Global Rebranding: A Case Study

“ Working with Maria was one of the great pleasures of my work journey. Her generous spirit and her creative energy are abundant. She's got a clear eye for detail, written and digital, and I often found myself asking for her thoughts on my own writing. As a team leader, there's nothing she'd ask of a colleague that she wasn't prepared to help with or to adjust schedules to accommodate the often last-minute requests in our fast-paced environment. She successfully drove her team to execute a completely new vision that gave all us of a fresh look at an old product. And, made sure the Sales team had what they needed with every promotional initiative launched. She makes collaborating and respect for individual time-lines a breeze. I loved working with her and would gladly do so again.”

~ Andrea Corman, Guest Services Professional - Development and Execution

Evolution of the Uniworld Brand

Background: Uniworld was founded in 1976 and was the first river cruise company to focus on the North American traveler. The introduction of all English-speaking river cruises, meals catering to the North American market—all standard offerings today—were the result of innovations introduced by Uniworld.

In 2004, The Travel Corporation, a highly successful and diversified travel company with brands that include The Red Carnation Hotel Collection, an award winning five-star luxury boutique hotel collection, purchased Uniworld with the goal to transform it from Uniworld Grand River Cruises to Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, offering a new standard in luxury river cruising. 

The Strategic Brief: Rebrand Uniworld as the “The world’s only authentic boutique cruise line,” to differentiate the company from the competition, especially in an increasingly aggressive river cruising travel market. This entailed:

• SWOT and competitive analysis

• B2C and B2B focus groups

• Customer segmentation and buyer personas study

• Establishing brand name, identity, brand pillars, logo, and creative framework

• Evolving brand copy voice and developing brand and product storytelling across channels

• Managing in-house design team on development of Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection’s logo, creative, and global brand guidelines, ensuring the quality, elegance, and trustworthiness of the brand was upheld in all of markets throughout the world

• Overseeing all photoshoots and video productions, including hiring photographers, videographers, talent, and more

• Developing a 360-degree global marketing strategy and roll-out campaign, including PR, traditional and digital advertising, website redesign, video development, new collateral rollout, and more

• Global execution strategy in all operating markets and on all ships

A Shared Brand Philosophy