Building student demand, Like a Pro

We saw an opportunity to better embed the brand in the wider student lifestyle and promote the product benefits. Our social-first strategy focused on content that might make them laugh, think or study better, rooted in student life hacks and helping them live ‘Like a Pro’.

Tuition fees and long-term debt means that most students take their studies seriously. And our research identified a growing section of students who are staying up late coding, building apps, launching start-ups. It takes energy, time and tenacity to realise great ideas. So we devised a team-based event built on these principles, to connect with the student collective and generate watchable, shareable content.

Our insight led to the creation of The Pro Plus Contraption Challenge, inspired by Rube Goldberg machines, which are intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and overly complicated way. We took the challenge to a group of students, offering them the chance to ‘Build like a Pro’. Winners would share an overdraft denting £2,000 cash prize plus have the chance to win gift vouchers along the way. We also threw in free pizza.

Spirits were high as teams competed to build elaborate contraptions using an eclectic mix of household materials, with the end goal of bursting a balloon.

Timed to coincide with the build up to the busy exam period in May, the resultant organised chaos was turned into a multi discipline campaign that ran across social media, university media and student press. Excited student attendees also went on to produce a stream of unplanned user generated content, amplifying the message and further embedding the brand.

Results

The Pro Plus Contraption Challenge campaign reached 4.2m students (+147% above target) and generated 444k engagements (+134% above target).

Sales figures during the campaign period reveal over 6% uplift on the previous four weeks, and nearly 2% uplift on the same period the previous year. And these figures don’t factor the sales in campus shops.
The best bit? We did it all for under £40k.

To learn more about this campaign and how Bray Leino can drive success for your business, contact Austen Donnellan, Business Development Director.