The creativity of the new campaign revolves around the concept that a Costa holiday is unlike any other, offering a perfect combination of the greatest experiences on shore and at sea. Travelling on a Costa cruise is seen as a personal journey, full of scents, taste sensations, scenery, places, cultures and the excitement of new destinations. The route is what sets the cruise vacation apart: it is not merely a line connecting multiple destinations, but rather it is the common theme linking the many new experiences awaiting discovery.
The campaign consists not only of (45’’, 30’’, 20’’ and 15’’) TV commercials, but also of screening at cinemas, a print campaign, web activation and POS. All the touch-points will show the same key visual.
“The new campaign is the ultimate expression of the new brand positioning of Costa Cruises, perfectly combining ‘Sea, Ship and Shore’ in a new kind of holiday,” says Costa Cruises Vice President Corporate Marketing Frederik Penot. “It will trigger curiosity in the consumers’ minds, inviting both first time cruisers and repeaters to come to experience a dream vacation with Costa and support travel agents working in partnership with us.”
The commercial tells the story of a man who sees mysterious round platforms on the sea. The platforms turn into a path heading toward the horizon and the man, intrigued, begins to follow it. By doing so, step by step, he leaves his everyday life behind to experience a magical adventure. Along this journey, together with his partner, he will have fascinating encounters and experiences never had before. Only at the end of the ad do we discover that the path marked by the round platforms is in fact none other than the route of a Costa cruise.
The magic and the fascination of the journey have been emphasized by strong references to the silver screen. This is almost inevitable since the commercial was shot by Hollywood director Carl Rinsch, who made 47 Ronin , the new movie produced by Universal Pictures and starring Keanu Reeves, which is soon to be released in Italy. Another feature is the choice of legendary locations, such as the giant studio tanks (as seen in Roman Polanski’s movie Pirates), which have shaped the history of cinema.
The new Costa Cruises campaign has been devised in collaboration with the creative agency Havas Worldwide Milan, which became Costa Cruises’ Global Advertising Agency.
For 65 years the ships of Costa Cruises (www.costacruisesasia.com) have plied the seas of the world, offering the best in Italian style, hospitality and cuisine and providing dream holidays with the utmost in terms of fun and relaxation. Its fleet, the largest in Europe, has a total of 14 ships in service, flying the Italian flag, and 1 new ship to be delivered in October 2014. Costa Cruises has been certified by RINA (Italian Shipping Register) with the BEST4, an integrated system of voluntary certification for social accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2008), environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, 2004), safety (OHSAS 18001, 2007) and quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, 2008). All the ships in the Costa fleet have been assigned RINA’s Green Star notation certifying that they are operated in compliance with the highest environmental protection standards.
