Summary
Thomas Cook presents Study Buddy. #AllAboutStudyingAbroad - The one place to know everything you need to know about your journey to studying abroad. - Study Buddy : The only Forex card you would need while you are studying abroad.
Challenge
Every year move than 7 Lac ndian students travel abroad to study but there is no single place where students can get all the information they want. They would largely rely on paid counsellors, who do the job for them. This was both, an opportunity & a challenge for us being the leaders in forex business, with a large share of business coming from student category. While we used large scale mass media advertising to reach out to the audience, it was impersonal & didn't build a bond with students, who needed a friend/guide to help them through this important phase of life. Hence, we introduced series of video, namely-"Study Buddy- #AllAboutStudyingAbroad, which explain all the common questions a student might have, once he starts planning his study abroad plan.
Objective
The idea of creating this campaign was to create a platform for this niche segment of students to come and get answers to all the questions they had, play the role of a big brother / a friend / a counsellor providing the right info & advice while making the most important decision of his/her life. As part of this video series, we had researched and planned for 30 odd videos covering 10 + geographies / destinations and try to address various aspects of FAQs a student will have right from planning to flying to settling in the destination of their choice. But we ended up making more than 70 videos covering a lot of micro topics, including Q & A with an expert, who answered key questions and guided students in their journey abroad. We hoped to engage with this universe of 7 Lac students and their parents.
Strategy
Education business was likely to grow from 3.8 Bn USD in 2021-22 to over 5 Bn USD in 2022-23, due to the pent up demand post pandemic. Every year over 7 Lac students move abroad for higher studies. Thomas Cook had a 11% market share with 80K Student Forex Cards sold during the year. The business objective was to improve our market share to 15% and sell close to 1 Lac Student FX cards during the year.
Data
We created a campaign at 2 levels. 1. A Youtube channel ( playlist ) with 70+ videos that inform, educate, engage & build affinity with the niche category of students aspiring to study abroad. The content on this channel was curated with help from some of the most experienced counsellors & experts in this business, who understood the pain points of students and were able to exactly create content that addressed these pain points. 2. We created a Study Buddy Forex Card ( same name as our channel ) with exclusive benefits like a FREE International Sim Card, Lounge Access at airports and launched a campaign to introduce this card to the students. Since the segment is so niche and clearly defined, we only used digital / social mediums like Youtube, Facebook & Instagram to identify and target consumers, who were into the buying / research cycle of studying abroad, as these platform gave us clear & specific signals to help us identify the TG. Going to any other mediums would have meant a huge spill-over and wastage. Also sticking to these limited channels, meant that we were able to dominate these and make sure that we had meaningful engagement with the consumers (students & their parents ).
Solution
Having been in this student business for years, our research had indicated a big gap in the information / guidance that was freely available, at one single place. Hence the idea of creating a panel of experts / counsellors to curate content that tries to cover all aspects of a students journey abroad and answers their questions worked well for us. Our studies had also indicated that students felt very unsettled, once they landed in a foreign country and staying connected with family back home & having an internet connection immediately to help them get by in daily life was a big gap and necessity, hence our Student Forex Card, came with a free International sim which they could start using as soon as they reached. Lastly, most students came to the airport, well in advance ( almost 4 to 6 hours before their departure ) especially those who came from smaller towns cities to a bigger city / airport for departure, hence we provided them with an airport lounge access on their cards, which helped them relax and be comfortable at the aiport. Basically, being Study Buddy, as Thomas Cook we just wanted to be with the students in their most uncertain & tentative times to handhold them and give them a sense of security and confidence as they were about to start a new phase of their life. Both the explainer videos & the ad films bought these benefits alive and helped us connect with the consumers, building an affinity that we aimed for.
Results
Our student business grew from by over 70% in the key months of July-Aug-Sept, compared to same period previous year, due to the campaign. We sold over 1.2 Lac Forex Cards in 22-23 compared to 80K cards previous year and our ATV improved from 1100 USD per card to 1600 USD per card, an improvement of 40%.
