New MSC Exec Sez Line Will Focus on Agents

This is the second of two parts.

As MSC Cruises works to raise its profile in North America, it faces the challenge of differentiating its product in a crowded marketplace.

Bonnie Levengood, the company’s new senior vice president of marketing, has experience growing brands into household names but is new to the travel industry. She previously helped 1-800-PetMeds increase its revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars through direct marketing campaigns and TV advertising.

Travel Market Report spoke to Levengood about breaking into the travel industry, the importance of travel agents to MSC Cruises and why marketing analytics is the next step for travel brands.

You have a strong sales background, but this is your first foray into the world of travel. What made you want to go into cruising?
Levengood: I have worked in marketing at many different companies, from American Express to 1-800 Petmeds. I built that brand from the bottom up and what we’re looking to do here with MSC is something very similar. Although we’re a major player in the European market, here in North America we’re newer. We want to take the brand and make it a massive player in the current market.

Expanding a brand with a solid identity and product to a new region must be an interesting challenge.
Levengood: That’s what makes it so exciting for me. We’re very different than other cruise companies in that we’re a family-owned private company and we have the ability to really shape who we are.

We have the youngest fleet compared to other lines. We’re going to really make a tremendous statement when we start doing our mass marketing.

Have you ever cruised before?
Levengood: I’ve sailed on Royal Caribbean and Carnival. I was very impressed when I first went on the MSC Divina, from an outsider’s perspective. I wasn’t expecting much because I’m hard to impress.

We had some research done and one of the things that came out was that our modern style and design was a key differentiator for the brand. I had the impression from other brands that the ship would be filled with a crowd, but it was more of a white glove experience on MSC.

What is your plan for marketing the line in an already saturated market?
Levengood: The plan is to build awareness with consumers and that’s what I’m an expert at. That’s why I was hired – to essentially put MSC Cruises on the map in America.

It’s a combination of smart marketing, personalized marketing, and looking at how to market the right message to the right person. It’s also about tracking the results of our marketing. When I came into the travel industry from retail I saw that travel is pretty far behind in technology, analytics and online marketing in general.

What kind of analytics will you use?
Levengood: We’re going to be looking at a much more advanced technological perspective. The cruise and travel industry tends to be a little behind in e-commerce.

It’s about having the right tracking and analytics to be able to see who our customers are, who the right demographic is and what marketing efforts are working.

How do travel agents fit into your plan?
Levengood: Travel agents are definitely going to be a major focus of mine. We are extremely travel agent-friendly and will continue to be so for the long term. We want to make sure we’re growing our travel agent network and that they understand that we are here for them.

Just recently we’ve been adding language [including a travel agent call to action] to some of our marketing efforts and our key initiative is going to be making sure our travel partners are supported in any way that we can.

What kind of tools and support can agents expect from MSC?
Levengood: We understand the value of the partnership. I feel strongly that agents are going to see that because we’re putting a tremendous amount of effort into building our website into a more innovative website.

We have so many things we’re working on to enable travel agents to run their business better and market themselves better.