Contiki is famous for its unique ‘see-all’ group travel experiences for 18-35 year olds around the globe, and has been creating #NOREGRETS experiences for young people across the world for the last 50 years.

Contiki had created a global campaign that had little to no appeal to Kiwis. Contiki Squad was created to remind Kiwis why Contiki is a great way to see the world. Instead of using paid social media influencers, the campaign used real young Kiwis and their mates to hero the campaign.

The insight was that every group of young people has key archetypes which tend to form when they travel together. Young Kiwis were invited to choose the archetype that suited them best, with the chance to go on the trip of a lifetime and make some great new mates along the way.

The campaign kicked off with a week of engagement material on social media and radio to develop the social proof required to get buy in when the full campaign went live. When the campaign launched, finalists were asked to make a video proving why New Zealand should choose them, kicking off the voting on Facebook. Finally, the squad was sent off on their trip to Europe, keeping the social media buzz going the whole way.

The primary campaign objective was to build positive brand perception by leveraging the global campaign while creating a relevant Kiwi spinoff. The campaign achieved fantastic results with more than 2000 entries, more than double the targeted sales leads and an astounding 9% uplift on sales year on year. The campaign also achieved 3.5 times the average for it’s Facebook engagement rates.