Are you having any fun?

This is the new advertising campaign from P & O which runs to the backdrop of American actress and singer Elaine Stritch’s song “Are you having any fun?”

The TV advert will run on ITV and Channel 4 and will begin on Boxing Day as P & O pushes its multi-million pound integrated campaign which will run across television, print and online until the end of March.

P&O Cruises marketing director Christopher Edgington said: “We’ve turned up the volume, literally and figuratively, to give a fresh approach to promoting cruise holidays on television.

“Our new TV advertising campaign breaks new ground for P&O Cruises with an infectious soundtrack and storyline designed to appeal to empty nesters, those people who are looking for some indulgent me time now the children have left home.

“Our extensive research shows that this life stage has the greatest potential for us, as Britain’s favourite cruise company, and we are targeting them with an upbeat message about the appeal of cruising which they may not have considered before.

“For years they have been compromised in their holiday behaviour by the differing needs of a growing family. The campaign is design to have emotional appeal and then a rational trigger as the audience identifies with the characters. Now is a new chapter in their lives and it is time for them.”

Here is a sneak preview of the advert!!

If an empty nester is defined as a couple whose children have grown up and left home, then I don’t quite qualify yet as all four of mine are still at home!

However I feel the advert is very condescending as why can’t you still do all these things when you have children. Life doesn’t stop just because you have kids. I think P & O is for everyone and by aiming this advert at “empty nesters” feel they have missed a trick or two with their market share.

Also I think spending millions of pounds on advertising is also wrong, especially when they have so many people who have cruised with them for many years feeling let down by them as a company over their pricing structure. Maybe the money should have been invested in retaining customer loyalty!!

Your comments as always are greatly appreciated.