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'The Next Big Thing is Small' leans into how small ships facilitate destination immersion and emotional connection.
June 22, 2026
Instead of paid models, Azamara Cruises' new campaign shows real people interactingPHOTO: AZAMARA CRUISES
The small moments that have big impact are highlighted in Azamara Cruises' new global brand campaign, "The Next Big Thing is Small," launching today.
"There's so much power around small — our small ships visit small ports not everybody can get to and dock right in the center of town, and the small moments that have huge impact, on shore, touring and on board interactions with the crew," Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Kauffman said.
She called "The Next Big Thing is Small" a "celebration and rallying cry around everything we've been building about being the destination immersion leader. Our guests love us for all we do to deliver a truly immersive and amazing cruise vacation."
Every cruise line delivers well "but there is something at another level of Azamara that has such an impact," she said.
The campaign hinges on emotional storytelling.
A handwritten welcome back note left with the Champagne in a couple's cabin adds a personal touch PHOTOS: AZAMARA CRUISES
It shows real people in unscripted moments. For example, an officer leaves a welcome back note with Champagne in a couple's cabin, someone brings a woman a blanket on deck, a "Congratulations!" cake appears at dinner following a couple's earlier conversation with a waiter about their son's graduation.
In studying the competitive landscape of small-ship cruise lines, "Everything looked beautiful but it was starting to look the same — awesome images of beautiful destinations," according to Azamara's Jamie Shalek, senior manager, global marketing and public relations.
Of course travelers choose their cruise by the itinerary so it's important to showcase the destinations, she said, "But, for us, the whole purpose of the campaign was to pull on your emotional strings ... We want to be defined by the way we make you feel."
This means a "shift in the way we speak about ourselves" to revolve around "the emotional aspect of choosing Azamara. The emotions you feel, the sights, sounds, smell, taste. All these different things that don't have anything to do with how luxurious a ship is or how iconic a destination is."
What's more important are "the feelings you leave with," so the campaign's imagery revolves around that.
"We were tired of seeing models in every single shot," Shalek said. For a photo shoot, avid cruisers were invited aboard for the day in Miami and told to "Go explore and have fun." The cameras were in the background. There were no paid models or staged interactions, no use of AI. Among the people were Shalek's own parents who've cruised with Azamara 12 times and are 65, "our exact demographic," she said.
The new campaign leverages the media platforms Azamara is on all year long, layering on the "The Next Big Thing is Small" messaging.
Digital media is key, and social media remains a huge focus. Video is an important component, and Kauffman said it's the small, personal moments that get people the most engaged on social media.
The campaign's print aspect spans trade and consumer outlets. Azamara already commands the back cover of Travel Weekly in the US every week in 2026, and travel advisors are an important focus. Most of the consumer advertising is in Europe. Direct mail remains significant.
Why launch a campaign now, in summer?
"This was the right time for us to package up all the things we do around destination immersion," Kauffman said, calling the timing "ideal because we've been consistently reinforcing what we do around destinations .... We opened deployment earlier, we're doing immersive itineraries, introducing combination cruises, we've always had specialty cruises. We reignited overland tours. We have AzAmazing Evenings. We've reinvested in the ships with Azamara Forward.
"We've been continuing to strengthen the building blocks of our experience ... And now we can bring it to market in a provocative and bold way that lets us define who we are as better, special and different."
The timing is not because there's a need to top off 2026 sales.
"We're in good shape for 2026," Kauffman said, adding there are always pockets to fill, "but we'll finish strong for 2026." Azamara is focused on 2027 and 2028, with '28 sales opened a couple weeks ago "and it's off to a great start." The line is selling through October 2028.
Kauffman credited market research led by Shalek as a building block for the campaign. A study of past guests and prospective customers in partnership with Brand Alloy reinforced the appeal of Azamara's destination-focused approach. The points that emerged are also important for the trade to know.
Among the insights: 77% say Azamara best immerses travelers in destination and culture, 83% highlight access to lesser-visited ports as a key benefit, 75% cite longer time in port as a key differentiator and 79% point to the intimate small-ship experience as a defining feature. Guests also identify uncrowded spaces, downtown docking and personalized recognition from crew members as standout advantages.
Using these proof points as a basis, the creative aspect of the campaign was brought to life by what Kauffman called Azamara's "small but mighty" in-house team and "using video as an important lever."
Also, images are coming in from Azamara's onboard photographers every day, which Kauffman said is even more valuable than the photo shoot because these can be posted on social media in real time.
"That's where we're so excited about the whole idea coming to life in a super-authentic way," Kauffman continued. "And the ships are excited, too, because they are so happy to have an outlet to share all these incredible things that are happening all the time, all over the world."
Fuente: sea-trade cruise
