travel

Windstar Cruises Offers Online Treasure Hunt

Despite continuing concern by consumers over the COVID-19 pandemic, there is pent-up demand for travel, and hospitality brands like Windstar Cruises are gearing up. 

The fleet of six upscale boutique yachts doesn’t have as many challenges as the massive cruise lines do. It is also offering a fully vaccinated crew, and all guests must be vaccinated. 

The private yacht-style cruises have only 148 to 342 guests onboard, said Betsy O’Rourke, CMO at Xanterra Travel Collection, of which Windstar Cruises is a part.  

“We were one of the first travel companies to require all guests and crew to be vaccinated," she tells Marketing Daily. “All guests are tested prior to boarding any of our yachts to ensure everyone is negative, and our crew is tested every week. We have implemented a host of other health and safety precautions.”

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The company is running an online video treasure hunt to help educate consumers about the company's other points of difference.

Called “The 180 Degrees From Ordinary Treasure Hunt,” the sweepstakes invites players to go online and watch 11 short videos that will be hosted on Windstar’s social channels and the sweepstakes landing page.  

The videos offer an entertaining way for prospects to learn about the Windstar small ship cruise experience, O’Rourke says. 

Created by Windstar’s creative agency partner Episode Four, each video contain a number, letter or symbol that, when strung together, form a Google Plus code revealing the destination of the treasure.  Once players crack the code, they are entered to win a cruise to retrieve the treasure -- ultimately discovering the grand prize that awaits the winner. 

The grand prize is a cruise to a mystery location. The sweepstakes ends Oct. 1.  

While the promotion may appear to be a conventional treasure hunt, it is actually a product demo in disguise, said Mark Himmelsbach, founding partner, Episode Four.

There are 180 mini-films in all, each one reflecting tiny details about the cruising experience and each one representing "1 degree from ordinary."

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