Case Study · Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival's Funderstruck ad debuted inside the NBA's Christmas Day games. We had its social ready before tip-off.

Two years on Carnival's TikTok, community and campaigns, from the launch of Funderstruck to a 50th birthday at sea.

Live

Funderstruck's TV spot debuted during the NBA's Christmas Day gamesTune-in teasers posted December 23 and 24Christmas Day: the spot on Carnival's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as it airedPotential reach on the day itself: 25.1 millionSentiment around the NBA launch: 95% positiveOur first eight Carnival TikToks: 9.25% engagement rate2,192 replies and comments in seven weeksSeven Carnival ships met for the line's 50th birthdayFunderstruck's TV spot debuted during the NBA's Christmas Day gamesTune-in teasers posted December 23 and 24Christmas Day: the spot on Carnival's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as it airedPotential reach on the day itself: 25.1 millionSentiment around the NBA launch: 95% positiveOur first eight Carnival TikToks: 9.25% engagement rate2,192 replies and comments in seven weeksSeven Carnival ships met for the line's 50th birthday

The box score

9.25%
engagement rate on our first eight Carnival TikToks
73.3M
potential reach of the Funderstruck message on social before Christmas Day
2,192
replies and comments from our team in seven weeks

01Choose Fun

A cruise line built on fun needed its social to sound like it again.

When we joined in late 2021, Carnival's TikTok had about 23,000 followers next to nearly 5 million on Facebook. Ships were sailing again, the feeds were full of news and notices, and comments were going unanswered. Carnival brought us in for the parts of social that needed a voice: a TikTok channel, a community team, and support for its biggest moments, starting with a new campaign called Funderstruck.

Carnival's red, white and blue whale-tail funnel above a deck of colorful loungers, with turquoise sea beyond

Followers when we joined

TikTokAbout 23,000

FacebookNearly 5 million

02Funderstruck

The spot aired in the NBA games. The posts were already waiting.

Funderstruck's TV spot was set to debut during the NBA's Christmas Day games. On December 23 and 24 we posted tune-in teasers, and on Christmas Day we shared the spot on Carnival's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as it aired. Before Christmas Day, the Funderstruck message had a potential reach of 73.3 million people across social. On the day itself, its potential reach was 25.1 million. Sentiment around the NBA launch ran 95% positive.

Funderstruck on TikTok

Funderstruck graphic from a 2022 Carnival TikTok: a row of emoji faces above the word Funderstruck in red

Dec 23Tune-in teaser
Dec 24Tune-in teaser
Dec 25The spot on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as it aired

73.3MPotential reach before Christmas Day
25.1MPotential reach on the day itself
95%Positive sentiment around the NBA launch

03Carnival's famous friends

Shaq, Guy Fieri, Emeril and a spelling bee champion.

Carnival's partners that winter included Shaquille O'Neal, Guy Fieri and Emeril Lagasse, the Miami Heat and the New Orleans Saints, and Zaila Avant-garde, the 2021 Scripps Spelling Bee champion, introduced as Carnival's Very Important Fun Person. We promoted their moments on Carnival's channels and ran community management and reporting around the Miami Heat event with Shaq, the Carnival Radiance godmother ceremony, the NBA Christmas launch and New Year's Rockin' Eve, where we made the video for Carnival's Instagram filter.

Game log

Community management and reporting

01The Miami Heat event with Shaq
02The Carnival Radiance godmother ceremony
03The NBA Christmas launch
04New Year's Rockin' Eve, and the video for Carnival's Instagram filter

04ShipTok

We made Carnival's TikTok feel like being onboard.

We stopped treating TikTok as a place to repost ads. Our TikToks jumped on trends the week they broke and talked like a passenger: a gift that is really a cruise, ten things to pack for your first sailing, a crystal ball drink from the Fortune Teller Bar. Our first eight averaged a 9.25% engagement rate. In 2022 we helped plan ShipTok, the dance Carnival called the biggest Ship-Tok at sea, performed when seven Carnival ships met for the line's 50th birthday.

05Fun moments

2,192 replies and comments in seven weeks.

Our community team answered people who mentioned Carnival and joined conversations it wasn't tagged in: 2,192 replies and comments between December 8 and January 23, during the busiest launch of the season. We called them fun moments, because the job was to sound like someone who had just stepped off the ship.