Context: a lifetime of adventures awaits

For the UK’s 2.9 million students, university is the adventure of a lifetime: one that takes them out of the family home for the first time, and into the world of adulthood.

But what about the next adventure?

Contiki is a legend in the group travel space – and has been creating opportunities for young people to get away and see the world together since 1962. “We run trips all across the globe for 18 to 35 year olds”, says Dom. “We’ve got over 200 trips all across the globe – they range from Island Hopping in Greece to Safaris in Africa to cultural trips in Japan.”

Students in the UK have at least three months of free time to play with per year – and at the start of university, they’re already in an open, receptive mindset. There are, in fact, multiple parallels between group travel and starting uni – the total immersion in a new way of life. The rapid acceleration of new friendships and connections. And, of course, the opportunity to make memories that will last for years to come.

Uni is the perfect era for new adventures – which meant it was time for the UK’s students to meet Contiki.

Challenge: understanding Gen Z students

For Contiki, the journey to understanding the student market started long before Freshers. With decades of expertise in marketing to young people, they needed to understand how Gen Z students felt about the prospect of group travel.

So the native x Contiki partnership kicked off with research – specifically a survey to our database of highly-engaged Gen Z students, and a follow-on focus group guided by native. “We wanted to understand more about the student market, so conducted research”, says Dom. “It was great to actually have some stats and some hard facts in terms of what students are looking for. We’d definitely recommend that other companies do it, because it’s the best way to get accurate insights directly from students on what they really want.”

Working closely with our in-house insights team, Contiki were able to contextualise how students feel about group travel – and take bolder steps towards creating a campaign that would resonate with them. We found that group travel was appealing – but that awareness of group travel companies such as Contiki was relatively untapped.

The research also uncovered the specifics of what students look for on their travels. “The survey showed that students are really keen on adventure, and that they want cultural immersion, and to visit iconic sites. This really aligns with Contiki’s offerings. It gave us some reassurance that what we were doing was in the right lane”.

One survey and one focus group later, Contiki knew what challenge they faced – to bring Contiki – a legendary brand in Australia – to the UK student market, and to drive newsletter sign-ups to continue to nurture that relationship.

Solution: a values-led, multi-channel campaign

With an extra layer of context, it was time for Contiki to hit the road – and the digital airwaves – in time for Freshers 2024.

Dom and the team cherry-picked a strategic selection of sites from native’s reach of student campuses – opting for Anglia Ruskin, Strathclyde, Swansea, Sheffield Hallam and Liverpool John Moores. “We want to grow with travellers – engaging with them beyond just first year, for the full journey of university” – says Dom. For this reason, Contiki selected campuses that offered degrees of 4+ years, so they had the longest window of opportunity to resonate with students.

Kicking off their campaign as soon as students stepped foot on campus, their physical activations at Freshers Fairs were underpinned by digital activity at each campus. Students who passed by Contiki’s stand had the opportunity to win the holiday of a lifetime in exchange for signing up to the brand’s mailing list. But the activation went deeper than that – staying true to Contiki’s own values, and reflecting students’ ethics in the process.

“Here at Contiki, we offer MAKE TRAVEL MATTER (TM) Experiences that either give back to people, the planet or wildlife,” Dom explains. “Examples of these on-trip experiences include an Anti-Poaching Ranger Experience on our Cape Safari and Falls trip, where travellers can meet the Rangers who’ll tell them about the K9 Watchdog Project (K9 Dogs protecting Africa’s wildlife from extinction and their fight against poachers, and on our Philippines Island Hopping West trip – there’s a stay at the Isla Experience on Darocotan Island, which supports the locals with marine conservation, education and their eco garden”.

“Sustainability is super important to us, our travels and our general message. If you check Contiki out on socials it’s a key message we weave into our messaging. Alongside this, we’ve pivoted towards a ‘no more stuff’ policy, meaning not giving away freebies – water bottles, t-shirts, caps, sunglasses etc. So we knew our stand had to be fun and engaging, without the usual freebies.”

On the road, this attention to sustainability really paid off – after all, native research shows that 76% of Gen Z students care about the environment, and 75% make a conscious effort to live a more sustainable lifestyle. “The conversations were great”, says Dom. “Everyone was super engaged and wanted to find out more. I guess that’s one thing about Freshers in general – everyone seems to be in that mindset of wanting to learn, and wanting to find out more. You might be at an event where there’s 50 exhibitors, but you’re still in that curious headspace where you’ll engage with everyone”.

Results: a new generation of adventurers

Purchasing a trip is a big commitment – one that Dom is realistic about. After all, students have only just kicked off their uni experience, and might not be thinking beyond the end of Freshers. But with the right research and right activation, magical things can happen on campus. Contiki has already seen bookings come through using the student discount code they publicised during Freshers.

In addition, 9% of Contiki’s web traffic was directed towards the dedicated Freshers game – “that’s really good engagement on the interactive side”, says Dom. Contiki also saw a 300% increase in visits to their students’ landing page, and a 20% increase in their newsletter sign-ups during this time.

And as students across the country prepare for their trip of a lifetime, Dom is optimistic about Contiki’s student marketing journey. “We want to be seen and build awareness beyond just appearing once a year at Freshers. We want to build a 360 approach”.

Freshers may have ended – but our journey with Contiki has only just begun. Early positive results show just how much potential there is to get a new generation of students into group travel. We’re so excited to continue working with Contiki, connecting them with students as the year progresses.

Want to enjoy stellar results like Contiki? Look no further than native. Get in touch today, and propel your brand to the heart of campus culture.