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Gen-X, Millennial Parents Opps: Carnival to focus ad dollars on high-ROI digital ads

Carnival Cruise's is shifting away from expensive national TV ads to focus those dollars on cheaper digital ads, per its Q2 earnings report. Full-year 2022 bookings are already ahead of 2019, which the company described as a very strong year. The company said bookings are up even though it has significantly lowered ad spend this year. In additional to more digital ads, Carnival is also investing in direct mail and PR-related earned media. It will also be promoting its 50th anniversary this year. Sellers should contact this company if you can provide high-ROI digital ad space and to find out more details. 

According to Pathmatics, Carnival earned 974.6m impressions YTD through desktop display ads (64%), Facebook ads (16%), mobile display ads (11%), desktop video ads (7%) and Instagram ads (2%). It placed the majority (63%) of these ads through a variety of indirect channels onto sites such as zillow.com, yahoo.com, groupon.com, realtor.com and kohls.com. It placed the remainder (37%) site direct onto sites such as facebook.com, cruisecritic.com, youtube.com, instagram.com and wayfair.com. It spent around $4m on digital display ads YTD, a 45% decrease from $7.3m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2020. Full-year spend dropped significantly (63%) from $26.5m in 2019 to $9.8m in 2020. 

Magellan reports Carnival placed about five podcast ads over the last year. 

Per iSpot, Carnival has spent less than $1k on national TV ads YTD. It spent around $121.2k on national TV ads in 2020 during programming such as "Ocean Treks With Jeff Corwin," "Seinfeld," "That's Delicious," "Xploration DIY Sci" and "Modern Family." It spent around $409.9k in this channel during 2019. 

Sellers-- I believe Carnival mainly targets Gen-X and millennial parents through digital display ads. It has been moving away from high-cost national TV ads to save money. It will likely start ramping up spend in the next year or two once it recovers from the down year during the pandemic. It also invests in print and radio ads, per Kantar. Reach out if you can provide high ROI digital ad space.

Agency & martech readers-- To the best of my knowledge, Carnival works with creative AOR PHD USA. There are no signs indicating Carnival will review this account anytime soon. You will likely have better luck looking for work elsewhere.