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Richard MarnellSVP of Marketing, N.A.Viking River Cruises |
On Monday, May 17, the Chief Marketing Officer Institute will reveal the winners of its "CMO of the Year" award for leadership excellence. The following interview, conducted by the CMO Journal and CMO.com, is one of 10 with each of the finalists. Click here for our conversations with the other nine finalists.
>> Category
Large Organization
>> Company Description Viking River Cruises, the world’s largest river cruise company, offers scenic cruising along the rivers of Europe, Russia, China, and Egypt. The company has been honored multiple times as the top river cruise line on Condé Nast Traveler’s “Gold List” and Travel + Leisure’s “World’s Best” Awards, and it has been recognized as the World’s Leading River Cruise Operator at the World Travel Awards. Since its 1997 inception, the company has grown to a fleet of 18 vessels and provides unique, deluxe vacations to experienced travelers with an interest in geography, culture, and history.
>> Highlights
During the financial crisis of September 2008, Richard Marnell and senior vice president of sales Milton Hugh persuaded Viking River’s chairman & CEO to significantly lower prices and aggressively market to their well-developed consumer database. Using these marketing and pricing strategies, Viking was able to transition from a challenging 2008 to a profitable 2009.
>> The Conversation
Q: In addition to your bold pricing and promotion strategy and the strength of your results, the thing that our judges found striking about your nomination was that you insisted on including other members of the leadership team--including the heads of sales and operations--as nominees. So we have the impression that you’ve broken down the type of functional silos that often impede other CMOs. Is that the case, and if so, what advice do you have for other marketers attempting to do the same thing?
A: Success requires a group of individuals working in concert toward a common goal. Though cliché, it is true at Viking, and marketing reflects our business environment. When resources become scarce, individuals across functional silos must rely on each other to a greater extent to both ensure survival and to ultimately attain success. When a crisis hits, goals become clearer; other distracting projects that just are not that important are put on the side. For our team to remain focused, we found that weekly in-person cross-functional management meetings were needed in order to review goals and objectives. Viking had a very collaborative working environment to begin with; when the crisis hit, the managing team became tighter and the collaboration across functional areas went to a higher level.
Q: In your nomination, it was noted that through social and viral media: “The marketing of Viking will gradually be turned over to our guests. The role of the Viking marketing department of the near future will be to guide the production and distribution of our guest-generated videos, photos, testimonials.” Given that it’s impossible for everyone to have a perfect experience on your cruises, isn’t that awfully risky?
A: From the beginning of time, people have shared their travel experiences. This is an innate part of human nature. After you travel internationally, family and friends ask, “How was your trip?” You want to share those extraordinary elements of your trip that you enjoyed most: what you saw, learned, ate, drank, experienced. The best advocate for any product is your customer. My perspective has grown to the point that I see it as our obligation to help them with that distribution. Providing the technology to allow that on a broader stage is a fantastic opportunity.
One hundred percent of our travelers have some form of digital recording device; we all want to be an auteur and to be recognized for our work. In marketing at Viking, we foresee that the sharing of travel experiences will become an extension of our guests’ brand experience. This is already happening today. On YouTube, Facebook and Cruise Critic, you will find some fantastic heartfelt productions. Our objective is to guide the post-production and distribution, and in so doing, we will be able to control the quality and the message. The collective body of work that will ultimately be available will eclipse the occasional bad experience. There are countless travel review sights that have unedited reviews available today, so this already exists. We have a choice to sit idly by and hope that it all turns out OK or to actively engage in the exchange.
Facebook offers a unique opportunity for Viking. Each departure allows for the development of a community. This starts prior to departure when passengers gather online to discuss what to pack and prior travel experience—our guests get acquainted. Viking River Cruise vessels are small. With only 150 passengers, camaraderie is established quickly, particular in the face of adversity.
Recently, during the European air space shutdown, many Viking travelers were stranded onboard our vessels. What happened next was astonishing. Our stranded onboard passengers began sending missives describing what was happening on a daily, and, in some cases, hourly basis; they began posting on our Facebook page how fantastically Viking was taking care of them. They were having a fabulous time. Communication was established from those passengers who had yet to travel to those currently onboard. Their posts also facilitated providing information to their family and friends.
When guests post their testimonials on Facebook for their friends and families, they provide word-of-mouth marketing that is impossible for a marketer to buy. Yet this viral, written endorsement of Viking River Cruises is happening for free. We are finding that it is definitely worth the risk.
