Cruise line’s branded content piece was nothing more than an extended advert
Last night saw the airing of Royal Caribbean’s prime time branded content piece on Channel 7. Mumbrella’s Steve Jones says its lack of subtlety made it nothing more than an hour-long advert.
However much money Royal Caribbean parted company with for its prime time exposure on Channel 7 last night, the cruise line must surely have been pleased with the end product.
Whether the 571,000 viewers who tuned in at 8pm to watch Tom, Rach and Rosso Go Cruising will have been quite so chuffed is another matter.
As a colleague remarked after sitting through the branded content extravaganza, he thought he’d tuned in to a US shopping channel.
Such was the overt promotional tone of the program, it was impossible to escape the feeling that Royal Caribbean had funded an hour-long advert and was aggressively selling its wares. Which, of course, is exactly what it had done and what it was doing.
But the program had been billed as a piece of genuine entertainment for viewers. Far from being a glorified commercial for Royal Caribbean – suggestions I had put to management in an interview prior to a pre-screening – it would be subtle, off the cuff, authentic and fun.
Was it fun? Undoubtedly so for Tim “Rosso” Ross, Tom Williams and Rachael Finch. They were enjoying a 10-day South Pacific voyage. And cruising is fun. I should know. I’ve done a few.
But it was lacking that natural element, that air of authenticity. If it was meant to be subtle and not spruik the product too much, it failed. It was, to all intents and purposes, a list of the things you could do on the ship set against a storyline of how Tom wanted to meet, and dine with the captain.
Having chatted to Rosso before the preview screening I have no doubt he was a cruising sceptic who, to use his own words, assumed they were only popular with “bogans and old people”.
Gradually, as the trio enjoyed activity after activity on board Voyager of the Seas, took in the parade of DreamWorks characters, dined at fancy Japanese restaurants, sipped cocktails and picked up duty free goods, they became sold on the concept of cruising.
Not that Tom needed persuading. He was already a fan. It was Rosso and Rach who needed convincing. And convinced they became. Or at least that’s what they told everyone.
The obvious difficulty with such branded content is striking the balance between genuine entertainment and brand promotion. The brand has invested significant resources into the production and, naturally enough, needs and wants a return. But the inherent risk is that it descends into nothing more than a promotion, loosely and inadequately dressed up as entertainment.
That, I feel, is what happened with Tom, Rach and Rosso Go Cruising.
Does it matter? For Royal Caribbean, probably not. Even if viewers saw it for what it was – a piece of paid-for content – Royal Caribbean is a challenger brand and the prime time program showcased its product in a way it could not hope to do in a 30 second or 60 second TV ad.
And who knows, maybe it did dispel the lingering myths that cruising is only for bogans and old folk.
Ultimately, it was just lame TV.
- Steve Jones is chief reporter at Mumbrella
I watched 15 minutes of it and it worked on me. I came away thinking that it looked like a bloody good cruise ship, with better facilities than I’d imagined and something to consider if I was ever to go on a cruise.
I do hope the three presenters got paid very well. Watching them pretend to dance and whoop it up on the dance floor was excruciating and Tom Williams in particular had more than a few moments on screen he’d want to forget
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The ULTIMATE Anti-Ad has worked a treat on putting me off ‘Cruising’ altogether.
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great content. made me wanna take a cruise
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Hi Brad,
Thanks for the comment, although judging from the IP address you’re not entirely independent of Channel Seven.
Cheers,
Alex- editor, Mumbrella
Have been on the royal carabean cruises they are great ships I would rate them better than any ships in Australia and South pacific looking to cruisr again in dec 2015 have joined the crown and anchor club
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Not having watched I’ll trust your analysis, Steve, and take it as given that this was in fact ‘nothing more than an extended advert’. The question that flashes into my mind is – so what?
If there was an overtly promotional tone, and this was discussed ahead of time as a piece of brand-funded content, then it doesn’t seem like Royal Caribbean or Ch7 is trying to deceive anyone. Viewers aren’t so dumb that they don’t know when they are being sold to. They have the easy choice of switching off if they don’t find it entertaining or interesting, or keeping on watching like it seems a pretty reasonable number did. Where’s the harm? Why would you expect Royal Caribbean to fund content that wasn’t designed to promote their brand?
If your objective is not to sell anything, then perhaps branded content that is genuine entertainment is just the ticket. But if you do want to sell some product, then maybe advertising – extended, prime time or otherwise – is a smart strategy. There is some evidence after all that advertising does in fact work.
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Surely the content creation business in Australia is a bit smarter than this
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I can’t believe your comments, always something nasty to say! That show was way better than most of the rubbish on TV, it was very entertaining & was done very well. Who cares if they were promoting their cruise line & ship, it’s a beautiful ship & for the cruise lovers it was a treat. (at least you didn’t have to pay for it)
Sick & tired of watching murders & depressing stuff, this was fun & funny, the 3 celebs did a fantastic job & there should be more viewing like that for the whole family. It had something for everyone.
Enough of the negative comments, no-one is ever happy anymore, it’s pathetic!
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who were the agencies that created it?
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people will watch any shit. Google box has proved that.
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More proof that Australia is years behind the rest of the world when it comes to Branded Content.
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It was a great show!
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Real humans doing real things are better even if they are scripted.
I have been on 2 cruises and we are going on Voyager of the seas, it’s a great way to wind down, no driving wasting holiday time caught at traffic lights, no grocery shopping, no TV or News the world outside just disappears, just lie back and relax, visiting other amazing places – I love cruising
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What Al said.
Advertising and entertainment are two very different things and branded content is still most definitely advertising. And highly entertaining branded content doesn’t make good advertising.
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The term branded content really annoys me. All branded content is very obviously an ad and consumers aren’t fooled for a moment. It’s just that agencies seem to be embarrassed about calling all forms of product placement, blatant product plugs, stunts, Customs House cheesy events or progams like this an ad. Whats wrong with simply saying that this program is produced and presented by Royal Caribbean Cruises because that’s the truth. Its not brain surgery or a solution for world peace. Its just bloody advertising! We just sell stuff.
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It was turd T.V at it’s finest!
TJ
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@tony, you’re right. “branded content” is a modern euphemism for a much older and more accurate term, “advertorial”
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How many shows or movies are there on TV that don’t factor in some kind of branded product placement or sponsorship? Consumers don’t care. It’s all entertainment and nothing new. We’re just obsessed as marketers with naming and trying to monetise it as ‘branded content’. As Tony rightly says above – we’re just selling stuff.
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HAHA Alex at the seven employee commenting. Actual LOLing
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I lasted 20 minutes, I felt used and dirty afterwards.
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Nice bit of native advertising
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571 000 people have such empy 8pm to 9pm lives that they filled it by watching an add. Meet them on a cruise soon.
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next:
My Cruise Rules, and after the footy
The Amazing Cruise.
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