Cunard Line, Ltd:.

Case study
3.  What is your recommendation to Cunard regarding the balance in the focus of marketing
communications between the overall Cunard identity and image, and the identity and image of
the individual ships?

The proposed organization such as gathering ships as indicated by the sort of food or sort of
administration offered might be restricting the general thought of the umbrella advertising technique
Cunard was following. Regardless of what ship was being promoted, it was desirable to have a
‘family’ visual impact. But with this new arrangement of resources, the customer perception could
more be towards individual products rather than the Cunard leading to further dilution of the brand.
Hence

(4.) Which marketing communications elements do you believe should receive greater/lesser
emphasis by Cunard? Why? Specifically, what about the role of direct marketing?

(5)
 Cunard is basically a luxury brand, targeted at the high-end consumers. Its brand
image is a result of years of diligence and consistent stress on quality and offering of
differentiated
            Services.
  This carefully nurtured image of the brand has created a sense of exquisiteness
around its products and services. Hence although this short-term offering was a great
success,repeated use of such offerings may induce some sort of negativity in the
minds of potential and existing consumers towards the brand.
 There may be a perceived notion of the company’s shift from the emphasis of quality,
which might have led to such tactical marketing policies to attract more customers.
Hence in the long run it can adversely affect the brand image of the company.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(6) What effects do you expect the impending organizational change to have on marketing     
communication at Cunard?
 
 Earlier each ship had been marketed by a marketing planning executive.The
individual had responsibilities similar to those of a product manager with one
individual managing one ship.
  The ships were then divided into four groups in accordance with the type of cruise or
services offered. Each group will target a particular market and have a distinctive
appeal. Within each of these groups would be an executive responsible for both
strategic and tactical marketing planning on behalf of the ships within the group.
 The objective of the proposed organization structure was that each business group
would be able to focus its resources on a particular target market with a specific
product concept and message. Also it would assist travel agents to know each ship
distinctively. But the organisation change could dilute the overall brand Cunard
further, as this new arrangement will develop the consumers knowledge and attitude
toward the individual product rather than toward Cunard.
 There would be less central control over the specifics of marketing communications
as profit responsibility will be centred on these new groups. Also it will be also
difficult to maintain the integration of marketing communications among the products
and across various media
 
 
(7)  How would you prioritize and address the challenges facing Leslie at the
close of the case?
 Leslie is facing many varied challenges in the current scenario, due to tectonic change
that seems to be sweeping the shipping industry.
 One of important concerns is the image overhaul that Cunard needs to undergo in
order to stay with the times and create urgency and persuasiveness among varied
consumers and boost short-term sales without diluting its image. 
 It needs to move away from its high brow image to a more action oriented one and at
the same time maintain its perceived high affluence, high quality , ultimate luxury
image.This should be the first priority for Leslie.
 The second most important task that is the impending organizational overhaul within
the company.
 This would mean reorganization of the marketing communication around various
types of cruise or kind of service offered.Till now the marketing communication was
individual to each ship but now the ships are going to be grouped together under
various heading describing the group.
 The dilemma here is whether such a grouping might lead to image dilution of the
ships as till now they have been marketed separately and have their own individual
image in the consumers mind.
 The third on the list is budgeting, it is important as the ships need to be paying for the
kind of promotion they get during this corporate wide marketing effort from the kind
of volumes it generates.
 There is a requirement of a defensible and rational formula to undertake such a
budgeting concern.
 
 

 The best approach for Cunard that has worked so far is thedirect marketing
approach.Herein the company targets the existing customers and those recommended
by them as potential customers.
  This requires robust database maintenance as company needs to keep in touch with
the prospects at all times. As the target audience is the crème de la crème, they need
to create personalised experience even before they are on the cruise.
 This is done to develop awareness, interest and motivation among the target group. It is
also the most persuasive of all marketing communication mechanism used by
companies.
 Another advantage is that message is personalised and circulation is limited so it also
helps in cutting costs. Only those who are really interested and can afford the cruise
are contacted through the company.
 The only disadvantage of this approach is that the cost per potential customer is high.
 Promotion should not be used aggressively as using that for 5 star cruises would
dissolve the image of the company. So discounted prices and freebies are not
recommended to maintain the position and elite image the company commands.
 The company can associate itself with other companies like sponsoring events
conducted travel magazines, fashion shows, charity balls etc