Cruise Planners/American Awards Launches Cruisitude Campaign

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - In celebration of its 15th anniversary, Cruise Planners/American Express, the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the cruise industry, has launched a new, integrated marketing campaign titled "Cruisitude" enabling Cruise Planners agents to showcase the flexibility, customization and sheer fun of cruising.

Cruisitude, which is simply a witty, made-up word that describes an attitude, feeling, disposition or state of mind related to the cruise experience, was designed to appeal to the individual interests of all cruisers whether they are in or outside the industry. The campaign will add to the repertoire of Cruise Planners agents to provide customers with the most personalized experience possible.

Already, Cruisitude has been launched across multiple mediums including the popular social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the campaign's custom-built microsite www.Cruisitude.com provides a virtual platform for everyone to exchange ideas and further develop a unique community and strengthen the home-based agent base.

"We work in a fun industry, so when developing the campaign, we stayed away from worn-out expressions with concrete associations and instead, created a lively concept that can be tied into various strategies and tactics," said Vicky Garcia, Cruise Planners SVP of sales & marketing. "Cruise Planners is continually cultivating new ideas to provide our agents with ahead-of-the-curve resources to build their businesses and strengthen our company as a whole and what better way to do that than with a campaign that is truly unique and exciting."

As part of the campaign, Cruise Planners has embarked on an exclusive partnership with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau (GFLCVB) and www.Sunny.org. Through this exclusive promotion, Cruise Planners agents will receive a $25 American Express gift card every time they facilitate a booking for a two-night stay at any participating Fort Lauderdale hotel. In addition, travelers booking through this promotion will receive a GFLCVB Beach Starter Kit, which will align with the consumer-oriented side of the campaign.