CASE HISTORY AND SAMPLE CLIPS
Capitalizing on an Anniversary
Bigger, faster and more powerful than her predecessor the ship Titanic, the RMS Queen Mary lived a long life. Built at the John Brown shipyard on the Clyde, Scotland, in 1937, the Queen Mary made 1,001 successful Atlantic crossings. After carrying the rich and famous across the Atlantic in great luxury, she carried troops in World War II and, afterward, ferried war brides and children to the United States and Canada before returning to service as a transatlantic cruise ship.
In 1967, Cunard sold the Queen Mary to a tourism company where she was converted into a hotel and tourist attraction in Long Beach Harbor, Calif.
In 1997, The Bohle Company was hired to promote the ship’s 50th Anniversary. We staged a ship-side celebration, pitching trade, consumer travel publications, local media and national TV shows to cover.
STRATEGY:
• Identify multiple spokespeople with interesting stories. We found a former stowaway and several of last passengers to ride the Queen across the Atlantic
MATERIALS:
• We researched, created extensive historical press kit, b-Roll of historic film footage of important Queen Mary trips, including her experience as a troop carrier in World War II
RESULTS:
• Coverage included NBC’s “Today” show, ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CNN, all seven Southern California TV news stations, the Los Angeles Times, AP and literally all the travel trades
