New HAL Commercials

[Krazy Kruizers]

Has anyone seen the new HAL commercials?

At least they are new to us.

Maybe someone started a thread about this already?

Anyway -- we were on channel 165 -- XFinity1 -- Sundance -- today and saw at least 2 new commercials -- maybe 3.

[OlsSalt]

What impression did they create for you about HAL? Did you recognize what they were selling?

[Scrapnana]

I have been seeing a number of cruise ads (Disney, RCI, Carnival) but none for HAL.:(

[bUU]

Is this the commercial you're referring to? https://youtu.be/fnzoUP-QwwU

Edited February 12, 2017 by bUU

[Krazy Kruizers]

No -- they were not that one. Yours is entirely different and I hadn't seen that one before.

 

But they do have the "Savor the Journey" in them.

 

I was impressed with them.

 

Definitely will attract people.

[bUU]

Here's all three of the new commercials:

[senorjim]

Has anyone seen the new HAL commercials?

At least they are new to us.

Maybe someone started a thread about this already?

Anyway -- we were on channel 165 -- XFinity1 -- Sundance -- today and saw at least 2 new commercials -- maybe 3.

 

 

Have seen them on HGTV in Tampa Bay Area.

 

 

 

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[IllinoisGirl1978]

Have seen them on HGTV in Tampa Bay Area.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

Chicago on HGTV and Food Network.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[borasue]

Here's all three of the new commercials:

 

Thanks for sharing the link. I haven't seen them yet, but I do think they were well done and are appealing. :)

[AV8rix]

Here's all three of the new commercials:

 

Thank you very much for posting. Apparently they're only on the cable channels, and I cut the cord years ago so I would never have seen them.

[RJ2002]

To me, the main message these commercials are promoting are the wonderful places which you can visit on a HAL cruise, and it is for that reason that we continue to return to HAL when the itinerary is appealing. (we don't sail HAL exclusively). The entertainment segment appears to be targeted to a more younger and diverse clientele than usually sails with HAL.

 

Perhaps another unintended (or intended!) message... no children (passengers) seen in any of them. ;)

[bUU]

I do think the message is much more about Asia and Africa and other exotic destinations than about the destinations of the majority of the cruise lines berths. I mentioned this in another thread recently... That the cruise line seems to be leveraging how diverse its itineraries are. In that thread I spectated that it was the value of the purchasers being prompted into creatively thinking, "I may do that someday, so let me cruise with them now, to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, Mexico, Alaska or Europe." Of course, it could instead be that they are having more trouble selling their more exotic itineraries on their smaller ships.

[Homosassa]

I find it interesting that the motto of "Signature of Excellence" has been dropped.

 

It does seem appropriate in the light of some of the deletion of some of the special touches that used to set HAL apart (long time HAL cruisers, i.e.; longer then eight years, know what I am referring to).

[bUU]

I wouldn't put that much significance (nor boast about how long you've been a customer) on such things. regular changing of tag-lines is a standard operating procedure for marketing and sales promotion.

[OlsSalt]

I find it interesting that the motto of "Signature of Excellence" has been dropped.

 

It does seem appropriate in the light of some of the deletion of some of the special touches that used to set HAL apart (long time HAL cruisers, i.e.; longer then eight years, know what I am referring to).

 

I believe there was an explanation on the HAL website what they meant by the overly vague "Signature of Excellence" and it was primarily about interior refurbishments rather than a standard of service. It is good they dropped it as it was pretty meaningless and created confusing expectations.

 

For us HAL will always mean "good enough" which is hardly a winning marketing campaign, but certainly was "good enough" to make us five star HAL loyalists.

 

Glad to see the HAL promos are emphasizing --travel -- which remains the primary reason we keep picking HAL -as our value ---travel-- choice.

[OlsSalt]

Here's all three of the new commercials:

 

The first one brought tears to my eyes! Travel and HAL sailing heritage. Thanks for the link. They got their money's worth with this marketing campaign.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Well designed marketing!

HAL did a good job IMO.

Thank you for the website.

Denise:)

[wander]

bUU,

I have a different perspective than you in that for over 30 years we have frequently selected HAL for our cruises because historically they have been far ahead of comparative cruise lines in terms of cruises to new and/or more exotic ports. (I say comparative lines meaning historical ship size, costs, clientele the likes lines such as Princess, and Celebrity.) We were cruising to Asia, Southeast Asia, West Africa and even Australia on HAL long before this was common. (Well, some of the highest priced lines did some cruising there.) Now many cruise to these places. For many years, HAL's annual World Cruise has been successful. (For 2018 there is only a waiting list available at this time, February 2017- ship is full.)

 

So what I am trying to say is that I think the ads very much relate to a large segment of their existing customer base, although the enticement for future cruises may certainly be a part of their intent. They do have to keep growing their loyalty base, which right now is very strong, but aging.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Chicago on HGTV and Food Network.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We watch the Food Network quite a bit and I haven't seen the HAL commercials there.

[OlsSalt]

bUU,....... They do have to keep growing their loyalty base, which right now is very strong, but aging.

 

 

While we are aging, so is their potential customer base. They get older too and may well want exactly what we have loved about the HAL brand.

 

Not sure HAL needs to attract "younger" passengers; just harvest the newly aging ones. Which are the baby-boomers - the largest demographic out there. Do they now want what we have liked or do they want to still party-on like it is 1969?

[mame42]

bUU,

I have a different perspective than you in that for over 30 years we have frequently selected HAL for our cruises because historically they have been far ahead of comparative cruise lines in terms of cruises to new and/or more exotic ports. (I say comparative lines meaning historical ship size, costs, clientele the likes lines such as Princess, and Celebrity.) We were cruising to Asia, Southeast Asia, West Africa and even Australia on HAL long before this was common. (Well, some of the highest priced lines did some cruising there.) Now many cruise to these places. For many years, HAL's annual World Cruise has been successful. (For 2018 there is only a waiting list available at this time, February 2017- ship is full.)

 

So what I am trying to say is that I think the ads very much relate to a large segment of their existing customer base, although the enticement for future cruises may certainly be a part of their intent. They do have to keep growing their loyalty base, which right now is very strong, but aging.

 

These ads relate to the HAL that I love and describe to my non cruising friends much better than the "Midwestern" stuff being promoted on "Celebrity Apprentice".

[OlsSalt]

These ads relate to the HAL that I love and describe to my non cruising friends much better than the "Midwestern" stuff being promoted on "Celebrity Apprentice".

 

Tonight's the night to see how the teams market their chosen cruise lines. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think they only had to develop a plan for two of the four. Wonder if they will even chose HAL out of the four to showcase, since it appears they only visited the Ruby Princess.

 

I still think the CEO's "midwestern" label for HAL was a good call. That first ad hit it right on target - travel and tradition -with a tug at the heart strings.

 

Go Team HAL.

[BJzink]

Here's all three of the new commercials:

There are 2 of them shown several times during the day on FOX news - the sunrise & the one featuring the Music. I think they are very well done, should be attractive to people who don't know much about the line......

[bUU]

I have a different perspective than you in that for over 30 years we have frequently selected HAL for our cruises because historically they have been far ahead of comparative cruise lines in terms of cruises to new and/or more exotic ports.

I didn't say anything to the contrary.

 

What I expressed was a rule of thumb you can apply to all consumer marketing: Don't afford much significance to the changing of tag-lines and other accouterments of marketing campaigns. These things will change without it necessarily having any relationship - whatsoever - to functional or operational changes in the company.

 

So what I am trying to say is that I think the ads very much relate to a large segment of their existing customer base, although the enticement for future cruises may certainly be a part of their intent.

Choose any specific non-Holiday week in the next year and count how many Holland America berths are on cruises on basic itineraries (let's say that includes Caribbean, Mexico, Pacific Northwest & Pacific Coast, Alaska, Bermuda, Canada/New England, and Hawaii) versus those on specifically exotic itineraries (Asia & Pacific, Australia/New Zealand and S. Pacific, Europe, Grand Voyages, Tahiti, South America, Antarctica). You'll see that the latter isn't a large segment of the customer base.

 

They do have to keep growing their loyalty base, which right now is very strong, but aging.

I've shared my professional background several times over the last ten years... it is relevant here: I used to work for the Bell Laboratories Customer Loyalty Center doing research on both customer loyalty and enterprise-wide quality management. One of the biggest shocks of my early career was just how disloyal customers are. In business, customer loyalty is defined as the willingness of a customer to purchase your product or service at a premium; it is not the extent to which customers are willing to purchase your product or service at discount.

 

The vast majority of consumer loyalty programs have therefore been designed very poorly, failing to reflect that basic principle (mainly because most of these programs were launched before research such as that which we did at Bell Laboratories became common knowledge). We are seeing a major push now by the airlines to begin to rectify their error, providing bonus frequent flyer miles for full-fare passengers and even depriving the deepest discounted fares of any frequent flyer credit.

 

So what you said is true, but it means something a bit different perhaps than what you intended. They need to find a way to motivate customers to cruise with them more often at (basically) full fare. That is a pretty big challenge, given how the typical consumer is manically fixated on getting the best price anyone else has ever gotten. There are websites for which we cannot share the URL or the name that help cruise passengers strategically work the system to get discounted fares. And that's what they should be trying to do, of course, but it isn't what constitutes loyalty to a brand. It's loyalty to one's own pocketbook.

 

Unfortunately Holland America doesn't expose its internal financial details, like it did when it was a separate company. Even in CCL's 10-K it is lumped together with all CCL's North American operations. So we really don't know if their "loyalty base" is strong or weak. My instinct from keeping myself informed about the industry is that it was weak and has strengthened a good deal over the last few years, due to a number of recent strategic partnerships they've entered into. Who knows? However, whether you or I like what they offer and decide to cruise with them doesn't constitute much of anything worthwhile. To speak about how well the company is doing we need to see the internal financial details, and that's not going to happen.

[JimAOk1945]

Here's all three of the new commercials:

These are wonderful! I especially like the phrase "Journey by journey, this is why we sail!" It makes me wish we could be on a HAL cruise right now! :D

Edited February 14, 2017 by JimAOk1945