Contiki vs. Topdeck
http://contiki.com/ vs. http://www.topdeck.travel/
After I graduated from college in 2004 all I wanted to do was see the world, it was a time to travel, explore and experience other cultures. A friend and I decided to pick up our lives and move to
Sydney, Australia for a few months and that is just what we did. I believe that everyone should have the experience of traveling, it really opens up your eyes and you learn so much from visiting another country. As exciting as it is, traveling can also be stressful, expensive, time consuming and all around nerve-racking. That is when you turn to travel companies; those that will help plan your itinerary, book your flights and secure accommodations.
Topdeck and Contiki are both travel companies that help their customer’s book vacations all over the world. They are each other’s top competition in the travel industry. Both have quite a specific target market; 18-35 year olds. Contiki’s visitors mostly range from 25-34 year olds, have graduated from college or graduate school, typically females, do not have any children and browse the site from work (Alexa.com, 2011). The majority of those who visit the site in the United States are Asian and make between $30,000 - $36,000 per year (Quancast.com, 2011). Topdeck has very similar statistics. Their audience average age range is 25-34 year olds, college and graduate school graduates, female, no children, however they do most of their browsing from school (Alexa.com, 2011). The site does not have enough traffic for Quancast to survey so there is no information regarding average income and nationality. Contiki has the most traffic coming from Pakistan where Topdeck is most popular in Australia.
According to the 2010 Digital Marketer: Benchman and trend report, adults 18-34 prefer social sites as their main source of information. Approximately 75% of 18-34 year olds research products online before they make a purchase and 65% of that segment go to the internet first when looking for travel information (Experian.com, 2011). Many of both Contiki's and Topdeck's consumers are online, using the internet quite often. 87%-95% of internet users fall between the age of 18 and 49 years old. 78% of all women use the internet. 89%-94% users have graduated from college of graduate school and 50% of all Americans on the internet buy or make travel arrangement online (PewInternet.com, 2011).Their customers are most certainly plugged in and are online, but do the companies have the ability to sufficiently reach each of their very important potential buyers?
The 18-34 target segment is a very lucrative and profitable demographic. There are two key facts about this desirable market: 1) they are tech savvy and 2) they spend a significant amount of time online (Sun, 2006). It is crucial that both Contiki and Topdeck have efficient, resourceful and easy to navigate websites. They should follow the RAVE method which was developed by Experience, Inc. RAVE stands for;
R- Relevant: Make advertising relevant to the market segment.
A- Action: Require users to take action and interact with the brand.
V- Value: Deliver values to users.
E- Entertaining: Entertain them and have fun.
(Sun, 2011)
Each company has a brief overview of who they are on their main page. It is with this short description you can get a sense of just how similar these companies are.
Contiki.com
Contiki creates eye-opening experiences for young travelers around the globe. Traveling with us isn’t about ticking boxes, but about those moments in time that stay with you for life. (contiki.com, 2011)
Topdeck.travel.com
At Topdeck our passion is providing unforgettable travel experience for 18 to 30 something’s. Extended trips, festivals, ski and sailing in Europe, breathtaking holidays in Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Israel, safaris in Africa and now amazing adventures in Australia and New Zealand: your choice of great trips with like-minded travelers is huge! Travel with Topdeck and Share the Experience. (topdeck.com, 2011)
They also combine their main target audience with their logos:
With me personally, first impression is everything when it comes to legitimacy on the internet. Both sites have a very profession look and have simple yet very informational cover pages. Topdeck looks like it’s a bit more focused on a younger demographic, with the brown background color and a revolving main photo which tends to be a young female skiing, surfing or drinking beer the majority of the time. Contiki has a much cleaner, white back round with scrolling photos at the top. Both have very easy to use navigation bars. The navigation tabs have dropdown menus so you can better filter what sort of trip you are looking for. Both sites provide an easy to use search box where you can input the destination, type and date of the trip you are looking to take. They also offer “featured tours” if your just browsing, in hopes that one may catch your eye. Topdeck offers trips to Europe, Africa,
Australia,
New Zealand and the Middle East, however they exclude North and South America which is eliminating many people who may want to travel to the
America’s. Contiki covers Europe, Asia, South America, North America, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt and Mexico. Both extend beyond the traditional trip and offer packages including certain festivals and world events.
People visiting these sites are obviously interested in traveling; both companies have a deep focus on their product and the types of trips they are promoting. The information is aligned with what the consumer are looking for. All of their data is relevant to their product. Both sites have easy to find contact information. Contiki has a scrolling sidebar with information on how to book by phone, where they give you a phone number to call or provide a feedback box where you can insert your information and they will contact you. They also provide an online booking tab which is a great idea but after I selected a date there were no further instructions on how to move forward. Topdeck also provides a phone number and easy to follow step by step online booking process. Contiki gives a price option and will automatically filters out the trips that are out of your budget. Topdeck follows the same process. Both sites provide photos, comments, and reviews which help to keep you on the site longer. They also use video’s which is a great advertising tool. I myself, as a full time worker who has traveled quite a bit would much rather go with the crisp, clean and to the point Contiki site. Contiki is an interactive site where they have their twitter feed connected to their home page with a “What’s being said” section. Contiki uses social media to their advantage and provides links to a Flickr page, a youtube page, twitter and their blog. Topdeck provides links to twitter, facebook and flickr. Each page stays consistent so you are instantly aware when you leave the site. The name of the company and contact phone number has strong presence on the top of each page. There is a lot of information both companies are trying to provide but they have successfully formatted the site so it is not overwhelming. Both take you step by step and guide you through the booking process.
Contiki uses a descriptive tag in their html code so when you Google their name a brief description of the site is described under the title:
Contiki
contiki.com/
Contiki is the worldwide leader in tours 18-25s. Offering an unbeatable mix of
sightseeing and culture in over 40 countries across 6 continents, we create…
While they have a very straight forward title, it doesn’t look like they use any keywords in their coding to assist with the search engine. Topdeck also has a descriptive tag:
Topdeck Travel Europe, Africa, Australia and NZ Trips and Tours…
Topdeck are Experts in 18-39’s Travel we are committed to deliver outstanding
travel experience for young people Europe Trips, African Safaris, Australia…
Topdeck takes it one step further and uses keywords. These keywords include top
deck, topdecktravel, tour Europe, tours for young people etc which is inserted into their
HTML coding.
David Meerman Scott teaches us to” build content specifically for these nitch audiences and tell them an online story about your product, a story that is created especially for them” (Scott, 2011). Contiki offers a review section where recent customers can tell their travel stories. You can ask specific people who shared their stories questions directly. The site is focused on two way communication which makes you feel like they are your personal travel agent. Topdeck has a community section which provides links to their social media sites. They also have a community forum and a travel blog. All of these social media aspects help the company hear what their clients are saying, they present and area for open and honest feedback and help travelers with common interests connect.
Topdeck US ranking online is 351,245 where Contiki is 45,097 (Alexa.com, 2011). Contiki has quite a head start and that could be due to the fact that they include North and South America as tour destinations. Many times in class we have discussed the fact that consumers have a specific agenda, they need to find a solution to a problem. In this case, buyers want to go on vacation and Contiki and Topdeck are there to present you with the best get away options and the easiest way to book that adventure, therefore solving your problem. Both sites align closely to the new rules of marketing and PR that are listed in the Scott book, however I believe that Contiki does a better job at reaching the infinite potential audience members out in the world. They have a better presence on social media sites and provide more authentic, direct and organized content to their users. The look of the sites comes off as being more professional, legitimate and specialized. When traveling overseas you want to make sure you have somewhere to turn in case of an emergency. Contiki makes you feel as if you are part of a traveling “family”. When you have the ability to personally connect with someone and make them feel like you are devising a special individualized itinerary just for them, the consumer gains a sense of control, that they hold the power. After researching both sites, I know that I would book my next trip with Contiki.
References & Links
Alexa.com. (2011). Contiki [ Data file]. Retrieved on November 5, 2011 from,
Alexa.com. (2011) Topdeck.Travel [ Data file]. Retrieved on November 5, 2011 from
Experien.com(2010). The 2010 digital marketer: Benchmark and trend report. Retrieved
PewInternet.com. (2011) Trend Data. Retrieved November 4, 2011 from,
Quantcast.com. (2001) Contiki [ Data file]. Retrieved on November 5, 2011 from,
Scott, D. M. (2011) The New Rules of
Marketing & PR.Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
Sun, J. (2006) Online and On Target: 18-34 Year Olds. iMedia Connection. Retrieved
Topdeck.travel.com. (2011) Retrieved on November 15, 2011 from,
