Queen Mary 2 Remastered Case Study

The Goal: 
MGA Media Group was charged with creating a high-impact public relations campaign to re-launch Cunard’s flagship ocean liner, Queen Mary 2, to the media and public after the ship underwent an extensive renovation costing in the region of $132 million.  The task was to develop and execute a large-scale event to showcase the newly-designed ship and generate national and local news coverage of QM2’s U.S. debut on July 6, 2016, following the U.K. launch a few weeks earlier.

Strategy:
To set this renovation apart from all other commonly occurring ship refurbishments, the agency worked to distill key facts and figures about the complexities of the work done during the refit as well as the unique design elements which took their inspiration from history and the original Queen Mary. The main objective was to generate press coverage of Queen Mary 2’s Remastering through a variety of mediums, including print, broadcast, online and social media with these key messages: contemporizing the brand, luxury at sea, business, and the kennels.  

One way into the broader Remastering story was to leverage the unique position QM2 has with sailing pets. The agency engaged NYC’s most famous Instagram dogs to come onboard July 6 for a formal ribbon cutting of the newly Remastered Kennels. The strategy proved to be a huge success!

Results:

The Remastering of Queen Mary 2 generated global news coverage, with more than 40 million broadcast audience (54 radio and 151 TV spots), 6 million print circulation (133 outlets), and 742 million online UVM in North America (113 online sites).

The Associated Press story alone ran in 123 newspapers and websites nationwide including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, MSN and Yahoo; a CBS nationally-syndicated segment ran 94 times in 75 markets across the country; an Associated Press radio piece aired 46 times in 26 markets in the U.S.

Media coverage highlights include:
Broadcast: CNBC live remote with Carnival Corp CEO Arnold Donald, CBS-TV National, ABC News National, Reuters TV, Time Warner Cable News, News 12, AP Radio, CBS Radio

Online: New York Times, CNN, MSN, AOL, Huffington Post, Yahoo! Finance, USA Today, FOX Business, FOX News, Travel + Leisure, Veranda, Town & Country, Robb Report, The Street, Architectural Digest, ESPN, Skift, Cruise Critic and Hospitality Design

Print: Associated Press, Departures, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, NY Post, USA Today, Philly Inquirer, Dallas Morning News

Social Media: Bloomberg Pursuits Live Facebook Feed, Conde Nast Traveler Snapchat video, Instagram posts from top NYC dogstagrammers