The shipping company MSC Cruises wanted to stand out on the biggest harbour festival in the world: The Hamburg harbour birthday. But all on-site advertising was booked by the biggest competitor and we had no budget for big advertising campaigns. ??So we used the only medium we had: The cruise liner MSC Magnifica and its horn.

In doing so we created the MSC Magnifica ship-horn choir. At its arrival in the Hamburg harbour, the giant cruise liner played happy birthday from its horn. ??With this promotion we not only reached millions of visitors, but generated a huge press response.

The promotion took over the live reporting on NDR – one of Germany’s biggest TV channels for 3 minutes at prime time. The press echo also spanned numerous blogs, online news channels and social media. On Facebook alone the MSC Magnifica shiphorn choir received over 600,000 views.

Upon the arrival of the MSC Magnifica in the Hamburg harbour at around 09:15pm, the giant cruise liner played happy birthday from its horn – in front of countless visitors. In a very short time the promotion took over the live reporting on NDR – one of Germany’s biggest TV channels — for 3 minutes at prime time. After 20 minutes and plenty of “Happy Birthdays“ the Magnifica turned at the harbour and sailed out to sea.

The MSC Magnifica ship horn choir not only reached thousands of visitors, but generated a huge press response. The promotion took over the live reporting of NDR – one of Germany’s biggest TV channels for 3 minutes at prime time. The press response spanned numerous blogs, online news channels and social media. On Facebook alone the MSC Magnifica shiphorn choir received over 600,000 views.