The global pandemic hasn’t just restricted young people’s ability to travel. It’s also closed them off to the kind of social connections that are essential for personal growth. To reflect a brighter future for travel – as well as this bottled-up desire for authentic human connections – Contiki, the world leaders in youth social travel, has launched a bold evolution of its brand identity.As well as an eye-catching new look and feel, signifying an optimism for the industry that meets the new needs of Gen-Z and Millennial travellers, Contiki has also realised its ambition of becoming entirely carbon neutral. This refreshed positioning is laser-focussed on the fun, social experiences and sustainability that the brand has been associated with for 60 years.
“During these strange times, we took some time to really understand what our travellers will want when the so-called ‘new-normal’ arrives” said Simon LLanos, Contiki’s CMO. “We thought about our position and how we communicate Social Travel, something the world has dearly missed. We focussed on the things that are uniquely us: sharing incredible experiences, with brilliant people and a sense of fun, humour and community. We really feel we’ve bottled this feeling with our lively new brand evolution. We can confidently say: ‘we look how we feel’”
Contiki’s energetic new look and feel is an expression of its values. The vivid colour shade, led by Contiki Green, leans into the energy, power and wonder of the feelings the brand creates on trips. “The evolution firmly places community at the heart of everything we do at Contiki, it expresses the emotional excitement of sharing your first travel moments with new friends from across the world,” Llanos said.
Contiki Green represents not only the new brand positioning but also the brands take on sustainability, ‘a new kind of green’. “Contiki trips are intelligently designed to be 100% carbon neutral but sacrifice none of the fun or wonderful experiences to achieve this,” says Tasha Hayes, Contiki’s Sustainability Officer. “We know that sustainability is incredibly important to our travellers but so is a complete travel experience and having a great time; we’ve looked at everything from our processes to communication to bring in line with the ‘new kind of green’” Hayes ended.
“One thing the pandemic brought into significant focus,” continued Llanos, “was the importance of our global community. Even when we were locked down in our homes, we were still
connecting, still dreaming about travel and co-creating some inspirational content with our travellers and partners. Even when we couldn’t travel, those special social bonds that are made on a Contiki trip endured – and that is truly unique to us. So for 2022 and beyond, we live by our brand philosophy of ‘Travel.Together.’ which means to travel with one another, the cultures we enjoy and the environment, too.”
The evolution for Contiki comes at a time where the brand has set ambitious goals for 2022, continuing its global expansion in the 18-35s market. “In the last 2 months we’ve really started to see encouraging signs of a meaningful recovery,” said Adam Armstrong, Contiki CEO. “Our travellers are resilient, confident and eager to resume their travels. We’ve developed this exciting new positioning with their help – and we look forward to welcoming them back to Social Travel with Contiki this year.”
To celebrate the brand evolution Contiki have released two new brand videos.
