Client
P&O Cruises and their largest ever cruise liner Ventura. Weighing in at 115,000 tonnes, Ventura is more than 40 per cent larger than the P&O Cruises ship Arcadia, currently the largest built for this market. At full capacity, she will carry nearly 3,600 passengers and 1,200 crew.

Objective
To blitz national media with positive and creative ‘stand-out’ news page coverage of Dame Helen Mirren in her first ever Ship’s Godmother’s role at the live bottle-smashing naming ceremony. News management of the April 16 live event was in the wake of a high-profile bottle-breaking failure, with the Duchess of Cornwall at the Queen Victoria launch in Southampton last December, leading to ‘Curse of Camilla’ headlines. The other major issue was three other cruise liners were launching around the same time which meant lots of competition for space.

Solution
Play to the ‘bottle-break’ news agenda, and highlight a unique and creative first to ensure the champagne bottle smashed. Four came up with the ploy to invite the Royal Marine Commandos to execute Dame Helen’s regal command, by abseiling down the ship to break the champagne bottle against the hull. This gave the story a real news peg, rather than just another celebrity opening. Strategically, Four also emphasized the value of preview coverage and provide early picture and broadcast stories in the day.

Result
Two months before Naming Day, The Mail On Sunday ran the announcement of Dame Helen and the Marines exclusively and this set off a raft of other coverage, including the Sunday Telegraph, Metro, with regional ITV and BBC covering both the story from P&O Cruises and the Marines viewpoint, plus Sky News Radio and IRN bulletins.

On the Naming Day itself, IRN news ran it live in both lunchtime and early evening bulletins, Sky News’s Kaplinsky went in live with Dame Helen, as did the BBC One Show. CNBC also covered from the business angle, and BBC South and ITV Meridian followed the whole onboard day’s events. Live radio with Dame Helen included BBC Radio 2; BBC Five Live, and IRN Showbiz bulletins nationally. The following day, no fewer than eight nationals covered the story- Telegraph, Times, Sun, Express, FT, Star, Mirror, and Metro, each selecting their preferred photo option. The whole media package was topped off with a full page colour Hello exclusive!