STA Travel x GoAbroad x Lonely Planet
Project managed the execution of STA Travel’s deliverables in a joint scholarship campaign targeting the Gen-Z college student demographic utilizing a budget of $5k.
Campaign Theme:
To contribute towards greater accessibility of international travel programs and opportunities, these three powerhouse organizations teamed up to offer a grand prize of $3,500 program scholarship and a $2,000 flight voucher. Additional prizes included prizes from co-sponsors including Cotopaxi, Babbel, Hydro Flask, GigSky, International Student Insurance, and G Adventures. Additionally, every entrant received a discounted flight and a copy of the Guide to Studying Abroad.
Campaign Deliverables:
Present scholarship and campaign themes on STA Travel-owned media channels throughout the duration of the campaign including:
Landing page updates
Website banners across statravel.com
Email inclusions (to both our student B2C audience and faculty B2B audience)
Social media posts utilizing the campaign hashtag #StudyAbroadGoals
Retail posters
Paid media (affiliates, paid social, GDN, kayak, paid search)
Exceed an established target for sweepstakes entries based on YoY data
Results:
Successfully coordinated co-sponsor supplementary prizing and promoted campaign on STA Travel channels exceeding all campaign deliverables.
Rather that solely promote the campaign through our digital channels, I had offline collateral created for use by our Business Development and Brand Ambassador team members. I tasked them to leverage their existing connections with university partners and student groups for targeted out reach. Through the promotion of our participation in this scholarship to our university partners, STA Travel’s brand recognition and reputation improved as we were able to cement STA Travel’s authority as a premier platform for discounted student travel.
Lastly, I re-targeted scholarship entrants on email and boosted social with consolation prizes in the form of additional student travel and partner discounts as well as further topically relevant content. Through offering a consolation prize to the students who didn’t win the grand prize was a phenomenal opportunity to provide additional opportunities to engage with the brand. This has a ton of potential to turn the losers of your giveaway into engaged customers. If an entrant has participated in your giveaway you know they’re interested in your products or services. A discount or promotion code might just be the the push they need to turn them from a visitor into a happy customer.
Key takeaways:
Student scholarships and inspirational content surrounding study abroad travel performed best through both emailing our existing database and boosting social posts on Instagram and Facebook to reach people beyond our following. Additionally, participating in more scholarship opportunities is something that better facilitates business with faculty members considering booking student group travel through STA Travel. Any direct opportunities to make travel more affordable outside our normal services and discounts always generates buzz.
Qatar - Leisure travel: While there was high engagement on email, most purchases came through affiliate programs and CPC on Kayak.
United Airlines - Question prompts asking travel related questions prompted the most engagement from our followers in contrast with static sale messaging.
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