Who is Swan Hellenic?

Decades of expertise in undiscovered destinations

Swan Hellenic is an established, well respected owner-operated heritage cruise brand with more than 7 decades of expertise in undiscovered destinations. 

In 2020, 70 years after its first pioneering cruise, Swan Hellenic returned to the world’s waters with two brand new cutting-edge expedition ships and a mission to be the world leader in cultural expedition cruising. 

Aimed at the traveller who wishes to explore, experience and enrich their life in a safe and sustainable way, the new Swan Hellenic retains its British heritage and core values that have underpinned the brand and served its guests so well from its inception. 

Swan Hellenic exists to provide its guests with authentic, intimate and unforgettable moments in extraordinary far-flung locations and remote landmarks, all while enjoying a sophisticated atmosphere on board.

The company is run by the same executives that are behind Vodohod, the Russian river line. The senior management team is led in the UK by John Warner and Mario Bounas. Alfredo Spadon (formerly Silversea/MSC) leads the company in Germany and Andrea Zito is based in the Monaco headquarters.

Challenge & Objectives

Show resilience with a bold launch to the trade

When the pandemic brought travel to a halt, cruise ships around the world anchored at sea and the future of the Swan Hellenic relaunch was touch and go. 

Due to be launched at the international cruise conference, SeaTrade, in Miami in 2020, the event itself was cancelled and everything was uncertain in a rapidly changing environment. 

The opportunity was to be decisive, act quickly and show resilience with a bold launch to the trade - a good news story to unlock the company’s expertise and showcase its real value.

The objective was to rally together, communicate internally and externally as efficiently as possible and get the right information ready for launch with a long-term view that people will again want to travel and that the industry will bounce back.

Insight

Travel to some of the world’s most extreme places

A cruise adventure takes a high degree of knowledge and guidance, which is especially true for expedition cruising. Travellers who are new to this kind of cruising have plenty of questions about the trip, how it feels to be out there and how best to approach it. Given the huge volume of general travel information on the web, we knew it was vitally important to tell a clear story that cuts through the noise and engages travellers directly.

Consumer research and SEO insight revealed many of the questions travellers had for this kind of trip, which helped us to create concise answers that encouraged travellers’ curiosity. Destination content needed to be expert-led and tap into individual meaningful experiences travellers could have on their own personal odyssey. We also saw increasing interest that ‘cruising to nowhere’ is very much on trend as people seek escape and wild encounters. 

The specialist skillset of the Swan Hellenic team was a key part of the communication. A high-level of trust in this company to travel to some of the world’s most extreme places has been earned over many years of experience and is difficult to understate. Trusted advice and tips needed to be highlighted to bring this knowledge to the fore.

Solution

Capture people’s imaginations

We developed a content strategy to answer the questions we knew travellers would be asking about expedition cruising and convert customers efficiently through the awareness to the booking stage. Integral to this was showcasing the expertise and passion of the Swan Hellenic team, its iconic background and pioneering spirit. 

Our travel team of journalists and editors with long-term experience at writing for the UK’s leading media and travel companies worked on bringing this authentic cruise experience to life to capture people’s imaginations. More than 40,000 inspiring words for the website from destination content and ship profiles to blog posts and FAQs were created to inform visitors about all aspects of the trip and why it is such a life-enhancing adventure.

Because the website content was being created in a global pandemic it goes without saying that the team had to be incredibly agile to deliver a successful outcome on deadline, iterating templates and revising structures, hierarchies and copy on a continual basis.

Mario Bounas, VP Marketing, Swan Hellenic:

"Fiona and her team created high-quality content for the website for our Swan Hellenic relaunch from destination content through to FAQs and blogs. They pivoted quickly to match our changing priorities and delivered on time to achieve our tight launch date, all while under the exceptional circumstances of lockdown. It was a pleasure to work with her and I'd highly recommend them."

Impact

History as a trailblazer

The relaunch of Swan Hellenic was seized upon by the international media as a hugely important event and positive story that generated coverage in trade and consumer press such as Forbes, The Telegraph, FT, Travel Weekly, Cruise Critic and TTG.

A snowball effect across social media meant that Swan Hellenic benefitted from high engagement for a number of weeks, drove visitors to the new site and generated numerous conversations around pioneering cruise tours as well as spearheading the industry’s revival. A post by John Warner, General Manager, Swan Hellenic, announcing the news quickly generated more than 400 engagements and nearly 100 comments on LinkedIn.

A brave approach in particular - in such uncertain times - was picked up by much of the media and industry, and is consistent with Swan Hellenic’s history as a trailblazer with a track record of innovation and breaking new ground.

The positioning of the Swan Hellenic brand at this point means its first ship is scheduled to set sail for Antarctica in 2021 and the second slated for delivery in April 2022. This gives the brand a strong competitive advantage and an opportunity to develop its partnerships. Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito said: “Swan Hellenic was always a family brand, and we want to continue along the same line by inviting all cruise industry partners to become part of the new Swan Hellenic community

“Iconic British Cruise line returns” - Travel Weekly

“The historic Swan Hellenic name has returned.” - Travel Trade Gazette

‘One of the UK's best-known cruise brands Swan Hellenic is being reborn” - Cruise Critic

‘‘A Phoenix-like revival of one of the industry’s most established brands” - Riviera

“A bright spot on an otherwise challenging horizon for the cruise industry” - Riviera

“Britain’s legendary Swan Hellenic Cruises gets a reboot” - TradeWinds

“The amazing, courageous Swan Hellenic - A cruise line launched in a Covid era” - Cruise Passenger

‘‘The Swan Hellenic brand is synonymous with cultural travel” - Riviera

“We are back and we’re bigger and bolder than ever.” - Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito 

“I am proud to announce the rebirth of Swan Hellenic; a pioneering, iconic travel brand with the mission to be the leader in cultural expedition cruising.” - Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito 

"Our belief in the power and benefit of travel is undaunted, despite the extraordinary times we are in." - Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito 

"I think that cruise has been shown to be very forward thinking and has overcome many obstacles and come back bigger and stronger and we would like to think we will be able to add to that." - Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito 

“The new Swan Hellenic retains its British heritage, whilst being international in outlook” - Swan Hellenic CEO Andrea Zito

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