Carnival UK

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Sector

Tourism Cruise Hospitality

Region

Guideline Year

Language

Tags

Official Websites

Brand Guidelines

2022

Brand Summary

Mission

To create unforgettable holiday happiness, reflected in all communications and interactions, and to maintain a consistent, clear, and unified brand identity both internally and externally [^1].

Core Values

fun
inclusive
honest
helpful
human
collaboration
empowerment
respect
integrity
continuous improvement

Target Audience

Colleagues (both shoreside and fleet), guests, and potential new talent, with a focus on inclusivity and clear communication for a diverse, multinational workforce [^2].

Personality Traits

warm
friendly
positive
respectful
straightforward
active
human

Visual Identity Overview

The brand uses a maritime theme with deep blue gradients, clean modern fonts, a prominent logo, and a cohesive color palette. Visuals emphasize professionalism, diversity, and a relaxed, natural photography style. Graphic elements, icons, and layouts are modern, clean, and adaptable for both formal and informal communications [^3].

Categories

Brand Voice

Our brand tells the story of who we are; it’s our identity and voice both internally and externally so is one of our most important assets.
This is your guide on how to communicate the Carnival UK brand -laying out our visual identity, as well as our company tone of voice and messaging style.
We create unforgettable holiday happiness. It’s part of everything we do, so it shines through in the way we communicate. How we talk to each other says a lot about who we are -fun, inclusive, honest, helpful, and above all human.
Our tone is warm, friendly, positive and respectful. Whether writing formally or informally we use straightforward, positive and easy to understand language, in an active voice. This is how we naturally speak so it makes us sound more human. And we reflect our brand personality in the words we use:
We want everyone to feel inspired, encouraged and empowered to reflect the personality of our company in our communications. Remember, it’s not about having lots of rules to follow, it’s just about trying to be more human when we write. If you need help with this, get in touch with internal.comms@carnivalukgroup.com
We know that not everyone has English as their first language, so we keep it simple and use words and phrases that everyone can understand, avoiding jargon or slang.
Here are some examples of how we simplify our language:
We write certain things in certain ways; it’s part of our branding and represents who we are. To uphold our brand, everyone who writes on our behalf should use the house style below:
Our brands: We write our brands in full and capitalise
Culture Essentials: We refer to our Culture Essentials directly as ‘Culture Essentials’ or as key actions and behaviours. They’re not our values.
Culture Essentials: When we write about our Culture Essentials, we capitalise each word.
Headlines: Our brand style is lowercase
Our people: Together, we each play an important part in creating unforgettable holiday happiness. So, we should refer to each other as colleagues, whatever our role or level of seniority.
Our people on ships: Ships’ company if talking about the whole fleet, ship’s company if talking about those who work on a single ship
On land vs at sea: We talk about our people on land as being shoreside and those at sea as on board/ fleet if we’re talking about all the ships
Acronyms: Always write out the full phrase the first time it’s used and then you can abbreviate
Dates: We don’t use the suffix on numbers
Time: We use a 24 hour clock and if speaking to people outside the UK, specify the timezone
Numbers: We write out numbers one to nine in words, and use numbers from 10
Quotes: We use double speech marks
We use contractions/ short forms: We use contractions/ short forms
Job titles: In upper case
We use UK English: We are proud of our heritage and we use UK English when we write
We adapt the way we write to suit the way our colleagues work and how they receive our communications. Before you start writing, ask yourself: • Are they on board or shoreside, or both? • What do they need to know? • Is English their first language? • Do they have access to a computer?
Why do people need to know? Is it relevant, useful and/or necessary? If it isn’t, stop and think. Do you need to communicate it at all?
How are you communicating? Different communication channels need different styles of writing…
The Insider: Grab your readers’ attention with a powerful headline and keep them interested with a compelling opening line. What will you say that will make them keen to know more? Be short, sharp and punchy and get rid of unnecessary words and phrases.
Email: Keep it short and to the point. Explain why you’re writing and what you need first. Then go into more detail if it’s needed.
Verbal briefing: Line managers shoreside and on board are one of our key means of communication -they keep our people up to date by sharing information verbally. Messages need to be short, clear and include only need-to-know information.
Social Media/Screens/CrewTV/Posters: Less is best. Be brief and include a clear call to action. What do you want people to do? And tell them where they can find more information.
Tone of voice is important. Think warm, friendly, positive and engaging -remembering that not everyone has English as their first language. Short and sweet and to the point.

Brand Imagery

The style of imagery is very important when selecting or commissioning photography. It should look natural, relaxed and not staged. Soft focus and interesting angles can be used to create modern, fresh and dynamic images.
Our modern photo style suits all subject matter whether it’s our shoreside staff or ships’ company in their working environment. Although it’s possible to find images that fit our style on most photo libraries, first and foremost we should always use Carnival UK colleagues in our imagery and make sure that they represent our diverse and multinational workforce. It’s our people who create unforgettable holiday happiness for our guests, so we should celebrate them and showcase the work they do whenever we can.
Anyone producing photography should receive signed photo releases from everyone in the photograph, authorising the use of their likenesses. An approved photo release form is available from internal.comms@ carnivalukgroup.com.

Color Palette

Beyond our logo, colour is the most recognisable aspect of our brand identity. Using colour appropriately is one of the easiest ways to make sure our materials reflect a cohesive Carnival UK image or visual story.
Corporate brand colours
PANTONE* 186 C]002 M]100 Y]085 K]006 R I 200 G I 016 B I 046 HEX I b30031
PANTONE* 294 C]100 M[069 Y]007 K]030 R]000 G]047 B]108 HEX I 2c3b6f
PANTONE’ Process Black C C] 000 M[000 Y]000 K]100 R I 000 G I 000 B I 000 HEX I 000000
PANTONE* 871 C]034 M]034 Y]064 K]016 R l174 GI154 B]100 HEX I 968d61
Secondary colour palette
PANTONE* 716 PANTONE* 2583 PANTONE* 7460 PANTONE* 7716 2A0eM3 C[000 Ml061 Y]099 K]000 CI047 MI072 Y]000 K]000 C]100 M]006 Y]002 K]010 C]083 M]000 Y]040 K]011 @EI@aMR@Md RI234 G[118 B]000 RI160 G]094 B]181 R I 000 G I 134 B I 191 RI000 GI159 Bl151 aeaaaa HEX I d38426 HEX I 8b5998 HEX I 3593cd HEX I 529e9d CI3Es4:■
These communications should predominantly use our Corporate Blue with accents of Corporate Red -see colour palette on page 17.
The all white logo is to be used on dark backgrounds or when the background is an image.
The single colour logo is for use where only one colour is used, it is set up as a black logo but can be coloured in any of the Carnival UK colours. See colour palette on page 17.
These communications still follow brand guidelines for use of fonts, logo, graphic elements and colour palette, but the overall look and feel is much more relaxed.

Typography

When used thoughtfully, the fonts we use become a powerful brand tool that can add visual meaning to what’s communicated. Our fonts communicate clearly and cleanly and are flexible in a wide range of situations.
Constantia is primarily used as a headline font.
Constantia Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
Constantia Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
Constantia Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
Constantia Bold Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
This font is available to everyone and you’ll find it in your font library.
Corbel is primarily used as a body copy font.
Corbel Regular ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
Corbel Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
Corbel Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}
Corbel Bold Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@£$%^&*()-+=,.?;:’”{}

Logo Usage

The Carnival UK logo represents us at the very highest level and is vitally important to our brand. It acts as a signature, an identifier and a stamp of quality. It is, and should always be, the most consistent component in our communications. In order to maintain this consistency, a few simple guidelines should be followed.
This is the preferred logo to be used, it should be used on a white or very light background.
The all white logo is to be used on dark backgrounds or when the background is an image.
This logo is for use where only one colour is used, it is set up as a black logo but can be coloured in any of the Carnival UK colours. See colour palette on page 17.
The Carnival UK logo should always be surrounded by a minimum area of space -this is known as the clear zone. The minimum margin of clear space is equivalent to the height of the one and a half of the capital C. This area is drawn around the logo to create the invisible boundary of the area of isolation.
Our logo represents our brand so it must be used exactly as supplied and not altered, stretched, skewed or manipulated in any way. You should also be mindful of how it sits on images/ coloured backgrounds to make sure it’s clearly visible.

Tone And Messaging

We create unforgettable holiday happiness. It’s part of everything we do, so it shines through in the way we communicate. How we talk to each other says a lot about who we are -fun, inclusive, honest, helpful, and above all human.
Our tone is warm, friendly, positive and respectful. Whether writing formally or informally we use straightforward, positive and easy to understand language, in an active voice. This is how we naturally speak so it makes us sound more human. And we reflect our brand personality in the words we use:
We want everyone to feel inspired, encouraged and empowered to reflect the personality of our company in our communications. Remember, it’s not about having lots of rules to follow, it’s just about trying to be more human when we write. If you need help with this, get in touch with internal.comms@carnivalukgroup.com
We know that not everyone has English as their first language, so we keep it simple and use words and phrases that everyone can understand, avoiding jargon or slang.
Here are some examples of how we simplify our language: We use: Agree, Ask, Before, Explain, Extra, Find, Help, If, Join, Show, Start, Stop, Tell, Try We avoid: Concur, Enquire, Prior to, Clarify, Additional, Locate, Assist, In the event of, Participate, Demonstrate, Commence, Cease, Notify, Endeavour
We write certain things in certain ways; it’s part of our branding and represents who we are. To uphold our brand, everyone who writes on our behalf should use the house style below:
Our brands: We write our brands in full and capitalise We use: P&O Cruises / Cunard We avoid: P&O / cunard
Culture Essentials: We refer to our Culture Essentials directly as ‘Culture Essentials’ or as key actions and behaviours. They’re not our values. We use: Our Culture Essentials help us be the best we can be We avoid: Our values help us be the best we can be
Culture Essentials: When we write about our Culture Essentials, we capitalise each word. We use: Culture Essentials, Speak Up, Respect and Protect, Communicate etc We avoid: Culture essentials, Speak up, respect and protect, communicate etc
Headlines: Our brand style is lowercase We use: Guidelines for visiting our ships We avoid: Guidelines For Visiting Our Ships
Our people: Together, we each play an important part in creating unforgettable holiday happiness. So, we should refer to each other as colleagues, whatever our role or level of seniority. We use: Colleague(s) We avoid: Employee(s) or staff
Our people on ships: Ships’ company if talking about the whole fleet, ship’s company if talking about those who work on a single ship We use: Ships’ company/ ship’s company We avoid: crew
On land vs at sea: We talk about our people on land as being shoreside and those at sea as on board/ fleet if we’re talking about all the ships We use: Shoreside and on board/ fleet We avoid: Shore side and onboard
Acronyms: Always write out the full phrase the first time it’s used and then you can abbreviate We use: Environmental Compliance Plan (ECP) We avoid: ECP on its own
Dates: We don’t use the suffix on numbers We use: 1 March/ 1 March 2022 We avoid: 1st March 2022
Time: We use a 24 hour clock and if speaking to people outside the UK, specify the timezone We use: 13:00 or 13:00 BST We avoid: 1pm UK time
Numbers: We write out numbers one to nine in words, and use numbers from 10 We use: One, two, three…10,11, 12 We avoid: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
Quotes: We use double speech marks We use: “Hello” We avoid: ‘Hello’
We use contractions/ short forms: We use contractions/ short forms We use: We’re, we’ll We avoid: We are, we will
Job titles: In upper case We use: President of Carnival UK We avoid: president of carnival uk
We use UK English: We are proud of our heritage and we use UK English when we write We use: UK English We avoid: Americanisms
We adapt the way we write to suit the way our colleagues work and how they receive our communications. Before you start writing, ask yourself: • Are they on board or shoreside, or both? • What do they need to know? • Is English their first language? • Do they have access to a computer?
Why do people need to know? Is it relevant, useful and/or necessary? If it isn’t, stop and think. Do you need to communicate it at all?
How are you communicating? Different communication channels need different styles of writing…
The Insider: Grab your readers’ attention with a powerful headline and keep them interested with a compelling opening line. What will you say that will make them keen to know more? Be short, sharp and punchy and get rid of unnecessary words and phrases.
Email: Keep it short and to the point. Explain why you’re writing and what you need first. Then go into more detail if it’s needed.
Verbal briefing: Line managers shoreside and on board are one of our key means of communication -they keep our people up to date by sharing information verbally. Messages need to be short, clear and include only need-to-know information.
Social Media/Screens/CrewTV/Posters: Less is best. Be brief and include a clear call to action. What do you want people to do? And tell them where they can find more information.
Tone of voice is important. Think warm, friendly, positive and engaging -remembering that not everyone has English as their first language. Short and sweet and to the point.
Using Emojis Emojis can be a great way to enhance your posts but use them sparingly and always be mindful of the tone of your message and the audience you’re speaking to. Remember to be inclusive (avoid specific skin tones or cultural references) and never use anything that might make someone feel uncomfortable. If you’re ever unsure on this and need some help, get in touch with internal.comms@carnivalukgroup.com

Visual Style

This is your guide on how to communicate the Carnival UK brand -laying out our visual identity, as well as our company tone of voice and messaging style.
The Carnival UK logo should always be surrounded by a minimum area of space -this is known as the clear zone. The minimum margin of clear space is equivalent to the height of the one and a half of the capital C. This area is drawn around the logo to create the invisible boundary of the area of isolation.
Our logo represents our brand so it must be used exactly as supplied and not altered, stretched, skewed or manipulated in any way. You should also be mindful of how it sits on images/ coloured backgrounds to make sure it’s clearly visible.
We adapt our creative style depending on the audience and the content of our communications. This helps to differentiate our more formal, business-essential messaging from our less formal colleague-centric communications.
When we communicate important business information to colleagues, we use a more formal, corporate style like the examples shown here.
These communications should predominantly use our Corporate Blue with accents of Corporate Red -see colour palette on page 17.
For less formal communications, we use a more relaxed creative style like the examples shown here.
These communications still follow brand guidelines for use of fonts, logo, graphic elements and colour palette, but the overall look and feel is much more relaxed.
Beyond our logo, colour is the most recognisable aspect of our brand identity. Using colour appropriately is one of the easiest ways to make sure our materials reflect a cohesive Carnival UK image or visual story.
Corporate brand colours PANTONE* 186 C]002 M]100 Y]085 K]006 R I 200 G I 016 B I 046 HEX I b30031 PANTONE* 294 C]100 M[069 Y]007 K]030 R]000 G]047 B]108 HEX I 2c3b6f PANTONE’ Process Black C] 000 M[000 Y]000 K]100 R I 000 G I 000 B I 000 HEX I 000000 PANTONE* 871 C]034 M]034 Y]064 K]016 R l174 GI154 B]100 HEX I 968d61
Secondary colour palette PANTONE* 716 HEX I d38426 PANTONE* 2583 HEX I 8b5998 PANTONE* 7460 HEX I 3593cd PANTONE* 7716 HEX I 529e9d PANTONE* 376 HEX I aeaaaa
When used thoughtfully, the fonts we use become a powerful brand tool that can add visual meaning to what’s communicated. Our fonts communicate clearly and cleanly and are flexible in a wide range of situations.
Constantia is primarily used as a headline font.
Corbel is primarily used as a body copy font.
The use of graphic elements within any communication will help capture the interest of the intended audience and can also enhance the message that’s being delivered.
Icons can be a very strong way of creating interest on all types of communication, though it’s important to remember that when icons are used that their meaning is very clear and relevant to the message you’re communicating.
Only icons in a similar style to the ones opposite should be used and Clip Art must be avoided at all times.
Icons can appear in a single colour or multiple colours and can be used small or as the main focus on the page.
The style of imagery is very important when selecting or commissioning photography. It should look natural, relaxed and not staged. Soft focus and interesting angles can be used to create modern, fresh and dynamic images.
Our modern photo style suits all subject matter whether it’s our shoreside staff or ships’ company in their working environment. Although it’s possible to find images that fit our style on most photo libraries, first and foremost we should always use Carnival UK colleagues in our imagery and make sure that they represent our diverse and multinational workforce. It’s our people who create unforgettable holiday happiness for our guests, so we should celebrate them and showcase the work they do whenever we can.

Iconography

Icons can be a very strong way of creating interest on all types of communication, though it’s important to remember that when icons are used that their meaning is very clear and relevant to the message you’re communicating.
Only icons in a similar style to the ones opposite should be used and Clip Art must be avoided at all times.
Icons can appear in a single colour or multiple colours and can be used small or as the main focus on the page.

Layout And Composition

The Carnival UK logo should always be surrounded by a minimum area of space -this is known as the clear zone. The minimum margin of clear space is equivalent to the height of the one and a half of the capital C. This area is drawn around the logo to create the invisible boundary of the area of isolation.
Our logo represents our brand so it must be used exactly as supplied and not altered, stretched, skewed or manipulated in any way. You should also be mindful of how it sits on images/ coloured backgrounds to make sure it’s clearly visible.

Culture Essentials

We refer to our Culture Essentials directly as ‘Culture Essentials’ or as key actions and behaviours. They’re not our values.
When we write about our Culture Essentials, we capitalise each word.
Our Culture Essentials are the clear behaviours for both our shoreside and fleet colleagues that every brand in Carnival Corporation & plc champions so we can build an even stronger culture, together.
When we talk about our Culture Essentials, it’s important to keep our message consistent and use the following copy:
Speak Up is about being open and honest, to have the courageous conversations that we need to have to move forward. Speaking up means calling something out if we don’t think it’s right, having the courage to share opinions, joining the conversation and being brave when faced with barriers to say what needs to be said.
The responsibility for creating a culture where we can all Speak Up is not just with the speaker, it’s also about how those around them respond to their voice and show appreciation for their input. It’s a ‘no question is a stupid question’ approach.
Speaking up isn’t about being reckless with approach – we’re still responsible for our tone, timing and ensuring the impact of our message is as intended.
It’s not about keeping quiet and hoping someone else says the thing that’s on your mind or ignoring something that you know isn’t right. It’s not about thinking ‘I’m sure someone will have thought about that already.’ Speaking up means having the courage to share your opinions, joining the conversation and being brave when faced with barriers to say what needs to be said.
Respect and Protect is about operating with genuine care. It’s about doing things honestly and with positive intent. It’s about taking the time to make sure that you know how to do something right and then making it happen.
It’s about following rules. It’s about putting the environment first. It’s also about respecting and protecting people; caring for the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, guests and people in the places that we visit. It’s about inviting different perspectives, being inclusive of all, and acknowledging our unconscious biases to put them aside.
It’s not about cutting corners. It’s also not about suffocating people with unnecessary policies and processes – they should be there to help people to Respect and Protect, not to waste time or make it difficult to progress.
Respect isn’t about having power over people. Our motivation for respecting people is about humanity, rather than role level. Protect isn’t about covering things up – it works hand in hand with Speak Up, uncovering when we’re not doing things well is protecting the company and each other, hiding mistakes or doing things the wrong way isn’t.
Improve is about reviewing, continuously improving and developing new practices and processes that make us better tomorrow than we are today.
It’s also about improving how we do things, not just how many things we do. How we work together is key – collaboration will help us to Improve.
It’s not about results at all costs. We don’t sacrifice safety to save (or make) money, and we don’t make change without considering if it has a negative impact somewhere else.
Communicate is about giving people a clear understanding of what’s expected of them. It’s about helping them to see how their work is key to the rest of the business.
Good communication means adapting your style to suit your audience. When we’re communicating well, we’re keeping colleagues informed and taking the time to think about who needs to be involved in discussions.
Being transparent and acting without hidden agendas creates an environment of trust through communication. It’s about open and honest informal conversations as well as department-wide updates.
It’s not about just knowing what our Culture Essentials are, it’s about bringing them to life – actions speak louder than words.
Listen and Learn is about being humble. It’s about recognising we don’t hold all the answers so we must collaborate, Listen and Learn, and take feedback on board.
It’s a two-way conversation with your colleagues no matter the level or rank. It means taking accountability, reflecting and looking back at what’s happened in the past to learn for the future.
It’s about taking on recommendations from those who are invested in helping you to Improve. It’s about learning from mistakes and sharing that learning with others who may benefit.
When people Speak Up, we take the time to Listen and Learn, even if we’re hearing something difficult.
Listen and Learn requires openness and vulnerability.
Empower is about giving people the tools they need to set themselves up for success.
It’s about backing them and wanting them to succeed. Empower is about delegating work that helps people to learn and grow, and being there to support them with it. It’s about giving them credit for a job well done.
It’s not about dropping work that you don’t want to do on others. It’s not about passing what should be your responsibility onto someone else.

Sustainability Guidelines

‘Sustainable development is about taking committed action to look after today and tomorrow,’ attributed to Sophie Pontlock, VP Sustainability.
Watch our Sustainability video on The Insider now to find out more.
Respect and Protect is about operating with genuine care. It’s about doing things honestly and with positive intent. It’s about taking the time to make sure that you know how to do something right and then making it happen.
It’s about following rules. It’s about putting the environment first. It’s also about respecting and protecting people; caring for the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues, guests and people in the places that we visit. It’s about inviting different perspectives, being inclusive of all, and acknowledging our unconscious biases to put them aside.
What it isn’t: It’s not about cutting corners. It’s also not about suffocating people with unnecessary policies and processes – they should be there to help people to Respect and Protect, not to waste time or make it difficult to progress.
Respect isn’t about having power over people. Our motivation for respecting people is about humanity, rather than role level. Protect isn’t about covering things up – it works hand in hand with Speak Up, uncovering when we’re not doing things well is protecting the company and each other, hiding mistakes or doing things the wrong way isn’t.

Employee Performance Guidelines

Expectation of employees • Sustained good performance in role, • Flexibility to attend key meetings * Consideration/mitigationof the impact stherei c “impacttherestof the team nor the terms of developing good business in • Integrity about the use of your time working relationships, collaboration and ■ Openness to challenge and a clear plan of how you will deliver your role with ■ escalation Timely of issues and requests • Honest and objective assessment about effectiveness of arrangement • Self-awarenessofworkingstylefor you