P&O is Australia’s most known, considered, and preferred cruise brand.
However, in 2023, the brand faced several challenges:
New players to the market had bigger ships and better hardware’, leaving P&O exposed in the absence of a compelling positioning to insulate them.
They’d become reliant on reactive short sales, which was providing short-term sales uplifts but conditioning their audience to wait for last minute, reduced prices, and significantly impacting yield.
Whilst cruise is only 4.5% of the travel category - leaving a huge potential audience of cruise ‘curious’ - P&O were struggling to attract these new (more profitable) customers on board.
They’d also had an inconsistent positioning, comms and visual identity over many years.
People had mixed or unclear perceptions of P&O (at worst, “it’s a bogan floating RSL”).
It’s hard to turn a cruise ship around. We did it.
IDEA
For the first time in more than ten years, P&O launched a new brand platform - ‘Brings Us All Together’ - which positioned them not just as a holiday experience that carries everyone in the same direction, but creates authentic connections between them in the process.
To a full brand redesign centered around the ampersand found in the middle of the logo - a symbol that quite literally stands for connection.
We injected connection into every touchpoint. From working with Baz Lurhman’s musical director to recompose Fleetwood Mac’s song ‘(I Want To Be With You) Everywhere’, then getting more than 300 passengers, brand fans, staff, crew and media to sing the choral rendition on the ship.
To working with Walkeley Award winning photojournalist David Maurice Smith to capture genuine moments of connection on board.
And even integrating hundreds of moments to better connect throughout the journey, from booking to cruising.
BACKGROUND
STRATEGY
In order to appeal to more Australians, we needed to find a more powerful, emotive way to position the brand. Research showed the most significant driver when choosing a holiday is spending time with loved ones. And connection is something P&O does brilliantly. From a ship that offers hundreds of opportunities for quality time, to a famously welcoming service proposition, P&O’s cruises are a rich source of sociability and togetherness.
So we set out to celebrate the genuine connection found on board.
RESULTS
Brings Us All Together led to P&O’s biggest commercial year in the last 14 years.
