really wanted to make sure that we, the experiences that we chose had mass appeal for the new to cruise audience, because essentially that was the brief that was to, to, you know, increase awareness for the new to cruise audience because we know once you've cruised with Carnival, um, it's it's out of our hands. It's over to the lovely, wonderful, warm crew that we have on board to, to seal the deal essentially.
00:27:33
S5: I remember again, going back to the briefing on board, we went past these plinths and we were like, what? What are these plinths? You're like, oh, that's just the waiters dancing on board. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? Yeah, the waiters get up and dance on board. And we were like, whoa, like, that's amazing. And so we obviously wrote that into a script.
00:27:52
S2: And it's so good to, to get new to cruise or new agencies on board to see things like that. Because I forget that that is unusual. That's, that's just like a regular day to me. Um, so to see it freshly through their eyes is, is really great as well and asking questions. Um, and just went on a cruise actually with my husband and my three year old son and we call it showtime when the dancers, sorry, when the waiters sing and dance. And so we get home a couple of days later and he goes. We sit down to dinner and he goes, Showtime! I said, I can dance if you want, sweetheart, but I don't think you want me to. Um, so yeah, it's experiences like that that make Carnival really, really unique.
00:28:33
S1: That's so fun. I feel like I'm imagining, um. I'm imagining Jimmy's spot and then imagining you, Damon on board, hearing about that for the first time and being like, well, that has to make it in. I love that. That's a great detail.
00:28:46
S5: Well, it's unique to Carnival too, right? Like that. That for me is like, let's, let's come up with something that is unique to Carnival and having him dance with his knife and fork. I'm not going to try and replicate that dance. But yeah, it was just it, you know, tonally to, you know, it's people just lose themselves on, on a cruise ship. They have so much fun, they forget about their worries. And that moment for me really embodied that.
00:29:08
S9: Mhm.
00:29:09
S1: What Nicole, has this campaign taught you about your media mix and the role that audio particularly plays within it?
00:29:18
S2: I mean, I think it's key, you know, that media mix has to be, you know, we usually talk about fewer but better in terms of media channels. And, you know, back to my comment earlier about the importance of audio being something different for the senses. Like, I don't think we would ever have an awareness campaign where we didn't have an audio channel. Um, and it's been really nice in terms of the creative having distinct assets for different audio channels. So we have a different spot for, um, you know, Spotify or streaming versus radio. And that speaks directly to the difference in that experience, you know, while you're stuck in traffic versus, you know, while you're listening to these ads. So, um, it's been lovely to, to have these assets. And I just think that the consistency that we've been able to achieve with the audio assets and the tvcs and even the out-of-home, I mean, they're just the most perfect matching luggage set. Um, which is, is what we were trying to achieve.
00:30:14
S1: And means then that those distinctive brand assets are the thing that give you familiarity and memory structure, building and like a safe place to land. And however the character or the story shows up can be different and fun and novel. And, and that's how you're striking the balance between kind of the novel and the familiar, I imagine.
00:30:37
S2: Yeah, absolutely. Like, you know, there are those consistent, um, elements that will always be there, you know, logo, red carnival, things like that. And, and those characters can change. And I think the nice thing about the formula of playaway is to Jack's point, there's so much stretch. So I mean, we could sit there for days. Well not me. Damon's team can sit there for days and write different scenarios and different contextual lines. I mean, the number of lines that the team wrote was insane.
00:31:04
S5: Yeah. I mean, we wrote probably 5 to 10 lines for every spot that we filmed. So there's over a hundred bespoke assets in market and actually the placements almost informed the lines to. They become. They became a huge part of the brief and and almost attention that you would lead into. So if um, someone's commuting, then, you know, while you're stuck in traffic. Sonia's out there, you know, having a, having a whale of a time. It was, it was really fun to write to.
00:31:34
S2: I think my favorite one is, um, the one that we did near Circular Quay. And it was while you're on a little boat, Sonia's on a big ship.
00:31:41
S9: Was that it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's.
00:31:45
S2: Just so contextual, um, to really grab attention. Um, and, you know, you referenced being able to change up the characters. We have actually shot more. So they're, they're in the vault ready to be rolled out. Um, in the next wave.
00:31:59
S1: That was going to be my next question. Yeah. Are there new characters? What's next? Where, where do you go from here?
00:32:04
S2: Yeah, yeah. No, we've already got, um, a couple of more already shot ready to go with just like fun new characters, like hitting on different experiences, different Types of friend groups. Um, so yeah, I'm excited to get those out into market.
00:32:18
S1: That's awesome. Before we find out which sounds live rent free in their heads, a quick word from our partner CRA audio.
00:32:27
S11: It's more powerful than you think. What you hear can take you far from here, back in time and across the world to a different world. Podcast listeners are completely immersed in the power of audio, and half of Australians just like you, listen every month. So imagine what your brand could do with podcast advertising like this. Start with commercial radio and audio where brands are heard.
00:32:53
S1: Cra.au final question one for each of you. I'll start with you, Damon. Favourite jingle or piece of sonic branding? Past or present? Not one that you've worked on.
00:33:07
S9: No.
00:33:07
S1: What's a fave?
00:33:08
S5: I'm going to go the nostalgic route, please. Uh, real men of genius.
00:33:12
S1: Oh, I don't know if I've heard that one.
00:33:14
S5: That was a real man of genius.
00:33:16
S12: Last night you had the enchilada combo platter this morning. The three cheese omelet with broccoli this afternoon. You're a ticking time bomb. Because of you, a simple elevator ride is suddenly a 42 floor plummet into the very bowels of hell.
00:33:35
S13: You take my breath away.
00:33:37
S5: Um, so it's. I think it's probably the best radio campaign ever made. It's. It's phenomenal.
00:33:44
S1: Are we talking.
00:33:46
S5: 90, late 90s? Okay. Um, it won a bunch of awards. It's a, it's a phenomenal jingle that essentially contrasts a very dramatic music piece with trivial subject matter. And I think that's just a winning formula that has been followed, um, again and again and again.
00:34:03
S1: Awesome. I love that you've introduced a new one to me. Jack.
00:34:06
S3: I don't think this will be new to you, but I picked slip slop slap for me. I don't know if anyone remembers the song. I mean, being a 90s kid, don't ask me to sing it. Um, there was a song that's ingrained in my brain and I think as a strategist, bringing together sonic branding and behavior changes. A match made in heaven. And kudos to the team for continually building on that now with additional steps and keeping us all sun safe. But yeah, I think it's, it's, it's really, really clever and so simple.
00:34:35
S14: Slap slap slap slap. It's so simple. Slap slap slap.
00:34:44
S9: Nicole.
00:34:44
S2: I'm gonna go to the nostalgia route as well. Basically anything that I grew up hearing as a kid. So like not happy. Jan. Um, bananas. Banananana. Um, and I challenge anyone who grew up in Australia in the 90s and 2000, not to tell me the number for the adult reading and writing hotline 13006555066. It's insane. And I love that we each tapped into, like, there's got to be something in that in the way that our brain retains sound because we all chose something that happened quite a long time ago. You know, nothing, nothing recent. And actually, um, the team did a little debrief for Super Bowl ads, um, you know, earlier in the year. And we got to the point where we were like, let's bring back the jingle. Like, I want the jingle. It went out of favor. It went out of fashion. But I think we should bring it back. It, it, you know, we know that it works incredibly well.
00:35:33
S1: The Reading Writing hotline is a personal favorite, so thank.
00:35:36
S9: You for your welcome.
00:35:38
S1: On that note, thanks so much for joining us, Damon, Jack and Nicole.
00:35:43
S9: Thank you. Thank you.
00:35:44
S1: If you're a brand looking to connect with Australians, there's no better place than Aussie radio and audio. It reaches more than 15 million people every week and is truly where brands are heard. Head to sara.au to get started. See you next time.
S1: Welcome to Herd Mentality, a podcast where we discuss the power of audio to move minds and markets. I'm Brittney Rigby, managing editor at Little Black Book, and each episode I sit down with creative thinkers, marketers and makers to discuss how the world's most creative brands use audio to make people think, feel and act. Today, I'm joined by Nicole Bradbury, senior marketing manager at Carnival Cruise Line. Hello. And two of the nation's best strategy director, Jack Cornwell. Hello. And creative director Damon Porter. Hi. At the very start of the year, the brand launched a new platform called Playaway, which debuted distinctive brand assets that the business can use for decades to tempt Aussies to take a cruise and reinject fun as the brand's essence. Welcome to the three of you. I'm going to start with you, Nicole. It was the first campaign from Carnival since acquiring P&O, and it was your first campaign with a notion. What business challenge were you facing when you briefed in what became Play Away?
00:01:07
S2: Um, yeah. So as you alluded to, this was the first campaign we ran post P and O. So in March of 2025, making sure I'm getting my years right. Um, yeah, the piano brand was sunset. We had their ships join our fleet. So essentially our ship fleet in Australia doubled. And our challenge was to really establish ourselves as the cruising brand in Australia. We're the only ones here year round. So we needed something distinctive, something memorable, something that was fun and humorous, like we are to get into market and really place our stamp, um, on the market. And, and I think play away definitely achieved that. And as you alluded to as well, when I briefed it in, I said, you know, we want something that can be around for ten, 20 years. Like we need, we need a Specsavers equivalent, um, for carnival.
00:01:57
S1: No pressure, no pressure, no pressure. Jack, how did you then tackle it strategically, knowing that that was the expectation?
00:02:05
S3: I think the biggest thing for me was obviously the name of the game was salience. So if we wanted this to last for the next sort of ten, 20, 30 years, everything has been about being really, really ruthless with how can we make, how can, how can we build that memory structure for Australians and then continue to build upon that for the next couple of decades?
00:02:25
S1: I imagine as well, it's a tough category in which to really make sure you're building the brand versus just building the category. And Nicole Carnival being the fleet that's here year round must help with that.
00:02:38
S2: But yeah.
00:02:39
S1: Getting people to think I want to take a Carnival cruise versus, oh yeah, a cruise itself could be nice or a holiday could be nice. Yeah. How did you think about building the brand itself?
00:02:48
S2: Oh, it is hard because, you know, when we had that switch, um, you know, no longer being in the market, they had really done that job for so many years. They were the category leader and they did a lot of category work, um, whether meaning to or not. And so that torch kind of got passed on to us. But obviously we have objectives that we need to meet from a business point of view, which does include growing the category as a whole because we are the mass brand. So for most people in this market, Carnival will be the first cruise brand that they engage with. So it's always a balance of, of doing that category job versus landing the message that we need to land. And I think, you know, the salience, the DBAs making sure that that is attributed to us. So people see that and go, I want to go on a Carnival cruise, not just I want to go on a cruise. And I think for us, we have so many lovely notes of personality that we can play on. Like there's that humor. Um, and I always call it kind of dad joke humor. That's kind of who we are. And so that's quite distinct for us. So we try and make sure that that's touching everything that we do as well.
00:03:56
S1: And Jack, when when we spoke about the work at the very start of the year, it really jumped out that the original brief was to evolve the old platform. And you pushed back on that and thought that actually aligning with the global positioning Carnival is calling felt better for the brand locally. Why was that?
00:04:15
S3: Yeah, I think Beyond Carnival is calling. I mean, Carnival has such a rich, amazing history of of play and fun dating back to, um, I'm testing myself here. I think it's 72.
00:04:27
S2: You're correct. Full marks.
00:04:29
S3: Even back to the original design philosophy, um, that Joe Farkas kind of pioneered, which is called entertainment architecture. The whole experience was meant to be, um, the ship is the destination rather than necessarily having to go somewhere. And we really wanted to embody that. And we kind of, you know, we felt like we were missing a trick moving away from that. We're like, this is such an amazing Ownable, um, you know, piece of our brand heritage would be silly to, to move away from that history and fun.
00:04:59
S2: This is what I love about Jack and the notion team, because I can remember when I brought all of you on board for that walk around, because I'm a big believer in when you bring on a partner or an agency, you have them see and experience the product. And luckily for us, we're in the harbour a couple of times a week, so it's quite easy. So I brought them on board, um, into, you know, what is our flagship, um, here in Sydney, Carnival Splendor, which is if you've ever been on board, you know that it's unlike anything you would see on land. Um, and I remember, you know, I kind of always spit out these fun facts about who designed it and, you know, the wacky things on board and no one's ever like, interrogated that before. And Jack was like, oh, what was his name? And then, you know, you come back in the briefs, they've answered that, um, directly. And I was like, you know, you've really taken the experience on board and thought about that for the campaign and just, you know, diving into those little notes of experience architecture as well.
00:05:51
S4: I think you really feel it too?
00:05:52
S3: Like as soon as you step on board, it's like every detail is it all is is like a feast for the eyes. And so, you know, we really wanted to bring that into, into comms and help people to feel that even before they've stepped on board one of our ships.
00:06:05
S5: I think that architecture actually set the tone for our campaign in a way. It was the first thing we saw that went, wow, this is different. It's fun, it's playful. How can we get the essence of that into into the idea and into the language?
00:06:19
S1: I mean, it's a really good observation to Damon creatively that you, you have to know the product or know the brand to then know how you want a consumer of that product or brand to feel. How, how important was it for you to feel like you understood the carnival experience before you kind of got stuck into it?
00:06:37
S5: Yeah, absolutely. And that's the same with every breath for me. Like I need to go and experience the product first before I can start working on it, whether that's Carnival or other products. I've done that my whole career. I'm a huge believer in that. But particularly for Carnival, there's such a breadth of experiences on board, and I think you need to to actually go on board and, and, um, and go up and down all the different levels, go and play the putt putt, go on the water slide. Um, have a lot of fun before you even start working on it. It definitely informed, um, how we approached the idea.
00:07:10
S1: Can you explain where you landed creatively? So for a listener who might not have seen the work or experienced the work in the wild yet surprising because it has been everywhere, but talk us through where you landed.
00:07:22
S5: Sure. I will try, um, but very simply put, it's, um, essentially showing Aussies the fun they're missing out on, um, on a carnival cruise. So we started with the insight that Aussies are, um, they're a little stressed. Um, they're overworked.
00:07:38
S1: Really.
00:07:39
S5: Yeah. Everyone's leaning into this insight at the moment. I know, but you know, there's interest rate rises, there's the pandemic, there's been so much that we're going through and, and Aussies are essentially. They're not having as much fun as they used to. Whereas on a Carnival Cruise, there's a lot of fun to be had. So really what we wanted to do was to, um, I guess evoke a sense of FOMO, um, to show Australians that there's a lot of fun happening on a carnival cruise ship. That was our starting point. And, um, the amazing team at ocean came up with this platform called Playaway. Um, which is an enduring brand platform. Um, and yeah, that's, that's as simple as it. It was a really simple, simple idea.
00:08:21
S6: While you're stuck in an ad break, Mr. Carlisle is stuck in Paradise. His daughters have buried him in the sand and turned him into a beautiful mermaid.
00:08:33
S7: Oh, wow.
00:08:34
S6: It's quite the holiday tale. You could play like the if you're on Carnival. Sleigh. Sleigh. Calais lace. Book your cruise today and play away on Carnival.
00:08:51
S1: And the work is really fun. So if I talk about, um, the Tvcs, for instance, there's three that launched at first and each of them has a dry voice over and kind of breaks the fourth wall and it focuses on a different set of characters, and it ends in a honking Cruz horn that's really distinctive. How did you think about which levers to pull in order to really bring that idea of fun to life?
00:09:17
S5: Well, for starters, I think when we looked at the Cruz category, um, there was a lot of montage style tvcs. And so that's something we spoke about from the get go that we didn't want to do a montage. Um, so once we had the Playaway platform, we looked at, um, we had the idea of why not do one experience per TVC. So just hero one, one experience, whether that's Sonia lying by the pool or the clay lays on the beach. H. That way the audience can sit with them in that moment and actually experience what it feels like to escape on a Carnival Cruise. And that for us was, was really, really important. Because too often, as I said in the in the cruise category, it's just a very quick cut visuals of here's everything you can get, but you don't actually really feel anything. And for, for us, it was really important that we wanted people to feel something when seeing this.
00:10:10
S1: What did you want them to feel? Nicole.
00:10:12
S2: Oh. Enjoyment. Excitement, enthusiasm. You know, all of those positive emotions. And I think it might not seem that revolutionary to only focus on one experience, but in this category, it's pretty unusual. Like, you know, we talk about the breadth of experiences and everything that's included in a cruise. And so the temptation as a marketer is always to go with more, more, more. And you don't want to miss out on something. You know, we want to talk about the food and the water slides and the entertainment and the kids club, etc.. Um, so it was a little bit scary. I mean, I know that sounds a bit scary for us to say. We're just going to focus on one thing and we're going to work hand in hand with media as well to make sure that instead of this one montage spot that you see over and over again, you're going to see different experiences across the media by with different characters. And, you know, we know that emotion is so important in storytelling and for that salience. And so it was a big bold move for us. Um, and it's definitely paid off.
00:11:14
S1: I love that because it also speaks to any creative challenge, but the fact that you've got it as a category or a brand challenge too, is, is kind of really nice in that it's distillation, right? Like it's, it's drilling down to what the core thing is and having the guts to take away and to distill further and to ask like, what the, what the one thing that you want to leave someone with is.
00:11:40
S2: Yeah. Because I think at the end of the day, you don't walk away from a holiday, You know, you might have a memory of a meal or a night out, but you walk away with a feeling and you're left with that feeling after that holiday and that spending time with your loved ones, or getting a moment of relaxation like the Carlisle family, for me, is just the most beautiful spot of him being buried in the beach with his daughters. And you know, the way he reacts to that is just the most perfect sound. Um, and makes me it made me well up the first time I saw it, like it was such a beautiful moment. And that's what I want people to be left with. Is, is not this shopping list of everything that's included. It's that feeling and memory of, of what it's like to be on holiday.
00:12:17
S1: Yeah. You mentioned sound. And when we're talking about these distinctive brand assets that you've built through this campaign that will last well beyond it, sound is really important. I mean, I mentioned the cruise horn at the end. Um, there's the dry voiceover. The, the radio spots are really interesting and that they feel, um, kind of almost bedtime story esque. And you can there's a real focus on the senses and like the sip of a drink and the waves crashing, but still ending with that with that horn. How did you think about sonic assets in particular?
00:12:57
S2: Well, that horn and music sting, we end every asset with that. So ideally you would hear that in another room as you're making dinner and go, I know that's a carnival ad. And I think that the beauty, you know, I once had a head of marketing say to me years and years ago, audio and radio are such an important channel to include in your media mix because they're the only thing that rely on sound alone. So everything else is so visual. Whereas, you know, this is adding another sense to that, you know, as a consumer, as you're engaging with this campaign. So as you said, the sip of the cocktail, you can hear the seagulls, the waves crashing, all of those things you can't see in a billboard. So I think it really helps paint this rich picture of what it's like to be on a carnival cruise. Um, and you know, definitely, as I said, that DBA is in every single thing that we do and it's so important. Um, and I remember when I briefed it in, I think I said, guys, we need seven DBAs we just bought because I.
00:13:54
S8: Think we got there. No, we did, we did. We definitely.
00:13:56
S2: Did. I counted because, um, uh, I had, uh, watched a webinar with Ritson and he had just done system one research and he was basically like, guys, this is it. There's no such thing as wear out. It's wear in, keep the same campaign year after year. And I was like, oh, great, we'll tick a box. And he said, you know, about seven DBAs is a sweet spot. And I said, all right, well, we'll tick that box as well.
00:14:16
S1: We want the sweet spot.
00:14:17
S8: Yeah, absolutely.
00:14:18
S2: Yeah.
00:14:19
S1: Jack, in terms of how those DBAs build memory structures, I imagine that's why thinking about this really media first helps as well, because when I've heard the radio ads and you're sitting in traffic or you're on your way to work, or you've just seen the out of home, and then you're hearing a radio ad, you know, half an hour later, how how does that sound? Kind of encode memory structures.
00:14:47
S3: I think you're going to get really sick of hearing me say this, but I think overall for us, salience was, you know, kind of numero uno for for the campaign. And part of that is obviously repetition, but it's also consistency. I think something we've talked about a lot is the feeling you get when you step on board a carnival ship is kind of irreplicable. Like you just get this sense of warmth and fun and entertainment. And I think to Nicole's point, we wanted the ecosystem to feel, to sort of draw on different elements. Because like you say, if you're watching something on social, you might not have sound on, but then you might be in the car and you might hear the radio. So I think it's important that we're always really consistent. So we're constantly betting in those debates and building those memory structures. But then across the board, we're kind of finding different opportunities where it where it fits to to bring different aspects of the brand experience to life. Yeah.
00:15:41
S1: You've mentioned it's working. Nicole. Could you talk to us about how the campaign has done so far? Six ish months on.
00:15:48
S2: Six ish months? Yeah. So I mean, cruise and travel is a long game. Um, you know, the, the booking lead time, you know, we're on sale until 2028 at the moment. So, um, it's definitely a long term play. We're seeing really good movement in some key metrics as well. Um, and commercial results. So yeah, I mean, overall, we're really, really happy with it. I had, um, coffee with a CMO a little while ago and she said it's the most distinctive audio campaign I've heard in a decade. And I went, I'll take that.
00:16:19
S4: Take that, Specsavers.
00:16:20
S2: I'll take that. It's awesome. Yeah.
00:16:23
S1: Like a competitor.
00:16:24
S2: Uh, not a competitor in a, in a different category, but, um, yeah, a CMO of, you know, very, very big brands. Um, yeah, for them to say that so that, that really, really means a lot, um, for someone to do that because I just think so often this channel audio is the afterthought. Like it's all about the hero TV. Seeing you storyboard that up and you produce that and then you go, oh, we better create a script to, to kind of talk to this. Um, whereas it was so well thought out from the beginning, you know, Angus does the voiceover for the radio and the TVC. So you've got that fantastic consistency. The, the structure and the formula is the same. Um, so it definitely wasn't an afterthought.
00:17:05
S5: We, yeah, we had Angus in the first presentation. I don't know if you remember, but yeah, he was a slight at the back and it can be a little bit risky putting someone in, you know, because you never know if you're going to get them. Right. So but we were always writing to his voice. It was so distinct. He's very warm, very friendly, very inviting. Um, and he's great at speaking to the everyman. And so we, we had Angus and we said initially we said Angus or someone like Angus. And then as we got further into the process, we were like, no, we really, really want Angus.
00:17:40
S2: I'm glad he came in on budget.
00:17:41
S5: Well, well, luckily the directors were friends with him. Yeah. And that's how we got him because he's he's in Hollywood and he's quite busy and whatnot. But they reached out to him and we got him on board. So he's fantastic. He's so dry and laconic as well. And whenever we would read these scripts out to to Nick and the team, we'd always read them in that style. Very dry, very, um, matter of fact. And that's where the humour comes from. Right. It's it's.
00:18:06
S2: The contrast.
00:18:06
S5: Yeah. The contrast between what you're seeing and what you're hearing. Um, but he, he, for me, I remember when he, he voiced that first um, campaign in the, in the booth and we were like, oh yeah, this, this is it, this is him. He's our voice.
00:18:18
S2: Yeah. And I think the dryness of his vo is also in such contrast with everything else you hear, you know, everything else is, you know, there's a a boppy track and it's all upbeat and it's fast paced and. Yeah. And it's such a change in pace from, you know, anything else that you hear.
00:18:37
S5: To that point? I mean, we we deliberately shot only three, um, three shots every commercial, 3 to 5 shots. So there was always an emphasis on the dialogue and, and the narration. It was always about that. That was the hero. Um, so everything else had to sit around that. So we wanted people to really connect with his voice and really, um, really feel a sense of FOMO as well when they're hearing his voice.
00:19:03
S1: Yeah. Listening as well. It asks something of you like they are, they are spots that stand out in the ad break because there is that breaking of the fourth wall. You're kind of being asked to imagine something or to do something. Even if you are in your kitchen making a coffee. Like you said before, Nicole, the voiceover is still asking you to paint the picture for yourself. You're still hearing the horn at the end. Mhm. Um, and to your point about Thinking about the audio at the very top. When you kind of think about what the idea is, it feels like with this campaign, it's done in a way that makes everything work harder, like the sonic assets have been given so much thought that it means that the radio spots will work harder because you've seen the TV spot. And that haunt is is really iconic. And I'm hearing the tune in my head now on the horn and the voice over is iconic.
00:20:03
S4: We won't test you.
00:20:03
S5: Just on that.
00:20:04
S1: I don't want to do the horn.
00:20:05
S5: To me, that horn is actually it's a two for one. It's it's a DBA, sure. But because we have it at the start of the TVC, it actually just transports you straight away from totally from where you are, whether that's in stuck in traffic or in your hearing on the radio or you're busy making dinner TV. It transports you straight to the cruise. And in my mind, only a sonic asset can do that. Like it's what, two seconds and you're on a Carnival Cruise. You know, visuals just can't do that. They can't get you there that quickly.
00:20:35
S1: And it's real shorthand.
00:20:36
S3: It's iconic. Like for anyone who's ever driven past Circular Quay, the horn blast is like, uh, it's iconic, right? Like everybody knows exactly what it is. And it does stop you immediately, particularly if you're in the car and you hear it on the radio, it's like, oh, okay, I need to kind of tune in. Something big's about to happen.
00:20:53
S2: Yeah. It's like I had pre, you know, play away self and now I'm now in a different world. I'm, I'm on a cruise. And I think that's how you feel when you step on board a carnival ship.
00:21:05
S1: Yeah. A sense.
00:21:06
S2: In a different.
00:21:06
S1: World. Transportation.
00:21:08
S2: Yeah.
00:21:08
S1: Like not just literally because you're on a boat that's moving.
00:21:11
S2: It's, it's a state of mind trance.
00:21:13
S1: Transportation.
00:21:14
S2: Transformation.
00:21:15
S1: How has it landed inside the business? Nicole? I mean, you said that, um, commercial metrics has improved, but how has it been received internally?
00:21:24
S2: Oh, fantastically like I have. Um, so we're part of a wider corporation. We have a few sister brands, but I have people from other brands from shared surfaces come up to me and say, I saw Jimmy last night. It's so funny. It's kind of like they're collecting Pokemon. They'll be like, a couple of months later, I saw Sonia and I was like, oh great, have you seen Kyffin? They're like, oh, not yet. Um, so it's really great. Um, and actually, um, our sales team on the road, um, they now have shirts that say on your Sonia.
00:21:51
S5: Oh, really?
00:21:51
S2: Oh. Shimmy shimmy shimmy. So when they're going out to visit travel agents to talk about what's new or, you know, how to improve their bookings or anything like that, you know, I've never, we've never had a campaign that has threaded that needle so completely all the way down to, you know, our on road sales team. So there's a lot of love, um, for the characters and the campaign itself.
00:22:12
S5: Well, those characters are really just archetypes of passengers, right? So Sonia's the busy mum who needs a break and, and needs a moment for herself. Jimmy was the youngish professional. Um, the clay layers were the classic family that needed a family break. And I think what's interesting for me is that they all escape in their own way. Right. So Sonia is very much like, this is me time. Jimmy is, you know, his energy is much more upbeat. Um, and the kids are having a great family moment. So I think that was really interesting for us was when we spoke at the start of the process, you talked about chill and thrill and people relax in different ways. It's not all just lying by a pool. It's often, you know, going to a show or going down a water slide. There's different energy levels that we needed to, um, needed to hit on and get across.
00:23:02
S2: Yeah. I mean, there's different energy levels for different people. There's also different energy levels for different occasions. Like, you know, me going on a cruise with my family is very different to me going on with a couple of girlfriends. So it's so important to show that breadth of experience. And, you know, I don't think anyone wants to see anything that's, you know, high energy all the time because I think that becomes overwhelming. And then if it's too low energy, it becomes a bit dull. So we needed to get that balance right. And I think that we really did.
00:23:26
S1: What I'm hearing is that the an ocean officers needs those t shirts.
00:23:30
S9: Oh, yeah. Yeah yeah yeah.
00:23:33
S2: I'll arrange some. I actually meant to tell you guys a couple of weeks ago. Um, but yeah, I'll, we'll as long as we get a photo of everyone wearing them.
00:23:39
S9: Yeah. Oh definitely, I love that.
00:23:42
S1: Jack. How, how has it shaped, uh, your thoughts strategically about where the carnival brand goes next, how you push the platform further?
00:23:53
S10: Well, I think.
00:23:53
S3: Play is such a multidimensional word, right? Like it's when you think of play, you might think traditionally of children playing or, or families. And for us, there's such a spectrum or a range of what player could mean, like Nicole mentioned, it could be your idea of play could be kicking back and relaxing with your partner. It could be going out for a lovely dinner. It could be high octane seeing an amazing show. Um, so I think for us, that's kind of the future is just dimensionalizing what play means and exploring, you know, all of the different ways to play on on on board Carnival. Yeah.
00:24:27
S1: What fun territory to get to play. Pun intended with as well. In. It feels like life can be really serious and lots of categories are facing big disruption. You know, the cost of cost of living pressures are real, and being able to like, own fun and play and escape must feel like really nice territory to lean into.
00:24:51
S9: Yeah.
00:24:52
S3: And it's so believable for the brand as well. Like it's not, it's not like we're an FMcG brand that's saying we're a brand all about play, right? It's, it's really authentic. It's really real. And I think the important thing for us is when guests step on board, you immediately go, oh, I get it. This is this is what you promised. And, and it really, really delivers.
00:25:10
S2: I think that's really important that there's no disconnect between our comms and the actual product, because we know if there is, it's going to fail every time.
00:25:18
S5: But it's true, right? Like the, um, I remember stepping on board for the first time and you're, greeted. You know, the people on board are so friendly, the staff are so friendly. You know, you have those little towel animals that we always talk about. Like they got us so much effort. I think the product really does live that promise.
00:25:37
S9: Mhm.
00:25:38
S1: I love that the feeling that someone else has thought of the small details, which means that you can really switch off and have fun in whatever way you want. Nicole, when we spoke earlier in the year, you, you said that, um, a big driver was to get first time cruisers to trial the product to book their first cruise. How have you seen that go so far?
00:26:00
S2: Yeah, really? Well, um, you know, depending on the itinerary, we have such a huge number of, of what we call new to cruise in actual terms. They're new to brand new to the carnival brand in terms of the data that we have. But when we were selecting the experiences that we wanted to showcase, um, for Play Away, I was so deliberate in choosing things that appealed to new to cruise. So, you know, in some campaigns we've done in the past, we have featured things like the nightclub or the the 80s Rock and glow party, because that's a marquee experience that we have on board every cruise. Everyone loves it. It's very hard to translate something like that, where everyone's dressed up in fluro and, um, leg warmers for the night to explain that what that is, and that feeling for someone who's never been on board a ship really, really hard. So we were like someone sitting by the pool having a cocktail. Everyone can relate to that. Everyone. You don't need to have gone on a cruise or even considered a cruise. Um, playing with your kids on the beach. Everyone can relate to that. You know, sitting at dinner and with some friends, you know, maybe there's not a way to dancing up on a plinth, you know, that's unique to us. But we really wanted to make sure that we, the experiences that we chose had mass appeal for the new to cruise audience, because essentially that was the brief that was to, to, you know, increase awareness for the new to cruise audience because we know once you've cruised with Carnival, um, it's it's out of our hands. It's over to the lovely, wonderful, warm crew that we have on board to, to seal the deal essentially.
00:27:33
S5: I remember again, going back to the briefing on board, we went past these plinths and we were like, what? What are these plinths? You're like, oh, that's just the waiters dancing on board. I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? Yeah, the waiters get up and dance on board. And we were like, whoa, like, that's amazing. And so we obviously wrote that into a script.
00:27:52
S2: And it's so good to, to get new to cruise or new agencies on board to see things like that. Because I forget that that is unusual. That's, that's just like a regular day to me. Um, so to see it freshly through their eyes is, is really great as well and asking questions. Um, and just went on a cruise actually with my husband and my three year old son and we call it showtime when the dancers, sorry, when the waiters sing and dance. And so we get home a couple of days later and he goes. We sit down to dinner and he goes, Showtime! I said, I can dance if you want, sweetheart, but I don't think you want me to. Um, so yeah, it's experiences like that that make Carnival really, really unique.
00:28:33
S1: That's so fun. I feel like I'm imagining, um. I'm imagining Jimmy's spot and then imagining you, Damon on board, hearing about that for the first time and being like, well, that has to make it in. I love that. That's a great detail.
00:28:46
S5: Well, it's unique to Carnival too, right? Like that. That for me is like, let's, let's come up with something that is unique to Carnival and having him dance with his knife and fork. I'm not going to try and replicate that dance. But yeah, it was just it, you know, tonally to, you know, it's people just lose themselves on, on a cruise ship. They have so much fun, they forget about their worries. And that moment for me really embodied that.
00:29:08
S9: Mhm.
00:29:09
S1: What Nicole, has this campaign taught you about your media mix and the role that audio particularly plays within it?
00:29:18
S2: I mean, I think it's key, you know, that media mix has to be, you know, we usually talk about fewer but better in terms of media channels. And, you know, back to my comment earlier about the importance of audio being something different for the senses. Like, I don't think we would ever have an awareness campaign where we didn't have an audio channel. Um, and it's been really nice in terms of the creative having distinct assets for different audio channels. So we have a different spot for, um, you know, Spotify or streaming versus radio. And that speaks directly to the difference in that experience, you know, while you're stuck in traffic versus, you know, while you're listening to these ads. So, um, it's been lovely to, to have these assets. And I just think that the consistency that we've been able to achieve with the audio assets and the tvcs and even the out-of-home, I mean, they're just the most perfect matching luggage set. Um, which is, is what we were trying to achieve.
00:30:14
S1: And means then that those distinctive brand assets are the thing that give you familiarity and memory structure, building and like a safe place to land. And however the character or the story shows up can be different and fun and novel. And, and that's how you're striking the balance between kind of the novel and the familiar, I imagine.
00:30:37
S2: Yeah, absolutely. Like, you know, there are those consistent, um, elements that will always be there, you know, logo, red carnival, things like that. And, and those characters can change. And I think the nice thing about the formula of playaway is to Jack's point, there's so much stretch. So I mean, we could sit there for days. Well not me. Damon's team can sit there for days and write different scenarios and different contextual lines. I mean, the number of lines that the team wrote was insane.
00:31:04
S5: Yeah. I mean, we wrote probably 5 to 10 lines for every spot that we filmed. So there's over a hundred bespoke assets in market and actually the placements almost informed the lines to. They become. They became a huge part of the brief and and almost attention that you would lead into. So if um, someone's commuting, then, you know, while you're stuck in traffic. Sonia's out there, you know, having a, having a whale of a time. It was, it was really fun to write to.
00:31:34
S2: I think my favorite one is, um, the one that we did near Circular Quay. And it was while you're on a little boat, Sonia's on a big ship.
00:31:41
S9: Was that it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's.
00:31:45
S2: Just so contextual, um, to really grab attention. Um, and, you know, you referenced being able to change up the characters. We have actually shot more. So they're, they're in the vault ready to be rolled out. Um, in the next wave.
00:31:59
S1: That was going to be my next question. Yeah. Are there new characters? What's next? Where, where do you go from here?
00:32:04
S2: Yeah, yeah. No, we've already got, um, a couple of more already shot ready to go with just like fun new characters, like hitting on different experiences, different Types of friend groups. Um, so yeah, I'm excited to get those out into market.
00:32:18
S1: That's awesome. Before we find out which sounds live rent free in their heads, a quick word from our partner CRA audio.
00:32:27
S11: It's more powerful than you think. What you hear can take you far from here, back in time and across the world to a different world. Podcast listeners are completely immersed in the power of audio, and half of Australians just like you, listen every month. So imagine what your brand could do with podcast advertising like this. Start with commercial radio and audio where brands are heard.
00:32:53
S1: Cra.au final question one for each of you. I'll start with you, Damon. Favourite jingle or piece of sonic branding? Past or present? Not one that you've worked on.
00:33:07
S9: No.
00:33:07
S1: What's a fave?
00:33:08
S5: I'm going to go the nostalgic route, please. Uh, real men of genius.
00:33:12
S1: Oh, I don't know if I've heard that one.
00:33:14
S5: That was a real man of genius.
00:33:16
S12: Last night you had the enchilada combo platter this morning. The three cheese omelet with broccoli this afternoon. You're a ticking time bomb. Because of you, a simple elevator ride is suddenly a 42 floor plummet into the very bowels of hell.
00:33:35
S13: You take my breath away.
00:33:37
S5: Um, so it's. I think it's probably the best radio campaign ever made. It's. It's phenomenal.
00:33:44
S1: Are we talking.
00:33:46
S5: 90, late 90s? Okay. Um, it won a bunch of awards. It's a, it's a phenomenal jingle that essentially contrasts a very dramatic music piece with trivial subject matter. And I think that's just a winning formula that has been followed, um, again and again and again.
00:34:03
S1: Awesome. I love that you've introduced a new one to me. Jack.
00:34:06
S3: I don't think this will be new to you, but I picked slip slop slap for me. I don't know if anyone remembers the song. I mean, being a 90s kid, don't ask me to sing it. Um, there was a song that's ingrained in my brain and I think as a strategist, bringing together sonic branding and behavior changes. A match made in heaven. And kudos to the team for continually building on that now with additional steps and keeping us all sun safe. But yeah, I think it's, it's, it's really, really clever and so simple.
00:34:35
S14: Slap slap slap slap. It's so simple. Slap slap slap.
00:34:44
S9: Nicole.
00:34:44
S2: I'm gonna go to the nostalgia route as well. Basically anything that I grew up hearing as a kid. So like not happy. Jan. Um, bananas. Banananana. Um, and I challenge anyone who grew up in Australia in the 90s and 2000, not to tell me the number for the adult reading and writing hotline 13006555066. It's insane. And I love that we each tapped into, like, there's got to be something in that in the way that our brain retains sound because we all chose something that happened quite a long time ago. You know, nothing, nothing recent. And actually, um, the team did a little debrief for Super Bowl ads, um, you know, earlier in the year. And we got to the point where we were like, let's bring back the jingle. Like, I want the jingle. It went out of favor. It went out of fashion. But I think we should bring it back. It, it, you know, we know that it works incredibly well.
00:35:33
S1: The Reading Writing hotline is a personal favorite, so thank.
00:35:36
S9: You for your welcome.
00:35:38
S1: On that note, thanks so much for joining us, Damon, Jack and Nicole.
00:35:43
S9: Thank you. Thank you.
00:35:44
S1: If you're a brand looking to connect with Australians, there's no better place than Aussie radio and audio. It reaches more than 15 million people every week and is truly where brands are heard. Head to sara.au to get started. See you next time.
