P&O Cruises unveils revitalised brand platform

The new brand platform and campaign is Pablo London's debut piece of work for the brand

By creative salon

03 January 2024

P&O Cruises has unveiled a new brand platform, ‘Holiday Like Never Before’, inviting holidaymakers to rethink what they believe they know of the cruise experience and expect more of their holiday, going beyond the obvious, into the extraordinary.

Created with Pablo London, the new brand positioning recognises that when it comes to holidays, Brits are often creatures of habit, taking comfort in the familiar. The opportunity was therefore to challenge audiences to expect more from their holiday by presenting an alternative option.

The campaign celebrates the incredible amount of must see/do experiences you can get in a single cruise. From the joy of falling asleep in Marseille and waking up in Barcelona, to the pleasure of travelling by whirlpool and experiencing the Norwegian fjords from inside the fjords. To on shore activities like snorkelling with stingrays and getting closer to Mother Nature in scenic waterfalls. Demonstrating that on a P&O Cruises holiday, you might just need a bigger bucket list.

Pablo London turned to Arts & Sciences’ Adam Hashemi to captain the TVC ship. Adam’s cinematic stylings, combined with nuanced character performances made him the perfect partner to tell this P&O Cruises holiday story. Using a combination of cinematic techniques, the team created a series of alluring, cool, interesting, and hyper-visual frozen moments. These frozen moments are all connected by a choreographed camera that takes us from the Rainforest to the sea to the ship, creating a seamless flow that makes every second count.

The film ends by cutting back through the moments as they all revert to normal speed, capturing the full energy, excitement, and emotion of the moment and leaving our audience with a clear understanding of what awaits them on a P&O Cruises holiday. Surprise, joy, pleasure, awe, appreciation, comfort, and most importantly, realisation – all frozen in time, adding a subtle humour that dials up the entertainment factor. The epic cinematic techniques included the use of 4K drone photography and a 50 camera time-slice rig, which created the slow motion ‘bullet time’ effect.

P&O Cruises, VP brand, marketing and sales, Robert Scott said: “We wanted our latest campaign to reach beyond the cruise category and really stand out from the travel pack, both in content and execution. The unique experiences you can only have on a P&O Cruises holiday are central to the Holiday Like Never Before campaign and we’re so excited to share these with an audience who may never have thought about travelling on a ship before.”

The film was shot amongst holidaymakers onboard Arvia as it journeyed across the Mediterranean, and features real P&O Cruises staff, including the aerial performers whose acrobatic acts, elaborate costumes and avant-garde storytelling light up the atrium. The on-shore elements were captured in St Lucia, a popular destination on one of P&O Cruises Caribbean itineraries.

Tim Snape, Executive Creative Director of Pablo, added: “The challenge to change perceptions of cruising is a great place to start. The more we looked, the more we found that people who cruise for the first time, have these moments of realisation. Points in time where they realise the cruise difference, things that are completely different from any holiday they’ve ever had. From waking up somewhere new every day, to travelling by infinity pool and our idea really centres in on these moments. We’ve applied our promise of ‘like never before’ to every aspect of our creative too from filming technique to music, so I hope the end result will stand out in the category and help change some minds.”

The through the line campaign includes national OOH, with rail site coverage that invites those travelling by train to imagine the joy of travelling by infinity pool. The roll out continues across digital, social, owned channels and PR from 1 January.