'We're putting agents at the heart of our Eurovision partnership'
Royal Caribbean International expects to host around 100 agents at Eurovision in Malmo this week; vice-president EMEA Ben Bouldin tells TTG why the partnership was the perfect opportunity to get the trade involved.
Our 2024/25 Eurovision Song Contest partnership came about the moment we heard Eurovision 2023 would be hosted in Liverpool.
The nation was already on a Eurovision high thanks to Sam Ryder propelling the UK to second place a year earlier – a far cry from the "nil points" Brits had become accustomed to in previous years.
Bouldin: ’Our Eurovision partnership has huge appeal’
With BBC One’s audience peaking at 11 million – the highest UK viewing figures for the contest in history – and with 160 million viewers across the rest of Europe, we see this partnership as an excellent gateway to reach new and engaged audiences across the region.
For a partnership to work, brand synergy is key – this is paramount in maximising the value of the sponsorship through activations that drive tangible benefits, bring people closer to the brand and ultimately convert to sales.
Our partnership strap line "Let Europe Entertain You" encapsulates both partners: two world-renowned brands that are known for delivering memorable moments to millions across the globe, the combination of Royal Caribbean International and The Eurovision Song Contest makes the ultimate partnership that brings to life the very best of world-class live entertainment and a fusion of cultures.
The Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast in the 37 participating countries with hundreds of millions more watching online, so the brand exposure potential is enormous.
In some of our key EMEA markets, there’s barely a household that doesn’t tune in to watch the final. On top of this, we are bringing the partnership to life through a wide range of moments and experiences, including brand exposure throughout the event, host-city promotion and more – not forgetting our themed sailings with viewing parties around Europe.
When we launched the partnership at the beginning of the year, Eurovision released a simple teaser on social media. The content teased that the Caribbean is coming to Eurovision, driving mass speculation, conversation and debate across numerous morning TV shows and news sites.
When we playfully revealed that it is in fact Royal Caribbean coming to Eurovision this year, we saw our top performing Instagram post to date on our European Instagram handle. This was closely followed in terms of performance by our Eurovision ticket giveaway social announcement, which shows just how well our audiences align.
Trade response ’overwhelming’
As with all our activity, this partnership has our travel agent community at its heart. Our “Book Your Way to Eurovision” competition has given more than 100 agents the chance to secure a once-in-a-lifetime hosted trip to join us in Malmo, Sweden, this May.
The response from the trade has been overwhelming, with increased engagement and much healthy competition as agents logged their many bookings to see their avatar move up the online leaderboard. I look forward to celebrating the achievements of the winning agents while in Malmo this week and meeting many new faces.
This summer, Royal Caribbean will have six ships sailing from eight cities across the continent visiting a line-up of landmark destinations.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the start of our highly anticipated European season this month than with a huge Eurovision Song Contest party in Malmo, as well as themed events onboard four of our ships.
Eurovision is a pan-European celebration that puts our brand in front of a global audience, which only continues to grow with the popularity of an event that has become a cultural moment for so many around the world.
Ben Bouldin is Royal Caribbean International vice-president Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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