Rachel Baxter
Head of Delivery
Having started her career in student marketing, Rach has over 12 years of experience working in agency settings, bringing campaigns to life for her clients.
Our Four Favourite Freshers Campaigns (and why we love them)
Rachel Baxter • 4 March 2024
Some countdown to Christmas, some countdown to their wedding, we countdown to the start of the Freshers season! While we activate throughout the year, Freshers is the pinnacle; the highlight of our year that offers brands the perfect opportunity to get in front of a high proportion of the thousands of students expected to arrive on campus this September, all eager to start their new journey and discover new brands, hobbies and interests.
So with 6 months until the first freshers fair kicks off - we’re reminiscing about our four favourite freshers campaigns, and why they particularly stick in our (and hopefully students’) minds.
Over the last few years, we’ve worked with
Odeon Cinemas
to put them centre stage at freshers, with the sole focus of driving acquisition and footfall into local cinemas.
For this campaign, it was all about recreating the cinematic experience, reminding students of the big-screen thrill Odeon offers.
The imposing modular entertainment wall housed a soundbar and large screen which showcased trailers tailored to each location, and the lit up spinning wheel (along with the assisting foghorn!) enticed students over to be in with a chance of winning a free year of myLIMITLESS, along with a range of other prizes and student specific incentives.
The Crowd promotional team worked hand in hand with local cinema teams at each fair, which helped to direct students to their local screen to continue the on-screen experience.
It’s fair to say Odeon stood out, if you couldn’t see the stand you could hear it! The campaign was immersive and subsequently drove thousands of sign ups.
There’s nothing more iconic than the Burger King Whopper, so to support the launch of its flame grilled menu into the student market, the campaign aimed to raise awareness with a sizzling new student deal that was worth shouting about.
The team devised an interactive ‘Where’s the Whopper?’ game, where students downloaded the Burger King app for the opportunity to select a custom-made playing card to see if it had Burger King’s signature product on the other side.
The campaign also brought the royal(e) touch to freshers, with thousands of iconic crowns distributed which remained part of the freshers experience for weeks to come.
This ‘Whopper’ of a campaign offered a simple student journey, a prize worth waiting for, coupled with a range of tantalising student specific deals that culminated in thousands of happy students and drove results (and footfall in store)- a true recipe for success!
With 58 people receiving a gynaecological cancer diagnosis every single day in the UK, The Lady Garden Foundation has made it their mission to raise awareness and funding for gynaecological health. Often flying under the radar, with complicated symptoms, gynaecological cancers are shrouded in mystery. So, standing bold and breaking taboo’s was the mission for this campaign.
The idea was to bring private conversations about gynae health out into the open. And what better way to do that than by throwing open the bathroom door?
The set up consisted of an eco-friendly bathroom, coupled with a tiled backdrop, an interactive “bath” to hold merch, and a toilet - complete with its own lady garden in full bloom. We also staffed the stand with our ambassador team. It was the perfect launchpad for
The Vagina Dialogues, as well as the space for honest conversations between our ambassadors and students.
From playful “Vag for Life” bags, bold imagery and a striking set up, Crowd is proud to have supported the conversation and worked closely with both The Lady Garden Foundation and its brand agency, Havas to create a campaign that reached nearly
60,000
students
across the
13 fairs, and saw a
20x increase in website traffic during the two-month long Freshers period.
Working with Kortext; an online learning platform delivering access to over 4m digital textbooks and learning content, this campaign took the traditional bookshelf and turned it digital.
The aim of the campaign was simple; communicate to students the usability and key benefits of Kortext’s digital bookshelf that was available for free to students at certain universities. The solution was to create a bespoke interactive digital game, which closely mirrored the look and feel of Kortext’s digital library.
With an inbuilt data capture system, Kortext was also able to collate valuable data that allowed them to embark on a remarketing strategy that reminded students of how to access this free tool throughout their university journey.
At each one of the
18 fairs
the campaign attended, queues formed and a buzz around the stand was created. To top it off,
nearly 9000 pieces of data were also collected.
With anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 students per event, Freshers Fairs have earned their place as one of the strongest platforms for brands to solely interact with students. A well planned and executed Freshers campaign can deliver a range of benefits, from increasing brand awareness, driving acquisition and gaining sign ups, to offering students a chance to try before they buy.
So, if you’re thinking about Freshers or want to understand more about the benefits of activating during this year's season, why not
drop us a message?
