Marketing proposal for Carnival Cruise's new family market segment

Marketing Proposal for Carnival Cruise
Executive Summary
This marketing proposal for Carnival Cruise looks at the company’s profile and SWOT analysis to develop a new marketing proposal to tap into a new market of consumers who have small families, take annual vacations but who have never thought to make their destination a cruise line.
Company Profile
Carnival Cruise is known as the “fun ship”—a reputation it earned when the company’s maiden voyage ran into a sandbar and the managers onboard opened the drinks bar to guests to pass the time. A mid-tier line, Carnival is looking to tap into the wider market and appeal to customers who have never taken a cruise before.
Market Segmentation and Targeting
The market segmentation process looks at the a) demographic, b) geographic, c) psychographic, and d) behavioral segments. The demographic segment shows the age, gender, occupation, ethnicity and so on of customers. The geographic segment shows which part of country they come from. The psychographic segment shows the customer’s personality type. The behavioral segment shows the status of customers, whether they are frequent cruise takers or more often to the experience.
Carnival Cruise is seeking to tap into the “new to the cruise line” market—i.e., small families who typically take vacations to attraction-themed parks like Disney Land. The demographic is new, small families in the 25-40 age range.
Situation and Company Analysis
Strengths
Carnival’s reputation is strong: it is known as the “fun cruise” and it can leverage that brand awareness. It is also primed to update its brand, as other cruise lines have already locked into their target markets.
Opportunities
If Carnival can attract 25-40 year olds with young children by selling the same type of appeal and turn these customers into repeat customers (i.e., something for everyone), it can grow its market base exponentially as “only 16% of the North American market [has] ever cruised, leaving a large untapped base of potential customers” (Applegate, Kwortnik & Piccoli, 2006, p. 2). In short, there is over 80% of the North American market that Carnival can target. Carnival would be going outside the normal target of cruisers by enlarging the market with its marketing campaign.
Weaknesses
Carnival does not have a great deal of data collected on its target segment. It needs to find out more about them. It also needs to upgrade is ships so that they truly do offer something for everyone the same way theme parks do.
Threats
The other competing lines are either invested in luxury or offer cheap fares with little fanfare. Carnival is in the middle so does not stand out by standing still.
Goal
The audience therefore would be small families who have never cruised before but who do enjoy taking annual vacations to theme parks or destinations.
The SMART goal would be to increase Carnival’s market by 20% year over year.
The call to action would be: Let Carnival bring the fun to you.
Ethics and Social Responsibility
Sustainability can be addressed by findings ways to reduce the company’s carbon footprint so that it can market itself to Millennials who care about the environment.
Marketing Information and Research
How Can Carnival Market Itself to Its Target?
Customer relationship management is needed in order to build relationships with its clients. First, it needs to differentiate itself (Trout & Rivkin, 2006). Second, it needs to use the Blue Ocean Strategy, since it is fishing in new waters for new consumers who are new to the cruise line (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005). Third, it needs to use social media to become more visible to the Millennials who are having young families now (Li, Robinson & Oriade, 2017).
Marketing Research
Conducting marketing research can help by investing in data-driven analysis; this can be conducted by obtaining data from current customers and using social media data analysis to better understand the segmentation of the target market, including behaviors and personality types.
Customer Decision-Making Profile
The target customer is of the Millennial generation, age 25-40. The customer uses social media to obtain information and share ideas. The customer has a small family and takes annual vacations to a destination, theme park or resort.
Positioning and Differentiation
Competitive Advantages Carnival’s reputation as the fun cruise Carnival’s mid-tier status—neither over-the-top luxury nor so cheap that it attracts the wrong crowd Offers something for everyone: Mom, Dad and kids Positioning Recommendations

Carnival should position itself as the family fun cruise liner Avoid themes like what Disney uses, but offer similar attractions Carve out a position in the mid-tier market that allows the company to go after the untapped market of new to the cruise line consumers How to Convince the Market Carnival is Different and Better