Where real fans get on board.

A passion for unique holiday experiences

Creating unforgettable journeys is what makes Alexander Ewig's work at AIDA Cruises particularly fulfilling. For the SVP of Marketing & Sales, a cruise doesn’t begin with boarding the ship — it starts with an exceptional information experience for guests. When he joined the popular cruise line in Rostock in 2019, Ewig recognised that travel planning and booking are essential components of a good customer experience.

Since then, a lot has happened at AIDA. The brand with the red kiss has expanded its omnichannel strategy, offering guests a seamless journey, both onshore and at sea.

When Ewig sets sail aboard one of AIDA’s modern ships, he is particularly impressed by the enthusiasm of the crew. Despite high demands and a seven-day workweek, they always greet travellers with a smile. “These moments clearly demonstrate that genuine hospitality is the key to an extraordinary holiday experience,” says Ewig.

A love brand that connects through every touchpoint

Taking a cruise is a dream come true for many. It offers a unique experience: days or even weeks at sea, fascinating destinations, a luxurious ambience, world-class entertainment and fresh sea air. A truly unforgettable experience!

In fact, nearly one in five German consumers considered AIDA for their next cruise in 2024 (Consideration Score 17.9%), securing the brand the top spot in the "Top cruise lines Germany 2025" ranking.

This comes as no surprise. AIDA has established itself as a true "love brand" turning guests into true fans who also enjoy engaging with the brand in their everyday lives. Above all, they appreciate the special feeling on board and AIDA’s positioning as a vibrant world of experiences.

To convey this identity to new guests, AIDA relies on strong brand messaging that highlights the feeling of freedom at sea and the joy of shared experiences with family and friends. “Our primary goal is to offer our customers a seamless customer journey, that spans all touchpoints throughout the entire journey. We want to be a trusted advisor that understands their needs whenever they choose to engage with us,” says Ewig.

In recent years, the cruise operator focused on creating a consistent look and feel across all customer touchpoints. “We're essentially talking about the same content over and over again,” says Ewig. “A port always remains a port, but what each target group wants to know about it changes along the customer journey. That’s why we manage this content centrally, allowing us to adapt it for different personas and deliver it to the appropriate touchpoint." To support this content personalisation across numerous interaction points — and manage a library now exceeding 100,000 digital assets — AIDA relies on Adobe Experience Manager Assets. This enables the team to oversee its entire ecosystem of images and videos efficiently and effectively.

With just a few adjustments to the visual presentation, the team observed an increase in the time spent on the site of around 21%. "With just a few simple adjustments, we achieved an increase in user engagement. The number of pages visited during a session increased from 13 to 17 per visit," explains Sandra Heinzel, Head of Website Experience at AIDA Cruises. "By far the greatest success is reflected in visits to the mobile websites, where AIDA saw a 50% increase. In 2023, we were still at around 3 million mobile visits per month. Now we’re already at 6 million, with total visits to aida.de reaching between 8 and 10 million each month."

Where travel dreams come true

The brand with the red kiss relies on an omnichannel strategy, with most customer journeys beginning with a subscribed newsletter. From there, guests typically proceed to the website, mobile app, a partner site or a travel agency, where they complete their booking. This is where true personalisation begins: guests can tailor their trip to their individual preferences — whether it's booking a wellness day, a shore excursion or a poolside event.

With Adobe Experience Platform, AIDA Cruises gains deeper insight into what excites customers on their trip - and how to target them before, during, and after their next trip. To this end, Adobe Real-Time Customer Data Platform consolidates guest data from various systems into real-time profiles that can be accessed by the cruise operator across all channels. These insights, when combined with Adobe Experience Manager Sites and Adobe Journey Optimizer, allow AIDA to manage omnichannel campaigns seamlessly from a single platform.

To determine even more precisely what customers want, AIDA relies on A/B testing with Adobe Target. Approximately 75% per cent of website traffic in 2024 underwent A/B tests with Adobe Target. Tests of this type used to take more than two weeks; today marketing teams can implement a test and go live within hours. The results can then be used to personalise travel offers in real-time. For example, a customer who prefers holidays in warmer climates will receive a tailored promotion for a destination in the Mediterranean along with relevant flight offers from their home airport. "With Adobe Target, AIDA can test a significantly wider range of variables and hypotheses to achieve the most effective results and deliver the highest level of personalisation," says Heinzel.

Reorganising the company from inside out

Driving transformation within a large company is always a challenge, which is why AIDA relies on good change management. In cooperation with implementation partners Merkle and Comwrap Reply, the team began by visualising goals and developing new concepts within a small group. With its project expertise and close proximity to the customer, Comwrap Reply enabled a rapid implementation process. With its partner network, the firm also supported the evaluation of the most suitable solutions for AIDA’s IT and business landscape. Later, Merkle took over implementation of the CDP and with its use-case -based approach, focused on a targeted and efficient implementation.

The initiative was further supported by Adobe Professional Services, helping to build a competence network that ensures aligned support through regular co-ordination sessions. "It's a bit like emptying a wardrobe, looking at the contents and then deciding what should be put back in the wardrobe in a new order," explains Heinzel.

The team started with small sections of the website to gain momentum. After evaluating initial transformations, it quickly became clear what worked. Once that clarity was in place, scaling progressed quickly, with more departments following suit.

To support this, product owners relied on a transparent roadmap and workshops. "It's very much about people management - listening, understanding challenges and building shared understanding. And less than a year later, experts are suddenly standing in front of you - it’s incredibly motivating!"