MercerBell Creates World’s Longest Conga For Carnival Cruise Line
Hundreds of cruise ship guests aboard Carnival Spirit danced their way back into Sydney Harbour yesterday morning in the final leg of #CarnivalConga, setting a record for the world’s longest conga line at sea.
The concept – involving 60,000 passengers on 25 Carnival ships in 13 countries around the world – was created for Carnival by customer experience agency MercerBell, to celebrate the cruise line’s fifth birthday in Australia.
Initially created for the Australian market, Carnival Conga was quickly embraced by the company as a global event, starting in Miami and island-hopping its way through the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, across the Pacific to the Coral and Tasman Seas, all the way to Sydney.
MercerBell executive creative director David Bell says: “It was amazing to watch Carnival Conga grow from a local campaign into an integrated, world-wide event, incorporating social, PR, retail, customer communications and trade marketing. It shows the power of a simple – and fun – idea.”
Carnival Marketing Director Jayne Andrews said, “Since the arrival of Carnival Spirit in 2012, more than 750,000 Australians and Kiwis have enjoyed the fun of a Carnival Cruise. It’s what we stand for. So we knew instantly that the Carnival Conga concept was right for our brand. And the way our guests responded is proof, getting up to dance around a ship at five in the morning!”
Carnival Conga even has its own sound track, with a song composed for the campaign by Red Note. Downloadable on all leading platforms including iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Play, all proceeds go directly to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
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And a special thanks to Mike Nikotin and Neil ‘Bomber’ Harris for their mad #carnivalconga idea and their equally bonkers conga dancing.