HORNBLOWER

An innovator on the water

Hornblower is an innovator on the water, designing events and experiences aboard first-class vessels in New York and San Francisco. For the corporate market it offered something no ballroom or bar could: a night out with a skyline for a backdrop. The company, in its own words always looking for fresh ideas, came to Ruckus for the creative to carry a new advertising campaign built for corporate clients.

Make the boat the obvious alternative

Typical corporate events toe the line, which is why they are boring and no one wants to go. Hornblower already had the venues, the vessels and the views. What it needed was a creative idea big enough to reframe the corporate outing and flexible enough to run across two very different markets. The campaign had to do two things at once: sell the fun of an event on the water, and sell the ease of booking one, without ever sounding like another obligatory office party.

Nine ways to rock the boat

The positioning started from a simple truth: everyone is a little different once you get them out of the office and onto a boat. Ruckus built the campaign on it, trading the hi-rise window and the velvet rope for VIP views, open decks and a skyline that does the schmoozing for you. Nine concept territories were explored, from Break from Routine, Rock the Boat to Peer-to-Pier Partying and B.O.A.T., Better Office Activities and Team Building, a knowing wink for anyone who has ever planned an offsite.

One flagship line carried the whole campaign: Leave Land, Join the Party. Warm, a little cheeky and endlessly extendable, it turned a booking into an invitation, with sibling lines like Connect on Deck and A Departure from Ordinary close behind. A creative device cast everyday colleagues, each one deck away from a better time: Mary from human resources, who has never been on a yacht until now, Todd from accounting, a whole lot less boring on a boat, and Greg the chief executive, finally capable of business casual.

One line, every channel

The line went straight into the feed, with Facebook and LinkedIn creative carrying the flagship line over Hornblower's own photography, washed in the brand's teal. An Instagram carousel walks a planner through the pitch one swipe at a time: wind in your hair, views off the bow, a drink in hand, and the reminder that work can be fun and games on a corporate cruise.

The full platform extended into a body of creative for New York and San Francisco: out-of-home posters built to stop foot traffic, carousel stories built to convert, seasonal email sends for the corporate list, landing pages with a clear path from idea to booking, and a cohesive photo and illustration look tying it all together.