ABOVE: The centerpiece
of the campaign, this
sixty-page brochure
sells small ship cruising
and the up-front, casual
atmosphere of Cruise
West trips through its
easygoing writing style
and imagery that shows
guests and crew gather-
ing together for photos
on its cover.
(up-close and casual graphics)
The Client
Cruise West ships are unlike the mega
cruise ships popularized on television
shows and by celebrities in glitzy adver-
tising campaigns. Cruise West doesn’t
offer the traditional luxury amenities
one so often associates with cruise ships.
There are no spas, pools, Broadway the-
aters, midnight chocolate buffets, pizza
bars, or gambling casinos, yet the cost per
passenger is much higher than a cruise
on a mega ship. Sound like a marketing
dilemma? Perhaps. But Cruise West does
offer advantages that the mega ships
don’t—an intimate traveling experience
only possible on a small ship. So, when
Cruise West challenged Belyea with sell-
ing as many berths as possible on its
Cruise West ships for the Alaska 2000
season, the Seattle-based design firm took
the job and got up-close and personal.
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
SELLS BERTHS ON CRUISE WEST ALASKA
CLIENT:
Cruise West
DESIGN F IRM:
Belyea
CREATIVE D IRECTOR:
Patricia Belyea
DESIGNERS:
Ron Lars Hansen, Naomi Murphy,
Anne Dougherty, Kelli Lewis
COPYWRITERS:
Floyd Fickle, Liz Holland
CAMPAIGN R UN:
August 1999 through July 2000
TARGET MARKET:
Travel agents and sophisticated,
affluent consumers over 55
years old
The Brief
In startling contrast to mega cruise ships that routinely
carry anywhere from 1500 to 2500 passengers in a float-
ing city, Cruise West is part of a niche category within
the small-ship cruising industry, carrying ninety to 100
passengers with minimal luxury amenities. The appeal
of the small ship comes from the intimate and low-key
nature of the experience that promotes interaction
with nature and wildlife along with education on
the cultural surroundings. Instead of gambling in the
evening, passengers listen to experts talk about the
region; instead of being fourteen stories up when a
whale breaches beside the ship, prompting passengers
to run for their binoculars, they can view the whale
up-close from a 4' x 5' (1.2 m x 1.5 m) picture window
in their stateroom while writing a postcard home.
“You get more and more involved with your surround-
ings,” says Patricia Belyea, creative director, of the
time passengers spend onboard. As a result, passen-
gers “gain so much on this cruise because they learn
so much.” If wildlife comes near the ship, the captain
will stop the engine so everyone can enjoy the scene.
If the ship went by too fast to catch a wildlife show,
the captain will turn the vessel around and go back
for another look. If something happens outside during
dinner, everyone goes on deck—including the staff.
“The whole world stops for a wildlife experience.
People get such a kick out of it. It is what makes their
trip...these events just burn into their memories. It is
really very, very different from the big cruise ships.”
Given these strengths, it is little wonder that Belyea
promotes the Cruise West experience with two simple
messages—up-close and casual. These messages are
evident throughout the Alaska 2000 campaign’s collat-
eral material, which while very simply produced, is
totally unlike any other travel brochures.
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The Strategy
There is a multitude of items in the Alaska 2000
campaign, the centerpiece of which is the Alaska 2000
brochure. The up-close and casual messages are evi-
dent immediately in this campaign component.
“There’s nothing stuffy about the cover—that’s the
crew and passengers,” says Belyea. Within this piece,
and everything else that follows, Belyea uses a casual,
friendly, and inviting approach. Everything from the
LPG MECHANICAL FINAL
TOP AND BOTTOM RIGHT: The Ice Box
bulk mailing, sent to large travel
agencies, contained three sets of
seven brochures with three “Win
a dream cruise” postcards. Agents
participating in the contest had
to include their preference for
itinerary, sailing date, and ship
so that they really had to give
the Alaska trip some considera-
tion. This mailing, like the rest
of the collateral pieces, promotes
the up-close and casual theme—
to the point of showing a photo of
a woman touching a glacier from
the bow of a Cruise West ship.
photos and the tone of the copy to the layout reinforce that this cruise line is up-
close, casual, and offers a unique experience. In all, the packaged campaign under-
scores the relaxed nature of the travel product and the company’s family values,
while appealing to the trend toward younger people taking cruises. “You can see the
age dropping on who we are trying to appeal to. It used to be [people] over seventy,
then it was over sixty, and then it was over fifty. Now, we can actually say we’re
working on the over-forty group. We’ve seen a huge change in the demographics.
Now, we have this opportunity to talk to people who have never even gone on a
cruise...and the only thing they will probably touch or feel before they go on the
cruise is this brochure.”
BELOW: Belyea developed
a national advertising
campaign for national
magazines, local news-
papers, as well as AAA
publications, emphasiz-
ing the up-close aspects
of small-ship cruising
with Cruise West.
LEFT: Vivid colors and
lots of white space with
a larger than typical
typestyle combine to
invite the reader in; the
staggered informational
pages make it easy for
the inquisitive prospect
to navigate the details.
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Involving the Audience
Designers crafted each component of the campaign to
maximize its selling potential. This was done through
design, the message, and a strong understanding of
the target audience. For instance, travel agents were
sent a simple contest with their Alaska 2000 brochure.
To win a free Cruise West Alaska cruise, agents were
asked to choose their own trip and provide their pre-
ferred itinerary, sailing date, and ship of choice. This
meant that the agents needed to get fully involved
in the process of choosing a vacation through the
brochure—something that their clients do,” Belyea
explains. “The response rate for this contest was 25
percent. More importantly, it meant that 25 percent of
the recipients had actually read through the brochure
and become familiar with the Alaska product.”
LEFT: Consumers requesting information received their
Alaska 2000 brochure as a personalized package,
including an envelope custom made for this mailing. A
front window allows the mailing address to show
through, while the back of the envelope has a large-
view window to show the entire catalog cover.
A personalized letter accompanied the catalog with
a voucher that gave the recipient a time-dated offer
that they could give to their travel agent.
RIGHT: This Alaska video
was distributed to con-
sumers through ads and
business reply cards; it
was also sent to travel
agents where it was
shrinkwrapped with
microwave popcorn. The
package insert included
a response card for
requesting information
on other Cruise West
destinations as well as
information for a friend.
ABOVE: All travel agents
were given a package of
support materials to
promote Cruise West’s
Alaska 2000 products
including ad slicks, a logo
sheet, and a CD-ROM
loaded with low-resolu-
tion color images for the
agents to review. If high-
resolution images were
needed, agents could
download them from the
Cruise West Web site.
LEFT: To inspire travel
agents to actually read
the Cruise West Alaska
2000 brochure, agents
were encouraged to pick
their favorite photo and
win a cruise. The catch
was they didn’t just win
any cruise, but one of
their choice—compelling
them to pick their itiner-
ary, sailing date, and ship
of their choice—hence,
they had to do more than
scan the brochure. Of
15,000 entries mailed,
3700 responses (a 25
percent return rate)
were recorded.
RIGHT: Two versions of this
Alaska Fall Colors mailing
were posted in spring 2000
to give consumers and travel
agents a couple of months
to respond.
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THE CHALLENGES
Choosing the Imagery
Since the collateral’s job is to sell prospective customers
through their visual imagery, the choice, quality, and color
reproduction of the photography can make or break a cam-
paign. Some photos are client-supplied, while others are pur-
chased through photo houses where images cost an average of
$1500 each. The job of overseeing photography is so enormous
and detail oriented, it requires a full-time person to head up
the effort, make purchases, and ensure that stock images, if
used previously, are paid for again. Photo requests are typically
handled on the Internet, but Belyea doesn’t risk finalizing its
choices from the Web. The firm insists on reviewing all trans-
parencies first before finalizing the sale. “We may sound low-
tech, but once before transparencies received were not the
quality needed. We don’t have the time to waste with bad film,”
says Belyea. “Ensuring images are correct is part of our job.”
Proofing the Color
With so much attention devoted to choosing the right image,
equal priority is given to ensuring that the color in the photos is
as gorgeous as it should be. Belyea works closely with a printer
on color issues. Pick-up and new transparencies undergo the
same thorough process. When scans are returned from the
color house, two designers will examine the color and mark up
the artwork before showing the adjustments to the client. Once
they have client approval, Belyea will send the images back to
color house and await a corrected set of proofs. Proofs will be
corrected until they are perfect. “If the color isn’t right, it won’t
be as inviting,” says Belyea. “It’s a part of the project we make
sure is absolutely right.” All this attention to detail pays off in
Cruise West ships that are whiter, Alaskan skies that are bluer,
and water that is not murky but refreshing shades of teal.
Simplifying the Process
Information about the final product offering came late to
Belyea and was continually modified. Working with thirty-six
itineraries, maps, schedules, and price charts that kept changing
required highly detailed production management. Belyea side-
steps a potential proofing nightmare by creating a three-person
proofing team to check and recheck all documents. They also
created all maps in-house to accommodate frequent changes
to itineraries.
Throughout the production process—a year-long task—it was
Belyea’s job to oversee that each piece integrated with the
other campaign components and recognize when things need-
ed to be better coordinated. Designers received the campaign
project by project and worked on everything over the course of
a year, which could make for a scheduling headache and rushed
deadlines. Fortunately, Belyea, long accustomed to travel work,
had learned that organization and advance planning is key.
“When we start in the spring, we know what needs to be done
by fall,” she says.
ABOVE: The small photo in
the far-left margin was
client supplied, while the
image of a yellow school
bus making its way
toward Mount McKinley
was a stock image where
special care was paid to
ensure the sky was as
blue as possible and that
the snow was a dazzling
shade of white.
RIGHT: Travel agents pro-
moted the Alaska 2000
cruise with these ticket
stuffers, inserted into
airline ticket packages
and other documents.
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ABOVE AND RIGHT:
Belyea worked with
Cruise West to redesign
the graphics on their
tour buses, where the
land arm of their busi-
nesses is called Alaska
Sightseeing. Designers
integrated the polar bear
logo with new type that
emulated the Cruise
West logo, making these
buses the most colorful
vehicles on Alaska’s
highways.
RIGHT: The Cruise West
Alaska Web site offers
comprehensive informa-
tion for consumers,
including itineraries,
ship layouts, and travel
tips; while a password-
protected section for
travel agents includes
PDF files of collateral,
a media center, and
other updated informa-
tion on rates, group poli-
cies, and more.
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