Freshers and campus
7 min read
Refreshers Week Marketing: A January Guide for Brands
Why January is a second, distinct student marketing moment, and how brands should plan, sample and measure a Refreshers campaign.
What Refreshers is
Refreshers is the welcome back that students’ unions run at the start of the spring term in January. It usually means a Refreshers fair, where clubs and societies sign up new members, plus a run of events in the first weeks back.
For brands, Refreshers is a distinct moment with its own logic. Students come back after Christmas with new money, new intentions and a clearer idea of how they actually live. Some are arriving for the first time. Many are deciding again what goes in the basket and on the phone. This guide covers why January matters, how to time a campaign, which formats work, what to sample and how to measure it.
Why the second term matters
Budgets reset after Christmas
In England, the Maintenance Loan “is paid directly into your bank account at the start of each term”. For a full-time student starting in 2026 to 2027, the maximum loan is £9,118 living with parents, £10,830 living away from home outside London and £14,135 in London. January is when the second payment lands.
The money is real, and it is tight. Save the Student’s National Student Money Survey 2026, of more than 1,000 students, puts average monthly living costs at £1,146 against an average Maintenance Loan of £648, a gap of £498 a month. Groceries average £155 a month, about £36 a week. In January, students restock with a new budget and a sharper sense of what is worth paying for. A good sample at that point earns a place on the next shop.
New-year habits
January is when people start routines and test whether they stick: cooking more, training, saving, sleeping better, drinking less. Students are no different, and they are making those changes in a kitchen and a budget they control. Brands that fit a new routine, such as a quick breakfast, a protein snack, a budgeting app or a lower-sugar drink, meet students at the point they are choosing what that routine includes.
A mid-year intake
Not every student starts in September. Some courses start in January. Those January starters arrive needing everything a September fresher needs: a bank account, a SIM, a first weekly shop.
A second chance after Freshers
Freshers is crowded. Students arrive in a new city with a long list of things to sort out, and a brand in their first week competes with every other brand in the same week. By January the noise has dropped. Students who missed the fair, skipped the events or simply were not ready to choose are easier to reach, and students who tried a product in September can be reminded of it.
Dig In reaches 500,000 students each September and will deliver 300,000 bags for January. Coca-Cola used both moments in 2026, putting 2,395,000 Coca-Cola products into students’ hands across Freshers, Refreshers and Live Activations.
Timing a Refreshers campaign
The calendar is shorter than it looks, because the Christmas break takes several weeks out of the working time. Plan backwards from the first week of term.
When | What to do |
|---|---|
October to November | Set the objective, choose formats, agree volumes and survey questions |
Late November to early December | Final artwork, stock and samples ready before offices close for Christmas |
Christmas break | Students go home; halls are quiet |
First weeks of January | Refreshers Bags and hall activations as students return; Refreshers fairs |
Late January to February | Follow-up by email and in-app, survey responses come in |
February to March | Results, purchase intent, redemption and a read across to Freshers |
If you are planning Freshers too, brief both at once. The same product can run in September and January with a different message: “try this” in September, “remember this” or “new this term” in January.
Formats that work in January
Format | Best for | Watch-outs |
|---|---|---|
Refreshers Bags delivered in halls | Trial at scale, the new-budget restock | Book early; volumes are planned before Christmas |
Refreshers fair stand | Conversation, sign-ups, demonstrations | Footfall and brand access vary by union |
Hall activations in the weeks after return | Repeat contact with students who sampled in September | Needs a clear brief for hall teams |
Email and mydigin.com follow-up | Reminding, surveying and converting after the sample | Measure on clicks, responses and redemptions, not opens |
Surveys | Purchase intent, taste, switching | Ask the same questions as in September so results compare |
Dig In’s mailing list holds 173,000 students, which makes it practical to follow a January sample with a reminder and a survey.
What to sample in January
Match the product to the January mindset: a new budget, a new routine and a second weekly shop.
Food and groceries: cupboard staples, quick meals, breakfast and snacks that fit a tighter budget. See food and drink sampling.
Health and fitness: protein, hydration and lower-sugar drinks that suit new-year training plans.
Personal care: full-size or trial-size products students will buy again in the next shop.
Finance and mobile: budgeting tools, bank accounts, SIM-only plans and student offers, timed to the January loan payment.
Study and home: stationery, kitchen basics and products for the second-term workload.
Alcohol is a special case and never goes into a general bag. Each hall and university decides whether to accept alcohol samples, and takes responsibility for distributing them responsibly to students aged 18 and over; our alcohol sampling page explains how.
How to measure Refreshers
Set the measures before the bags are packed.
Reach: bags or samples delivered, by university and hall.
Trial and opinion: a short survey of recipients covering taste, purchase intent and whether they would recommend the product. Dig In has collected over a million survey responses since 2016.
Action: voucher or code redemptions, app downloads, sign-ups or account openings within a fixed window.
Comparison: the same questions asked in September and January, so you can see whether Refreshers reached new students or deepened trial among existing ones.
Our page on how we measure sets out the method in full.
What this means for brands
Treat Refreshers as a separate moment with its own objective. It is the new-budget restock and the start of new routines, which suits different products and messages from Freshers.
Plan in the autumn. The Christmas break means artwork and stock need to be ready by early December.
Use January to catch students who missed you in September, January starters, and students who tried you once and need a reason to buy again.
Measure it on the same basis as Freshers, so the two moments can be compared and budgeted properly.
Questions brands ask
When is Refreshers week?
Refreshers takes place at the start of the spring term, usually in the first weeks of January when students return after Christmas. Dates vary by university, so check each students’ union calendar.
What is a Refreshers fair?
A Refreshers fair is a students’ union event at the start of the spring term where clubs and societies recruit new members. Some unions also offer stand space to brands. Attendance varies, so brands usually combine a fair with activity in halls and online.
Is Refreshers worth it if we already ran a Freshers campaign?
Yes, if the objective is different. Freshers is about first trial; Refreshers reaches students with a new term’s budget, new routines and a clearer sense of what they buy, and it lets you remind students who sampled in September.
What should brands sample in January?
Products that fit a new budget and a new routine: groceries and quick meals, breakfast and snacks, fitness and hydration products, personal care, and finance and mobile offers timed to the January loan payment.
How many students can Dig In reach at Refreshers?
Dig In is delivering 300,000 bags for January, alongside 500,000 students reached each September.
Planning for January? Talk to us about Refreshers.
Sources
GOV.UK, Student finance for undergraduates: new full-time students (2026).
Save the Student, Student living costs in the UK 2026 (National Student Money Survey 2026) (2026).
Queen’s University Belfast, New Year, New Term (student blog) (accessed 2026).
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