Antonio Benedico is 93 and has been on 32 cruises with Pullmantur Cruises. Last year his doctor recommended he stop travelling due to mobility problems, and that he should stay at home. So, if Antonio couldn’t leave his home, we would literally turn one of our cabins into a home for him. We researched what we would need to make an exact replica of his home, and in a week, we built the most recognisable part of his house: his bedroom, his bookshelves with all his souvenirs, and his watchmaker’s workshop. On 7 October we gave Antonio a surprise invitation to go on what would be his 33rd cruise and for five frenetic hours, we transformed his cabin into one of the biggest surprises of his life: his home on board.

This campaign focused on social media, with a great push on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

We started on Twitter on 25 October with #CruiseLoversDay, a Trending Topic intended to honor Antonio and his story. On 25 October we gave a great push to the campaign’s main video, which received more than 10 million views.

During subsequent weeks we published contents on all our platforms, with several videos on YouTube, content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that delivered extra content and directed traffic to our website where users could learn all about Antonio, #CruiseLoversDay and even book a cruise.

11,000,000 views.

63% audience retention.

38.2% more positive noise for the brand.

52.6% more positive noise for the campaign.

150% more visits to the website over the previous period.

99% more visits to the website over the previous year and most importantly:

40% more passengers over the same period last year.

International maritime law is very strict regarding security. To build our subject’s house from scratch while complying with all the regulations was a challenge. What’s more, we only had five hours to recreate the house as it had been before. This was the first time such a feat had been achieved.

The target for this campaign consisted of everyone interested in travel in Spain, particularly families, honeymooners and senior cruise line travelers. The budget was spent on digital platforms rolling out the campaign with a Trending Topic on Twitter to introduce everyone the #CruiseLoversDay.

The campaign lasted for ten days during which we showed the video across all platforms and generated different contents that explained Antonio´s story. Most of the contents pointed to a website where users could learn about every detail of the campaign.

Cruises have been taken over by mass tourism, and the whole thing has become impersonal. That’s why Pullmantur Cruises, Spain’s shipping line par excellence, known and recognised for the quality of its crew, wanted to give a real demonstration of its differential value: personal service. And who better than Antonio, their most loyal cruise passenger, to test it?