NIVEA x H\FC: Sampling at Scale During March Madness

March is one of the most exciting times on college campuses as students prepare to cheer on their teams during March Madness. This year, NIVEA wanted to build on this excitement to drive mass awareness of their NIVEA Soft line through a large-scale sampling program at two essential schools: the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of South Carolina. Both schools were big hot spots during this year's March Madness tournament as UNCC was a for the first and second rounds of the Men's tournament, and UofSC went on to win the Women's tournament. NIVEA wanted their sampling program to feel authentic and to truly embed themselves within the unique campus culture of each school, with UNCC being a more urban, commuter campus and UofSC being a hub for Greek life activity. To achieve this, NIVEA partnered with Home From College to manage and recruit college students to be involved in every aspect of the sampling program. We launched four gigs to recruit over one hundred students at these schools, recognizing their crucial role in reaching every part of these campus communities and getting the word out about NIVEA Soft. 

📋 The Ops Coordinators 

A team of Ops Coordinators was recruited at the two schools to effectively manage the logistics of distributing over one hundred thousand samples to college students. These students played a crucial role in the day-to-day operations of the sampling program, ensuring products reached the right students and groups on campus. They also acted as strategic advisors to the NIVEA team, providing valuable on-the-ground insights on what clubs resonated most with NIVEA Soft and how students perceived the product. 

🤝 The Club Partnerships 

At state schools like UNCC and UofSC, where there are tens of thousands of students, clubs are often the cornerstone of a student's college experience. They provide students with a community of peers who share similar interests and allow them to build lifelong friendships while pursuing activities they enjoy. To capitalize on this, we worked with our Ops Coordinators as we designated Club Partnership Managers who were heavily involved on campus to identify clubs to sample with and the best moments to partner with these clubs. NIVEA's club partnerships ranged from handing out samples during the Dance Marathon at UofSC to presenting at weekly meetings for the Charlotte Film Community at UNCC. We stocked bathrooms at sorority and fraternity houses at UofSC and lockers for teams like the UNCC Women's Soccer Game. 

As word spread about NIVEA partnering with clubs to provide samples, our team received tons of inbound requests from groups looking to share NIVEA Soft with their members. Ultimately, we partnered with 86 clubs to distribute over 70,000 samples.  

🎬 The Content Creators 

College influencers are becoming an increasingly important part of college culture, providing students with recommendations on the most popular spots to study and go out on campus. They develop strong connections with their followers, often fellow students on campus, and trust their opinions. Working with our Ops Coordinators, we identified each school's top five content creators. We partnered with them to create two pieces of content highlighting how they incorporate NIVEA into their everyday routine and to build excitement around an exciting event at each school. These creators reflected the diversity of each school, coming from different backgrounds and majors ranging from Greek life to athletics. They helped build digital awareness and excitement about NIVEA being on campus for their collective audience of over 300,00 people.

🎡 The Events ☕️

To make a large-scale impact at each school, we helped coordinate a NIVEA-branded event that authentically reflected each campus's culture. 

At UNCC, we utilized the street team to help staff the NIVEA Carnival right on the quad at the heart of campus. During breaks between classes, students came out to play carnival games and learn all about NIVEA Soft. The Street Team went out across campus to spread the word about the event and helped hand out over 5,000 samples during the day. Students loved the chance to destress with fun games during the busy school day and even got to take their glambot photos.

At UofSC, we worked with a local coffee shop, As Well As, which is very popular with students, to organize a NIVEA pop-up. During the pop-up, students received a free NIVEA branded beverage like the NIVEA Soft Cloud Smoothie while learning all about NIVEA Soft from the knowledgeable street team. News of the pop-up spread throughout campus, bringing over 250 students to the cafe (double the average foot traffic). They were excited to start using NIVEA Soft and enjoyed how the brand easily integrated itself onto campus with an activation that fit into their daily routine. 

🚏 The Street Teams 

To help achieve sampling at scale, we recruited a Street Team, members of each campus community ranging in age from freshman to graduate students, to help reach everyone on campus. From gifting students samples in their apartments and dorms to talking about NIVEA Soft during class and at iconic spots on campus, the Street Team ensured students' skin was kept moist with NIVEA Soft. In the end, the Street Team was able to hand out over 50,000 samples. 

Through its partnership with Home From College, NIVEA distributed 136,000 samples to students at UNCC and UofSC, building its reputation as a trusted brand for college students by showing up where they already are. From the classroom to the dorm, from club meetings to social media pages, NIVEA effectively integrated itself into every part of college life and made NIVEA Soft a staple in students' everyday routines.