Neil Morrissey fronts new Ocean Village ad push

Informal line Ocean Village is embarking on a £1 million advertising campaign to differentiate itself away from traditional cruise companies.

The national print and broadcast advertising campaign will run until the end of March in a mix of mid-market and quality newspapers and on a range of national and regional radio stations.

The radio campaign signals the introduction of Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey as the new voice of Ocean Village.  

The line’s head of marketing Gill Haynes said: “Neil’s warm and upbeat voice brings instant familiarity to the ads. He represents the sort of fun, laid-back bloke our target 30-40-somethings would want to go on holiday with.” 

The radio campaign begins on January 17 focussed around Ocean Village’s regional departure points in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Newcastle. The campaign will run on stations that have a high 35-45 year old audience such as Heart, Magic, Smooth and GWR. The ads will also run nationally on Talksport.

The advertising focuses on a single area of differentiation between Ocean Village and traditional cruise lines – its lack of formality. 

The new creative strategy was implemented by advertising agency Clemmow Hornby Inge (CHI) after extensive research found that informality is the biggest driver of interest in Ocean Village amongst first time cruisers. First timers make up 60% of bookers for the single ship line.

The campaign takes a “quirky, subversive look” at items traditionally associated with formal dress and how they might be better adapted to an Ocean Village holiday, according to the company. A trouser press has a bikini draped across it rather than a dinner suit and a shoe tree is used to stretch a flipper instead of a formal dress shoe.

CHI account director Barbara Waite said: “This single-minded focus has enabled us to create bolder, more graphic and iconic styling with improved stand-out and cut-through. Use of Ocean Village’s brand colours retain continuity and the conversational copy style signals the brand’s younger, fresher take on holidays at sea.”

A tie-in with Debenhams sees a mix of in-store activity and direct marketing to the store’s cardholders. Another deal with gym chain Fitness First will support a series of promotions focusing on Ocean Village’s Action Ashore programme will target people with active lifestyles.

Report by Phil Davies