Complexity at sea: managing brands within the cruise industry.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the management of cruise-line brands. Specifically, the chapter shows that the management of these brands can be a complex task. Managing cruise-line brands involves more than simply crafting well-defined brand images. What really matter are customers' experiences, which are shaped by shipboard employees. Brand management needs to be tied to human resource management; cruise lines need to encourage employee behaviour that best represents the company's brand. Corporate consolidation within the cruise industry means that many cruise-line brands are managed as part of a brand portfolio. As a result, cruise-line brands are managed in association with other brands; managing a brand or a series of brands within a portfolio, for a brand manager, is often more complicated than managing a stand-alone brand. Brands - whether or not they are part of a portfolio - can shape a company's stature and position within international markets. One challenge for managers is adapting a brand across different cultures and locales to suit different tastes and preferences while simultaneously maintaining equity and core identity. Brand partnerships also contribute to the complexity of brand management. Managing a cruise-line brand may involve a relationship with a non-cruise brand. Brand partnerships can span both product categories and international borders. Brands are valuable business assets. Therefore, the brand's value needs to be protected from potential threats. Brands are vulnerable to attack when the companies that own them behave irresponsibly. Protecting the brand's reputation can be a challenge for brand managers. This chapter suggests that brand managers within the cruise industry need to - and, in some ways, have - come to terms with the complex nature of brand management.