CASE STUDY:

HOW Celestyal Cruises gained extensive coverage in the UK through a Proactive
Press office

As the popularity of cruising grows in the UK & Ireland Celestyal cruises were seeking to increase awareness of their destination focused cruises and build on their reputation as providers of authentic cultural experiences.

Client story

Goals

Increase UK media coverage
Raise awareness of destination focused cruising with Celestyal Cruises in UK market

Approach

Run a proactive Press Office
Secure broadcast coverage

Results

191 items of coverage with AVE of £3.2m in 2017
173 items of coverage with AVE of £2.8m in 2018
2 Celestyal episodes on Channel 5’s Cruising with Jane MacDonald
611% increase in new users visiting the UK website

The Client

Celestyal Cruises

Celestyal Cruises is the main home-porting cruise operator in Greece and the pre-eminent cruise line serving the Greek Islands and East Mediterranean.

Celestyal operates two mid-sized vessels providing genuine and highly-personalized services.

The ‘destination’ is the foundation of the company’s philosophy. Every cruise focuses on true cultural immersion, offering authentic, lifetime experiences both on board and on shore wherever its vessels sail.

Pool Area on the Crystal, Celestyal Cruises

Analysing the challenge

Celestyal Cruises have built a solid reputation for providing excellent Greek hospitality and authentic, culturally enriching experiences on their cruises of the Greek Islands and East Mediterranean.

As cruising continues to grow in popularity in the UK & Ireland, our objective was to build on that reputation and raise greater awareness in the UK market of what destination focused cruising with Celestyal Cruises is all about.

creating the
solution

TV and UK media coverage

As well as extensive UK media coverage, SLC secured two episodes dedicated to Celestyal Cruises on Bafta-winning show Cruising with Jane McDonald.

In the most recent episode Jane, who is synonymous in the UK with cruising, set sail on Celestyal Crystal for a seven-night round-trip ‘Idyllic Aegean’ itinerary, taking in Athens, Mykonos, Milos, Santorini, Heraklion and Kusadasi in Turkey.

Aired in May 2019, the programme shows Jane exploring Greece’s rich history, sampling local food and drink, enjoying the Mykonos nightlife, as well as taking part in various fun activities such as pottery and cheese making.

The results

Items of coverage in 2017

Items of coverage in 2018

%

Increase in new website users

£3.2 million

AVE in the UK in 2017

£2.8 million

AVE in the UK in 2018

Increase in new users visiting the UK website following the Cruising with Jane McDonald episode in 2017

What the client says

“We have worked with SLC for 3 years and it was a great experience as they really assisted to set the foundation of our brand recognition in UK. I have only positive comments for the devotion, hard work, professionalism and most important the feeling that SLC was part of Celestyal family.”

Frosso Zaroulea, Public Relations Manager, Celestyal Cruises