Defining the brand
Developing a great brand means understanding who you are and who the competition is, and targeting your message.
Dickinson see as his competition not just other cruise lines but the vacation industry in general. He wants one thing for his guests, and that is fun. To create a brand that’s fun at heart means looking at any place people might go to have fun, because that’s where the true competition lies.
“We consider ourselves to be in the vacation industry rather than the cruise industry, because cruising only captures only about 3 percent of the overall vacation industry in North America,” he says. “This year, there will be about 10 million North Americans taking cruises.”
That compares with some 90 million people who will visit Las Vegas and Orlando. And it is to those places that Dickinson turns to for inspiration for his fun-based brand.
“If you look at Las Vegas, it’s an attraction and resort destination,” he says. “Orlando is the same thing. Our other competitors are hotels and sightseeing destinations, such as New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles. You have to think about the business in terms of not just who might be your immediate competitors but what other competitors there are for the time and expenditure of money.”
You have to look at the entire competitive landscape to get an understanding of how you can gain marketshare with your brand.
“Who are your competitors?” he says. “If the money wasn’t spent in your company, where would it be spent? It may be a direct competitor, or it may be something indirect. If people don’t buy a Carnival cruise, they may buy a dining room set a year earlier than they need to, or turn in the car a year earlier, or buy a timeshare. They may go on another cruise; they may go to Las Vegas. They may visit Aunt Minnie. We’re talking about a product, in our case, that’s discretionary. Believe it or not, people don’t have to cruise, which is annoying, but true.”
Dickinson says it’s important to keep the brand focused on a simple concept to help present a clear message to consumers.
“I’m not trying to be everything to everybody,” Dickinson says. “I’m not a snake oil salesman. You have to put limits to what you are and market what you are and what you aren’t. That’s what delineation of a brand is all about.”
