Introducing MSC Smart Ship, the first floating connected city. What if we used the power of technology in order to turn this gigantic ship into a personal experience orchestrated at every stage of the Guests' journey. Providing special attention to detail based on their tastes to ensure they make the most of their cruise, and not wasting time on understanding where to go, what to do or how to book. Our ambition was to ensure each passenger quickly and easily found their own personal MSC Cruise in an immersive brand experience across every touchpoint, leveraging new technology to bring the core value of the Art of Hospitality to life.

Detailed experience maps for each persona were developed, describing passenger needs, business opportunities from pre-cruise to post-cruise (15 steps) across every touchpoint and new technology (from facial recognition to connected bracelet) based on the passenger research and data insights and other data available (geolocalisation for personalised messages, weather and time). For each step KPIs were established and a detailed content plan by touchpoint. All the content (videos, slideshows, app, redesign of print) were developed within 5 months in 6 languages. These experience maps and content plans have been adapted to each new ship and region to meet cultural needs and specificities of the design of each Ship. We defined rules to contextualize automatically content on informative screens and geolocalised message on mobile, depending on day, time, business objectives, traffic onboard.

Since the launch of the first Smart Ship in June 2017 and Seaside in December 2017, MSC continue to see increased bookings for the new generation of ships, at full capacity 10 months in advance. Customer satisfaction measured in post-cruise questionnaires showed an increase in 12 points versus the same period previous years, mainly due to the facility of finding their way around the cruise and having list of activities and activities from Daily Program to hand either via the app or the interactive screens. Onboard revenue generated from direct bookings has increased overall by 20% (across spa, speciality restaurants, excursions, and entertainment) and personalized offers has increased shop spending by 25% (measured against a control group). In addition the launch of the experience has generated over 300 million impressions worldwide (Italy, Germany, France, UK, USA) in the first weeks.