The campaign ‘Better Boys’ Trips’ by Ogilvy UK won Silver in PR Integrated and Gold in PR Travel and Tourism at The Drum Awards. It aimed to rebrand First Choice’s package holidays for younger audiences, countering the stereotypical lads’ holiday narrative by promoting customizable, enjoyable alternatives.
Hear “First Choice” and you probably think of old-school package holidays, jetting off to Malaga, flights, transfers, meals, and drinks all included and getting up at 6am to nab a sunbed.
But First Choice has undergone a total rebrand - reinventing package holidays for the younger generation with a new offering, weather guarantees in case of rain, flexible cancellation policies, and amazing experiences. We were briefed to increase awareness of the new offering amongst 18-35yos, drive website traffic, and show First Choice is the place to go for the holiday you really want.
We needed a culturally relevant and newsworthy enemy to prove First Choice’s new customization and curation capabilities - a moment our audience is forced to settle for a holiday they don’t want to go on. Enter the lads.
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Booze, cheap hostels, more booze, sunburn, embarrassing t-shirts, chaos, more booze. The classic lads’ holiday stereotype is well-enforced and seemingly inescapable.
Our research and social listening revealed thousands of young men feel trapped into experiencing destinations and drinking games that leave them full of regret, not relaxed and recharged. A study published in the journal Deviant Behaviour revealed most men don’t enjoy the “extreme shaming, humiliation, and deviance” synonymous with modern-day stag dos. Researchers highlighted instances where men felt pressure to take part in activities they had no interest in, with one groom saying he had no desire to see “half-naked dancing women, let alone pay them.” Others recalled getting lost, robbed, or falling asleep in a shop doorway. Our data indicated 60% of men dislike being invited, 40% turn them down, and 48% worry about images from the trips being shared online.
With modern masculinity and men’s mental health a popular media narrative – we spotted an opportunity to start a new conversation about the unwanted holiday pressures and expectations on young men, and what people really want from trips abroad.
This was our way in - expose the far-reaching problem of stereotypical lads’ holidays with an eye-catching creative solve, communicating First Choice enables anyone to be pickier with their packages.
We partnered with mental health charity CALM to reveal the negative impact of lads’ holidays, uncovering big media-worthy statistics; 69% dread the typical lads’ trip, and 81% feel pressure to ‘man up’ while on one.
This gave us the authority to launch ‘Better Boys’ Trips’, a campaign encouraging young men to discover an alternative to stereotypical trips abroad. We curated ‘Better Boys’ Trips’ itineraries for five classic destinations, all bookable on the website. Think honey tasting in Ayia Napa and folklore dinners in Prague instead of a messy beer crawl.
We then took on another trope and, in collaboration with Everpress, reimagined embarrassing “Tour T-shirts” as limited-edition, trendy tees with designs celebrating bonding, balance (and a little banter), with 100% of profits donated to CALM.
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Then we put it into action - taking a Better Boys’ Trip to Prague with Dazed, LADbible, Complex, and Pause - Gen Z titles chosen for reach and authority. LADbible is the number one publisher on TikTok and Facebook’s most engaged publisher of all time. Dazed is the world’s most trusted voice in fashion and youth culture with 9.4M followers and 116M monthly impressions across its digital properties. 58% of Complex readers are between 18 and 34, with Pause’s social channels specifically targeted for their high engagement rates with young men.
We also hosted George Clarkey, YouTube’s man of the moment, and three of his influencer friends - ItalianBach, ArthurTV, and Arthur Hill. Together, they have over 2m subscribers on YouTube.
Our integrated campaign delivered incredible results, with coverage and social conversation having a direct impact on the First Choice website.
The press trip resulted in dedicated features from LadBible, Dazed, and Paused with further case study placements in the Metro and Daily Mirror, the CEO was interviewed for The Times and influencer content proved similarly powerful.
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George’s YouTube content trended #6 the day it went live and has 1.1M views. His Instagram posts have received 156k impressions.
This integrated campaign drove an increase in website traffic. Our data showed an increase in searches for Prague, Google trends data revealed an increase in searches for ‘lads’ holidays’ the day after launch, with an increase for ‘First Choice’, proving we had sparked nationwide awareness and changed perception of both lads’ holidays and – more importantly, First Choice.
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