One Brand, Many Seas: Lessons from Costa on Going Global with a Local Soul

Looking at the cruise industry is like stepping into a live laboratory for marketers. Few other businesses combine so many sectors in one: tourism, transportation, food & beverage, retail, hospitality, and entertainment all converge on a single ship. That complexity makes cruising not just fascinating, it makes it one of the fastest ways to accelerate learning about building brands across borders.

What makes it even more compelling is the duality at the heart of the business. On the one hand, you manage source markets (countries where you sell your cruises). On the other, you design for destination markets (the places ships actually visit). Add to that thousands of guests from dozens of nationalities sharing the same ship, and you face a unique challenge: crafting a story that resonates locally, then delivering an experience onboard that lives up to it for everyone.

In other words, if there is one business that can teach us how to build brands with global reach and local soul, it is cruising. And Costa, with its Italian heritage and international footprint, offers some of the best lessons. Together, let’s unfold three principles that matter most.

Principle 1: Choose Your Markets—Don’t Let Them Choose You

Table of Contents

Principle 1: Choose Your Markets—Don’t Let Them Choose You
Principle 2: The Art of Balance: One Brand, Many Faces
Principle 3: Don’t React to Change—Lead It
What Every Industry Can Learn
About The Authors

Descrizione dell'immagine When companies think about entering new markets, the default framework is often PESTEL: analyzing Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors to map risks and opportunities. Useful, yes, but in the cruise industry, the rules of the game are different.

Cruising is a capacity-driven business. Unlike FMCG, where production can ramp up if demand spikes, ships are ordered years in advance, with a 3–6 year lead time before they even sail. Cabins are finite, and every strategy starts from this hard constraint: how do we profitably fill what we already have?

That makes market selection a two-speed process:

Long-range planning: defining the fleet’s capacity and deployment (how many ships, where they sail, and seasonal shifts).
Annual sourcing mix: deciding which source markets -Italy, France, Germany, Spain, or new ones- will “feed” which ships, and with how many cabins.

Costa applies a Demand Centric Growth (DCG) lens to guide this. The evaluation blends data and brand fit:

Macro & tourism indicators: purchasing power, travel propensity, port and flight access.
Industry structure: market penetration, competitive intensity, room to differentiate.
Brand & product fit: whether Costa’s brand and the product offers resonate with the audience.
Barriers: functional (price, access), technical (visas, connectivity), emotional (perceptions of cruising).

The final decision balances value and efficiency: go deeper in fewer markets (leaner structure, lower cost) or spread across more (higher pricing power and diversification, but more overhead)? Entering a new market often means reallocating cabins from another, if the mix promises better yield.

For Costa, entering a market isn’t about chasing demand everywhere. It’s about carefully designing a portfolio of source markets to maximize finite and highly valuable capacity.

Principle 2: The Art of Balance: One Brand, Many Faces

Cruising is a paradox: passengers from different countries share the same ship, yet each brings distinct expectations of what a “perfect holiday” means. Italians, Spaniards, Germans, French and others all choose Costa, but for different reasons.

Costa solves this tension by holding one global brand platform while flexing its expression by market. In leader markets like Italy, France, and Spain, Costa communicates broadly and emotionally, Live Your Wonder. In challenger markets like Germany, where Costa is a “follower”, it sharpens its edge with the Lebe la Bella Vita, leaning on Italian food, style, and hospitality as a distinctive promise.

But balancing doesn’t stop at messaging, it extends into every detail onboard. Guests with radically different rhythms live side by side. Germans might dine at 6pm and be asleep by 11pm; Spaniards sit down to dinner at 10pm. To make it seamless, Costa builds a strong backbone -safety, service standards, and Italian hospitality- then adapts the details:

Programming: staggered showtimes and formats tailored to language and culture.
Dining: a Mediterranean/Italian core, with pacing and menus flexed by sailing.
Crew mix: staffing aligned with guest nationalities, backed by cultural and language training.
Operations: block-planned to reduce friction: different shows, meal peaks, or kids’ activities depending on the mix onboard.

Sometimes cultural gaps are too wide to balance on the same sailing. Then Costa dedicates ships or itineraries to a specific market (e.g., South America, Asia) to preserve the brand promise. Rule #1: only scale in a market if the onboard experience can truly deliver for that market.

Adaptation continues ashore too. Media strategies, retail assortments, even buffet hours flex by nationality. Costa captures 10–15% guest feedback per voyage through digital forms, plus granular sales data by nationality. These insights fuel micro-adjustments for example adding a Spanish headliner, changing boutique mixes, or shifting dining flows. The ship becomes a living lab, fine-tuned voyage by voyage.

The principle is simple: one soul, many faces. The brand remains consistent, but its expression adapts with precision.

Principle 3: Don’t React to Change—Lead It

With ships designed years in advance, reacting late isn’t an option. To stay relevant, Costa must design today for tomorrow’s travelers.

Flexibility of offer has been key. As vacations fragment into shorter, more diverse formats, Costa has broadened its range, from quick three-day getaways to long voyages, making cruising fit modern lifestyles.

De-seasonalisation spreads demand across the year, smoothing peaks and boosting utilization. Instead of concentrating on summer highs, Costa deploys ships and products that keep guests sailing year-round.

Technology & AI drive dynamic pricing, personalization, and real-time orchestration. From optimizing itineraries and advertising to tailoring onboard experiences, digital tools enable Costa to create a more engaging and holistic customer journey.

And finally, sustainability is now non-negotiable. Ships are designed with cleaner fuels like LNG, slashing emissions. Onboard, waste is cut through circular practices: smart food waste tracking, zero-waste menus, advanced recycling. At ports, shore power reduces emissions, and Costa partners with local communities to promote sustainable tourism.

Guests don’t feel sacrifice. They still enjoy Mediterranean warmth, cuisine, and hospitality, only now delivered with greater care for the planet. Sustainability is no longer a constraint but the foundation for cruising’s license to operate in the decades ahead.

What Every Industry Can Learn

What can other industries learn from Costa? That building a global brand with a local soul is not compromise, it’s orchestration.

From market selection, the discipline of choosing battles: not every opportunity is worth chasing, and sometimes the smartest growth comes from saying no.
From balancing cultures onboard, the art of adaptation: one brand can speak many languages, not by diluting its essence but by flexing its angles.
From leading change, the lesson of foresight: long-term relevance comes from anticipating shifts in behavior, technology, and sustainability before they become urgent.

Cruising compresses tourism, retail, hospitality, and entertainment into one floating ecosystem. If it works at sea, it can work anywhere. Costa shows that global brands thrive not by being everywhere the same, but by being everywhere relevant.

About The Authors

Francesco Muglia is the Senior Vice President and Global Chief Commercial Officer at Costa Cruises, where he also serves on the Board. With a career spanning consulting and leadership roles at Danone and Costa, Francesco has driven the company’s global commercial transformation through data-driven, customer-centric, and AI-powered strategies. He holds degrees in Marketing & Sales Management, Literature & Philosophy, and Organ & Composition (Conservatory).

Matteo Rinaldi is a Senior Marketing Strategy Consultant and Co-Founder of Human Centric Group, with global experience driving double-digit growth for brands like Danone, Carlsberg, Revlon, PepsiCo, and Visa. Having worked across multiple continents, he specializes in leveraging cultural insights for impactful brand strategies. A passionate educator, Matteo teaches marketing worldwide, shaping future industry leaders. Previously, he worked with L’Oréal and Coca-Cola HBC. He is also a best-selling author in marketing.