Contiki a legendary youth travel company was once the rite of passage for Australasian 18-35 year olds but now was starting to lose market appeal with Gen-Z. So the Australasian team briefed us to create a campaign to reinstate their legendary status, but there was a catch, we had to use ‘Legend’ the headline.

The campaign won Outstanding Campaign of the Year at the National Travel Awards 2025 and received other nominations. Had +1391 uplift in Top-of-Mind awareness. 40% uplift in conversion rate.

It was so successful it continued over multiple phases. I was brought in at the beginning of each phase to conceptualise the creative routes. See below how they started and where they were taken.

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Results

Best campaign: 2025 Mumbrella Awards

PHASE ONE:

GREATEST EXPORTS

Being Kiwi I knew Australians and New Zealanders travel differently. Geography shapes psychology, so when you grow up on the edge of the world your first Overseas Experience (OE) is no weekend getaway. It’s life-changing. It’s where identity is formed, independence tested and global friendships forged. You save relentlessly and go all in.

Your OE stories became a social currency, retold for decades by young Austrilasians. Which meant repeating similar stories wouldn’t be enough to reinstate our legendary status. We needed a fresh perspective… so I flipped it.

Most Aussies and Kiwis were introduced to Europe on a Contiki. Which makes our role more than facilitating travel, we help shape global perception. Contiki was the stage where Australasian humor, openness and boldness became reputation.

Contiki is about more than just seeing the world. It’s also about being seen by it. It amplifies a national personality, which is legendary.

We are our greatest export, and Contiki is the stage.

PHASE TWO: CAPTURED ON CONTIKI

THE CONCEPT:

If we are our greatest export - why do we only celebrate exports when they return? Why not celebrate our travellers in real time. This European summer, Contiki turns Australia into a live gallery of it’s greatest export: it’s youth. While they’re overseas shaping global perception, we would showcase them back home - in public, at scale. Not curated influencer content. Real travellers. Real moments. Elevated to national status by posting our favourite traveller posts on Digital OOH in real time throughout Australia and New Zealand. We turn them into cultural ambassadors in a living exhibition of Australasian's in motion. Because legends aren’t made in feeds. They’re made on stages.

THE INSIGHT:

In the social era, identity only counts when it’s witnessed - and young Australians want their OE recognised at home as much as it’s experienced abroad.

EXPERIENTIAL CONCEPTS

Statues immortalise legends. They stand proudly in public spaces as a reminder of legendary stories you either know or become curious about.

Making it the perfect platform to make real Contiki travellers legendary overnight.

We will work with the council (in a strategic location) to erect a statue that celebrates real Contiki moments during our peak booking period.

The heros journey takes place away from home and they return changed forever. Just like Contiki. And we think legendary growth needs a legendary return.

We surprise and delight one returning traveller at the airport with a heros welcome. Think All Blacks coming home after winning the world cup to adoring fans. Big signs, big crowd of family, friends and extras, gifts, limo waiting etc

Working with PR we ladder this stunt back into the OOH gallery, with backstory.

WHERE PHASE 2 LANDED

During production the concept changed, but held onto the concept inspiration of showcasing real Contiki (past) passengers and filmed the shoot from a traveller POV. Although it wasn’t authentic traveller posts, it still hero’d authentic brand fans (past passengers) and filmed in a way young people could see themselves travelling on a Contiki. It went out on Social, OOH, and dropped into high-impact cultural moments like Love Island Australia.

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PHASE THREE: LEGENDARY MOMENTS

Post COVID with cost-of-living on the rise travel slowed. In Phase 1-2 Contiki we re-established Contiki’s ‘Legendary’ status, but now, young Australasia needed a compelling reason to withdraw their savings and reconnect with the world again.

Keeping within the success of the ‘Legendary’ strategic territory, two of my concepts (below) were taken into development.

PHASE THREE: CONCEPT ONE

LEGENDS LIVE ON

You don’t find your legend. You live it. And only later realise it was one.‍ ‍

We know, because our past passengers kept telling us. When commenting on posts, reminiscing, and even sharing advice. Every trip had legendary moments. Many were unique, most unexpected, but all left unforgettable impressions that the group elevated into folk lore.

So we harnessed this. Invited young Aussies and Kiwis to discover their legend…because everyone wants a story worth telling, but you cannot curate it. You have to go out on a Contiki and live it first. Only then will your legend come to life.‍ ‍

FINAL EXECUTIONS

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PHASE THREE: CONCEPT TWO

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER LEGEND

Legends are made in small moments with big significance.

Johnny Wilkinson’s world cup winning drop kick is legendary. Collectively these moments stick in our minds, get retold, and elevate someone to legendary status.

This is important while you’re in your 20s (our core demo). In this stage of life they’re building an identity, hyper-aware how you’re perceived, and want a legendary defining moment, but most people will never have a stadium moment.

So we strategically reframed that legends must be massive, because while history crowns a few legends, every friendship group creates their own. They are forged in small moments that feel big to the people who lived them. We see them written in posts/comments from our past passenger all the time.

So by showing young Aussies and Kiwis the Contiki moments that made others legends, we invite them to find their own, because on Contiki micro-legends are being created everyday.