Carnival Cruise Line celebrates 5th b’day with world’s longest conga line at sea via MercerBell
Hundreds of cruise ship guests aboard Carnival Spirit danced their way back into Sydney Harbour yesterday morning in the final leg of #CarnivalConga, setting a record for the world’s longest conga line at sea.
The concept – involving 60,000 passengers on 25 Carnival ships in 13 countries around the world – was created for Carnival by MercerBell, to celebrate the cruise line’s 5th birthday in Australia.
Initially created for the Australian market, Carnival Conga was quickly embraced by the company as a global event, starting in Miami and island-hopping its way through the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, across the Pacific to the Coral and Tasman Seas, all the way to Sydney.
Says David Bell, executive creative director, MercerBell: “It was amazing to watch Carnival Conga grow from a local campaign into an integrated, world-wide event, incorporating social, PR, retail, customer communications and trade marketing. It shows the power of a simple – and fun – idea.”
Carnival marketing director Jayne Andrews agrees: “Since the arrival of Carnival Spirit in 2012, more than 750,000 Australians and Kiwis have enjoyed the fun of a Carnival Cruise. It’s what we stand for. So we knew instantly that the Carnival Conga concept was right for our brand. And the way our guests responded is proof, getting up to dance around a ship at five in the morning.”
Carnival Conga even has its own sound track, with a song composed for the campaign by Red Engine. Downloadable on all leading platforms including iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Play, all proceeds go directly to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Executive Creative Director, MercerBell: David Bell
Creative Group Head/Copywriter: Liz Kain
Group Account Director, MercerBell: Matt Olanda
Account Manager, MercerBell: Ashley Wall
Marketing Director, Carnival: Jayne Andrews
Brand & Retail Marketing Manager, Carnival: Cassandra Frelczak
Events Director, Carnival: Greg Dehn
Photography & Video Director: James Morgan
Music: Red Note
Social: Red Engine
PR: FleishmanHillard
7 Comments
And a special thanks to Mike Nikotin and Neil ‘Bomber’ Harris for their mad #carnivalconga idea and their equally bonkers conga dancing.
#carnivalconga search results
35 posts on Instagram, 3 on twitter.
keep it real…this wasn’t a social idea, nor did it go viral. it was a cringeworthy event for passengers as something to do for a bit of fun for 10mins…which is essentially what you do on cruise ships..jump from different 10-20minute activities. the fact it was co-ordinated/sequenced around the world is immaterial
Not only is this super lame, it reinforces the perception that cruises are like a floating Hi Di Hi holiday camp for bogans.
Ring Ring: Hi, yes. We’d like our idea back please. K. Thx. Bai.
What a fun piece of work!
Well done MB for your 88k views on Facebook alone.
SD
It’s hard to take this publication seriously when it’s just trolling other people’s work. Well done MercerBell. Great idea. Wasn’t created for Surry Hills ad types. So you can’t expect them to like it. Why can’t people just be happy.
Love, Person who understands creating work for the target audience.