MAM
‘Get Out There’ gets Gold EFFIE for Royal Caribbean
Royal Caribbean International has received the New York American Marketing Association’s Gold EFFIE Award for its “Get Out There” advertising and marketing campaign – widely considered to be the top advertising effectiveness award within the US’ advertising and marketing circles.
Royal Caribbean’s “Get Out There” campaign, created by ad agency Arnold Worldwide, which highlights the active and involved vacation experience guests can have on a RC cruise, was launched to generate increased demand for Royal Caribbean vacations during a time of unprecedented growth within the company and the cruise industry itself.
The campaign, that includes print, television, radio, website, and Internet marketing, is credited with successfully targeting a consumer mindset and significantly increasing brand preference and web traffic, as well as driving strong financial results for Royal Caribbean.
Royal Caribbean launched the “Get Out There” campaign in 2000, positioning the brand as an adventurous and active vacation experience. Its television commercials depict people swimming with stingrays in the Caribbean, hiking on glaciers in Alaska, and ascending rock-climbing walls, rollerblading, and ice skating on board their ships. The commercials direct people to the Royal Caribbean website, where they can experience a virtual cruise, including parasailing, sea kayaking and dogsledding.
Presented annually since 1968, the EFFIE Awards are the only awards of their kind to recognise the year’s most effective advertising and marketing campaigns that meet and exceed the business objectives they were designed to achieve. Over 300 of America’s top advertising and marketing executives review the campaigns submitted for award consideration in two rounds of judging, and select gold, silver and bronze winners in over 40 categories. Royal Caribbean’s Gold EFFIE Award was presented in the Travel/ Tourism/ Destinations category, which covers cruises, hotels, resorts, amusement parks, recreational activity and travel tours.
Winning campaigns need to combine all the disciplines that enter a successful marketing programme: planning, market research, media, creative and account management. EFFIE winners also demonstrate a partnership between agency and client in creation, management, and building of a brand. EFFIE Award competitions are held in the United States and 20 countries throughout Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific rim. EFFIE stands for ‘effectiveness in advertising’.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
