The expedition travel market…and marketing…has really come forward this past year and the changes seem to be rapid fire!
In September, Lindblad Expeditions repositioned itself by its name taking a backseat to National Geographic. The reason seems obvious on its face: National Geographic has tremendous worldwide brand recognition…even though its famous magazine is no longer published with the fanfare of yore. But why further develop the longtime relationship now?
The reason: Competition. The idea is the expand upon the new 17-year agreement between Lindblad and National Geographic…and its parent company, The Walt Disney Company. Yes, that’s right, one of the behemoths of marketing, Walt Disney, is a significant part of the mix. And with that Disney Vacation Club, Adventures & Expeditions and Disney Institute are going to be part of the marketing efforts.
Interestingly, at least to me, you can venture over the www.expeditions.com (the Nat Geo-Lindblad site) or www.nationalgeographic.com to explore their offerings as separate experiences. Will that be integrated into one? I doubt it, for if you can market the same product to two different audiences in two different ways, it is well, kinda, the creation of an expedition magic kingdom.
Lindblad has always provided an excellent expedition product and, for as long as I have known, linked itself but to a lesser extent with Nat Geo. But for now on, it is Nat Geo first and foremost, right down to the change of the color schemes to yellow and black.
And there is another big change; one I think may be even bigger, Sven Lindblad has stepped down as CEO and is being replaced by Natalya Leahy, the former (short term) president of Seabourn Cruise Line. While it is not surprising that Leahy has been yet another in a long line of Seabourn executives to jump ship – this one seemingly to be voluntary – it does mark a change in philosophy from Sven Lindblad’s passion for nature to Leahy’s background in finance. Yes, Seabourn operates two luxury expeditions ships, but under Leahy they were partially chartered off to APT as the focus was on finances, not product support and development. And, of course, Seabourn is focused more on the luxury aspects of what I call “expedition-lite” rather than true “get out there” expeditions.
Nat Geo/Lindblad has historically been one of the more expensive expedition offerings out there, so it will be interesting to see how the Disney/Leahy combination affects not only pricing, but what the experience will be as it balances it superior marketing position against the ever-growing competition with the newer – and also excellent – “get out there” and “expedition-lite” competition.
In other news, Hurtigruten – famous for its Norwegian cruises – recently spun off its expedition business to a new company, HX. Last month HX was purchased by an investor group and then early this month Hurtigruten, itself, was purchased by another, somewhat related, investor group.
While Hurtigruten has boasted about the technology of its expedition ships, they have had some glitches and, let’s face it, carrying some 300-500+ guests in modest accommodations, it hasn’t been much on my radar as a solid option for those who are truly interested in a quality expedition experience. However, I haven’t experienced the product, but I do know it isn’t really spoken of by the expedition team members I hang out with on my various Arctic and Antarctic expeditions.
It will be interesting to see what these investors do with both of these products. What is for certain is that there will be changes and, hopefully, those will be for the better.
