River cruise line Viking Cruises hires BWM to boost creative marketing efforts within Australia

Viking River Cruises has joined forces with ad agency BWM in a move to steer the brand’s marketing efforts toward new creative horizons within Australia.

This new partnership will set Viking’s strategic intent to drive their market share in Australia and position Viking as the river cruise line of choice.

Says Teresia Fors, managing director for Viking: “We are thrilled to embark on this creative journey with BWM, as Viking takes its next steps towards creating a strong and consistent brand message within the Australian cruise market.

“We are the world’s largest, most awarded and most recognised river cruise line, who developed the category and created the demand for this type of travel worldwide.

“There is simply no rational reason why we shouldn’t be market leaders in Australia as well.

“In May of 2015 we will also launch our first ocean ship, Viking Star. Our campaign during 2014 will secure Viking’s position as the leader of river cruises, and pave the way for the Australian traveller to further embrace our ocean cruise program.”

The decision to enter into a creative partnership with BWM coincides with Viking’s announcement that they will be expanding the company’s fleet of river cruise ships by 14 in 2014, to meet world-wide surging demand for the category.

River cruising is the fastest growing category of travel globally, with passenger growth exceeding 11% per year only in Australia.

Says Rob Belgiovane, executive creative director at BWM: “We’re excited about the opportunity to break the generic marketing mould the cruising category has developed in Australia.

“All the work looks identical so we’ll disrupt the category and get Australian’s talking about and booking with Viking.”

Viking River Cruises’ new campaign will launch in March, and is well poised to establish the brand firmly within the Australian cruise market.

BWM’s selection for the Viking campaign comes off the back of winning Foxtel’s Presto business last week.