The finest journeys start before you step aboard

Princess Yachts are in the business of experience. 
A seamless, flowing journey of pleasure and craft, which starts long before you step on board.

Luxury purchases, even by the super-rich, are not made lightly. Assiduous hours of research preface most big buys, much of which is done online. 

To us, with decades of digital experience, this was our opportunity to make Princess’ digital touchpoints look and sound as exemplary as their yachts. 

For the past six years (and counting), that’s exactly what we’ve done.

A bond far beyond the brief

You can probably picture a typical yacht owner in your head, but Princess want to change that. 

Despite being synonymous with incredible traditional craftsmanship, they're a forward-thinking, disruptive organisation. 

Over the years, Princess have expanded far beyond old-fashioned demographics, making the yacht space as inclusive as it is exciting.

Their brand hadn't showcased this before, and they wanted an agency to truly inhabit this ethos - to craft a story as authentic as it was disruptive within their field.

We began by identifying the Princess brand archetype —the core tenets that would permeate their messaging. As a playful Innocent, we knew everything they produced had to inspire a sense of childlike wonder and act as a friendly enabler in the quest for paradise.

Our long-term relationship has allowed us to push Princess into uncharted waters (keep your eyes on the horizon for a video game collaboration), while ensuring they remain unmistakably, exquisitely Princess Yachts.

A softer sell

The pandemic presented luxury brands with a problem: how to stay visible and relevant to their audiences without pushing the hard sell at a sensitive time.

We solved this problem for Princess by elevating ‘Experience Togetherness’, an online editorial concept that highlights the Princess lifestyle more than it sells their products. 

The pandemic meant we had to move fast - to keep the Princess brand fresh in the mind while also stealing a march on the competition. 

Despite the short timeframe, the page is rich in elegant design, imagery, video and features.

We were able to pivot the content focus and ensure it felt natural to the brand because of the work we’d previously completed on the Brand Archetype.

Articles follow the extra-marinal passions of the Princess team and reveal how the boats are crafted by their team of dedicated craftspeople. 

Princess’ children’s book, ‘Enid & Her Magic Yacht’, appears as an animated storybook. And it’s all soundtracked to an Audiowaves Spotify playlist, bringing the calming, beckoning sounds of the sea into users’ homes. 

At a time when Princess had to be sensitive with its offering, we delivered a beautifully on-brand way to sell without selling.

If you can't come to the boat show, we'll bring the boat show to you

When the pandemic hit, we knew Princess wouldn’t be able to deliver their trademark boat show experience – a lifeblood of their brand awareness activity. As their branding agency, it was up to us to make up for this shortfall with an experience that would connect the brand to their people at a time when face-to-face connection was impossible.

We created the Boat Show in a Box. A tactile, unique experience that delivers cocktail recipes, board games, and some much-needed enjoyment - both as a physical box and, just as importantly, as a digital experience.

Scanning a QR code, users are transported to our digital marina: a beautiful gateway to a hub of entertainment and an innovative way to imprint on our audience. 

While recipients enjoyed the physical box's cocktails and backgammon, we soundtracked the occasion with playlists through a bespoke Princess media player. And, once engaged, our exclusive content gave an insider's view into the Princess product range that made users feel closer to the water.

Boat Show in a Box is an effective, elegant UX project - and a potent demonstration of our leftfield creative thinking. View the full online experience here - 

https://showbox.princessyachts.com/

The centrepiece of the digital estate is the Princess website

We’ve created an elegant, user-friendly, and award-winning experience that caters for everyone from yachting novices to seasoned mariners. From that first spark of inspiration up until the deal is done, the site takes you on a digital journey - before you start your seafaring one.

Since 2015, we’ve boosted site sessions by 64.89%, increased average on-page time by 36.97%, and cut load times (a key factor in user experience and SEO). 

We’ve also changed the site to better reflect its audience. Our user research tells us women are bigger influencers on yacht purchases than Princess originally thought. So we’ve tailored their website to fit that demographic, which has seen the Princess audience shift from 90% male to a 70/30 male/female split.

Rocking the social media boat

New channels, new modes within existing channels, and shifting audience demographics mean that social media never stands still. 

To stay ahead of the curve, as Princess’ social consultants, we host six-monthly strategy sessions with their senior team. We look at new platforms, explain the new features within existing platforms, and show how Princess can best make use of them. 

And because social is less about the number of likes you get and more about fostering proper engagement with the right people, this is all done with Princess’ audience firmly in mind.

After each strategy session, we create a social media content plan, which Princess enact according to the design and tone of voice guidelines we’ve set in place for them.

Just as we did with the Princess website, we’ve shifted their social content to be more female-oriented and to reflect the brand archetype we’ve given them – that of the Innocent.

So, gone are the semi-aggressive images and video of Princess boats. In their place, a more editorial, lifestyle-based series of social feeds that promote the irresistible sense of wonder that comes with owning a Princess yacht.