The campaign, which evokes one of the Italian company's most memorable and successful advertisements, will be featured across all of Costa's digital channels in six European markets.
Costa Cruises has launched its new advertising campaign, “The Holidays We Miss,” today across all of the company’s digital channels in its six European markets: Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The campaign evokes a journey down memory lane, not only for cruise passengers but for the general public as well. This is because the advertisement is linked to Costa’s famous slogan, “The Holidays You Miss,” which was part of a series of ads that remain etched in the memories of many travelers.
Last year's campaign cleverly portrayed the difficulty of returning to daily routine after a Costa cruise holiday. The new campaign again revolves around the concept of "missing" your vacation, more relevant than ever right now, but develops and adapts the idea, transforming it into a message of recovery and optimism for the cruise industry and tourism in general, which has been at a standstill since March.
Over the past few months, Costa Cruises' digital channels have been flooded with photos, comments, and messages from its most loyal cruisers, eager to return to the ship. For this reason, in April, the company decided to officially collect these treasured onboard moments through an international campaign across social media and direct marketing channels. Cruise bloggers and various Costa Cruises fan communities joined the initiative. The user response has been overwhelming: more than 6,000 images shared, showcasing the highlights of onboard life, the joy of discovering new destinations, and the splendor of sunsets at sea. This approach, based on genuine user-generated content, conveys a positive message of optimism and expresses the shared desire to set sail again and—more generally—to satisfy that longing and passion for travel once more.
Costa Cruises' Vice President of Global Marketing, Francesco Muglia, explains: “As one of the leading brands in the tourism industry, we decided that our new campaign, which is also a communication platform, should share an optimistic message about the industry's recovery and encourage the participation of the company's main audience: our passengers. It's a way to share those very special feelings they've experienced with us and that we're all eager to enjoy again.”.
The “hero video,” the campaign’s centerpiece designed to grab attention, is a mix of user-generated content. A female voiceover explains that it won’t be long before we experience feelings and moments like those depicted in the video, and that next time they’ll be even more memorable. The slogan “The holidays we missed” is accompanied by the hashtag #restarttogether, which Costa has been using on its social media channels since March. The video was created and designed by DUDE, under the supervision of creative directors Livio Basoli and Lorenzo Picchioti.
In addition to the video, which has been launched across all Costa channels (social media, direct marketing, trade), the company's website, www.costacrociere.it, features a "holiday wall" where passengers can share photos of their Costa cruises and continue to share their vacation experiences. Costa's official social media profiles will also continue the campaign, hosting new user-submitted content.
