Contiki and We are Social unveil 'Switch On Social Travel' challenge

Social travel brand Contiki has partnered with socially-led creative agency We Are Social Australia for its latest campaign, Switch on Social Travel.

The social-first initiative took a group of 17 creators from the US and Australia aged 18-35, representing a combined following of 20 million users, for a seven day trip through Portugal and Spain.

The campaign encouraged them to disconnect from their platforms for the duration of the trip, to immerse themselves in their travel experiences. After reconnecting online, the creators shared their experiences with their followings.

Meanwhile, Contiki's channels provided fans with sneak peeks of the trip through video content, documented through over 30,000 photos and 40 hours of footage, which were edited into short and long-form videos.

In additional to being pulished published across Contiki and the influencers' channels, the campaign roll out has been further broadcast across Instagram Reels, YouTube, TikTok, and other digital platforms.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7ZnZgGmR8[/embed]

Melissa DaSilva, Contiki's North America president, said that the campaign was aimed at "inspiring travellers to truly engage with the world around them.

"This campaign redefines the conventional use of social media in the tourism industry. It’s about inspiring the audience to rediscover the real essence of travel – connections made, cultures explored, and memories created away from the digital gaze."

Executive creative director at We Are Social, Ben Clare, explained that "for younger generations, never before has the pressure to immortalise a holiday or experience into a flawless social media post been so great. But doing so ironically detracts from the joy of travel and being fully present in the moment.

"It’s obviously pretty unconventional to engage travel influencers in a way that actually reduces their time online, but so far it's proven to be a powerful message: travel is more enriching when you live in the moment, not just capture it."

Earlier this year, We Are Social managed the social strategy and execution behind Mastercard’s Australian-first motion picture without pictures, Touch, which premiered at the Westpac OpenAir cinemas in February. In March, the agency teamed up with Wayside Chapel to launch a behaviour change campaign, Social60.

See also:
Mastercard and H+Co’s film for low vision audiences hits festival circuit
We Are Social and Wayside Chapel tackle loneliness epidemic with Social60 campaign

Credits:

Brand: Contki
VP of marketing and communications: Rita Kelly
Global brand and partnerships director: Rachel Storey
Director of marketing: Yuri Park
Senior marketing manager: Natalie Turner
Head of creative communications: Dominic Oliver

Creative agency: We are Social
Account director: Polina Patroucheva
Group account director: Helene Ioakimidis
Strategy director: Russ Mitchinson
Executive creative director: Ben Clare
Associate editorial director: Michele Danno
Creative: Camden Chan
Editorial director: Ruaridh O’Donnell
Executive producer: Lucinda Hayden
Designer: Cynthia Vu

Production company: My Media Sydney
Director: Mikki Young
Creative director: Mitchell McKay
Head of design and post production: Phillip Antonio Lemos

Affiliate marketing agency: All-inclusive Marketing
Director of strategic operations: Jen Watson
Account director: Natalie Fillion
Account manager: Nate Sielk