Sometimes I’m the marketer, sometimes I’m the marketed. To call out a particularly powerful example of influencer marketing, I’ll talk about a time an influencer led me to youth travel group Contiki.
I’ve taken not one, but two trips with them, and referred four friends. Effective stuff.
What is Contiki?
According to Google, they’re a worldwide leader in group travel for 18-35 year olds. Over 50 countries. 6 continents.
Less formally, Contiki (especially on their European tours) is known as a party bus/tour operator.
How did I hear about them?
Despite the fact that I follow several travel bloggers on Instagram, it wasn’t even a travel blogger who led me to them – it was actually fitness duo Karena and Katrina from Tone It Up. I saw their pictures on Instagram, but Contiki also interviewed them on their blog and the girls ran a Contiki giveaway on their side.
Since then, however, one of my favorite travel bloggers, Alex in Wanderland, has written about a Contiki trip she took here.
What’s so powerful about their message?
A meaningful philosophy
Their hashtag de choix, #NoRegrets, speaks to that part of us that wants to live life to its fullest and wake up to new adventures on the other side of the world.
Millennials love to say YOLO, which means you only live once. With #NoRegrets, Contiki is capitalizing on their target demographic’s mentality by aligning their product with the promise of a life well lived.
Beautiful imagery
Contiki enlists an army of influencers, mostly travel bloggers and photographers, whose content they repost on their Instagram daily. Personally, I traveled with two travel bloggers in Greece in 2015 and got to see how it goes on behind the scenes.
They also encourage travelers to use the #contiki hashtag for the possibility of a repost and exposure to a wider audience.
Don’t tell me you don’t want to drink Swiss hot chocolate in the alps, eat gelato in front of the Roman Colosseum, or make a toast at Munich’s Oktoberfest.
These images evoke those old bucket list to-dos that we dream about but never seem to check off (more on bucket lists here). Contiki removes the travel buddy barrier and actually enables you do to these things.
Just for fun…
My personal #NoRegrets moments with Contiki include:
- Standing at the top of a Greek volcano
- Driving around Mykonos on a quad at night
- Tubing in Ios
- Having dinner at the top of the island of Santorini
- Walking up the steps from the bottom to the top of Santorini and hanging out with donkeys along the way
- Spending a day on a pirate ship off the coast of Ios
- Touring the Grand Palace in Bangkok
- Taking an overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai
- Hanging out with elephants in Chiang Mai
- Spending two days on a slow boat going down the Mekong River in Laos
- Waking up to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat, the world’s largest religious monument
- Bicycling around Luang Prabang, Laos, a city reminiscent of the American South
- Partying with Korean backpackers in Vang Vieng, Laos
- Talking about Justin Bieber with Laos students
Contiki’s message is a good one: don’t wait for life to happen to you, swim out to meet it. I bought it, and I have #NoRegrets about it.
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