Digital Design Blog

Carnival Cruise Lines Gets It

One of the key implications of the Digital Consumer Behavior Study is that marketers should design experiences for consumers wherever they live in the digital world, well beyond the website (an idea that Shar VanBoskirk has explored also in the Forrester Marketing Blog).

So who knows how to do that? Carnival Cruise Lines, that�s who.

Recently, Carnival came to Avenue A | Razorfish with an interesting challenge. Although consumers actively use the internet to research their vacation options, too many consumers just do not understand what it’s like to enjoy a vacation cruise. Could we help Carnival share a virtual cruise experience for today�s web-savvy vacation researcher? The result is an immersive world we helped Carnival launch in July 2007, Funship Island.

Funship Island uses rich media to help you experience a Carnival vacation, like careening down a water slide on the Lido deck. But we didn’t just stop with a standalone website.You can also take Funship Island with you through downloadable ring tones for your mobile phone, downloadable screen saver for your desktop, and an MP3 file for your iPod.

On top of that, we use a search program and online advertising to really immerse consumers into the world of Funship Island wherever consumers are on the web. And, Carnival taps into the social nature of the web by giving vacationers a chance to talk to each other about their experiences on the CarnivalConnections social media site. In the first month of its existence, more than 500,000 people have visited Funship Island.