In 2024, amidst a sector crisis, all tourism players engaged in a price war. Costa Cruises decided to expand by winning over cruise skeptics instead.

Only 8% of Gen Z and 16% of Millennials would book a cruise. The Sanremo Music Contest, Italy's premier entertainment event - captivating 80% of households and sparking 51 million social interactions - provided the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that Costa Cruises is more akin to entertainment than traditional 'travel & leisure.'

Standing out at Sanremo is no easy task. Costa Cruises had to break through, positioning itself as an entertainment brand on par with the Contest itself.

To stand out among Italy’s biggest battle for visibility and to create an innovative experience that could draw attention of an audience totally focused on the Sanremo Music Contest, Costa Cruises secured the only media space no one else could access: the seafront of Sanremo, the city where the Contest was happening. From there, right in front of the Contest, an entire cruise ship turned into a Floating Social Media. By using cabin lights as pixels, the ship wrote enormous messages that were used to react in real time to whatever was happening on the stage of the Sanremo Music Contest. Costa Cruises stood out in the conversation surrounding the Contest with funny and relevant comments. People quickly joined the experience by sharing and commenting on them on Social Media, but also by creating their own memes, turning the ship into a newsworthy entertainment event just like the Contest itself.

Costa Cruises knew that making the news with conventional advertising wasn’t possible: there were too many brands fighting for visibility. Additionally, convincing Gen Z and Millenials that a cruise with Costa is an exciting experience through an old school TVC, didn’t seem effective.

So Costa Cruises decided to leverage its main asset: a cruise ship. If the brand could figure out a way to put it at the center of a PR ecosystem, turning it into an engaging media, it could leverage a media space so far from the reach of other brands - the seafront of the city hosting the Contest - it would surely make the news.The PR stunt would come to life with the support of a TVC, online communities and influencers. As a final, broad PR push, in partnership with Sanremo, the ship turned into the Contest’s second stage, with internationally relevant artists playing on board.

During the Sanremo Music Contest, for five consecutive days, Costa Smeralda - the newest cruise ship of Costa Cruises - entertained Italy by transforming into a Floating Social Media.Docked in the waters in front of the city of Sanremo, the ship utilized the light of its 457 cabins as pixels to display messages, reacting in real-time to whatever was happening during the Contest itself. Hosts, memorable moments, artists’ performances: everything became an opportunity to interact with the Contest.While a more conventional TVC brought the Floating Social Media on TV, the reactive messages were boosted with the involvement of powerful local communities and more than 100 local influencers and creators, who posted more than 4500 contents to keep the excitement and engagement constantly alive on social media. Until users took the matter in their own hands, turning the ship into a base they used to create hundreds and hundreds of

Costa Cruises achieved an estimated media reach of 93.2 million (+43% compared to 2023). Online mentions experienced a remarkable growth of 294% compared to 2023, with an 88% positive sentiment. The campaign generated 10 million online interactions (+127% compared to 2023), people shared more than 1000 memes while the influencers involved reached a total audience of 60 million (+219% compared to 2023). Additionally, the social media handle garnered 46.8 million views.

In the weeks following the Sanremo Music Contest, Costa Cruises witnessed a 17% increase in sales, with a net ticket revenue increase of 10% in the 18-34 age segment, and another 10% in the 25-34 age segment. The number of passengers rose by 72% in the 18-24 age segment, and 35% in the 25-34 age segment. Furthermore, the brand experienced a 39% increase in gross contacts compared to 2023, reaching an impressive 1.17 billion.