Unpacking the Student Welcome Box: How the Welcome Bag Works for Brands

A student welcome box is a pack of free products and offers that new students receive as they move into university halls. Brands pay to include a sample, voucher or leaflet so their product is among the first things a student uses in their new home. Dig In now uses a Welcome Bag: in 2026 it is a paper bag, and in 2025 it was a cotton tote sponsored by Santander.

Key points

• The Welcome Bag reaches first-year students in their own rooms during the week they arrive, before their shopping habits have formed.

• Students value it. In 2024, 88.7% said the Welcome Bag improved their welcome to university, rating it 4.3 out of 5 (n=48,991).

• The inserts that work are useful in the first week, easy to try more than once and come with a clear next step.

• Every Dig In bag carries mydigin.com, which links the physical bag to surveys and follow-up after arrival.

From welcome box to Welcome Bag

Older articles, including earlier versions of this one, talk about welcome boxes. The idea has stayed the same while the format has changed. A bag is lighter to deliver into halls, easier for students to carry and reuse, and simpler to recycle. In 2026 Dig In’s Welcome Bag is made of paper. In 2025 Santander sponsored a cotton tote as the bag itself.

Whatever the outer pack, the job is to put a curated set of products into a new student’s hands at the moment they are setting up their room and their first shop.

How the Welcome Bag reaches students

Dig In distributes the bag through its agreements with universities and accommodation providers. Each September it reaches 500,000 students in more than 1,000 halls across 160+ universities, which is about 3 in 4 freshers. Bags are delivered to halls for students as they move in.

That distribution is what separates the Welcome Bag from a stand at a Freshers fair. A fair reaches the students who turn up. The bag reaches students where they live, in the first days of term, regardless of which events they attend. Read more about the format on our university Welcome Bag page.

Why students value it

Moving into halls is stressful: a new city, new flatmates and an empty kitchen. A bag of useful products helps at exactly that moment, and students remember who helped. Dig In’s 2024 survey of 48,991 students found 88.7% said the Welcome Bag improved their welcome, with an average rating of 4.3 out of 5.

That goodwill carries over to the brands inside. A product that solves a first-week problem gets used, and a product that gets used gets judged on its merits.

What makes a good Welcome Bag insert

1. Useful in week one. Food, drink, toiletries, cleaning products, a bank or phone offer for setting up a new life. Ask what a student needs on their first night.

2. Enough to try properly. One sip or one sachet rarely forms an opinion. Product students can use several times gives it a fair chance.

3. A clear next step. Say where to buy it near campus, or include a code with a short expiry.

4. Simple, honest messaging. Students skim. One line on what the product is and why it helps beats a leaflet full of copy.

5. Packaging that suits a shared bag. Robust, compact and easy to recycle. Leaks and crushed packs hurt your brand and everyone else’s.

6. A reason to give feedback. A survey link or QR code turns the insert into research as well as trial.

Alcohol products must only ever reach students aged 18 or over, which shapes how and where they can be included.

What brands have measured

Because students are surveyed after receiving the bag, brands get a read on what happened. Some named results:

• Santander, 2025: Santander’s cotton tote was the bag itself, with 500,000 totes distributed. Santander’s End of Campaign Report 2025 found 96% of students were still carrying the tote weeks later (n=50,000), and students shared more than 10,000 photos. See the Santander 2025 case study.

• Nivea Soft, Freshers 2024: 87.6% of students surveyed were likely to buy again and 98% would recommend it (n=2,986). See the Nivea Soft case study.

• Coca-Cola, 2026: 89.9% of students surveyed were likely to buy Original and Zero (n=3,019).

Across 196 brand surveys for 161 brands since 2018, the median brand scored 85% likely to buy again in 2025 (24 surveys) and 88% in 2026. These are purchase-intent measures after trial, not sales, and they work best alongside a brand’s own sales data.

After the bag: following up

The bag is the first touch. Brands that follow up do better at turning trial into habit. mydigin.com, printed on every bag, gives students surveys, offers and polls after arrival, and 64,000+ students signed up during Freshers 2026. January Refreshers Bags offer a second touch at the start of the new term.

Questions brands ask

What is a student welcome box?

It is a pack of free samples and offers given to new students as they move into university halls. Dig In’s version is a Welcome Bag, paper in 2026, reaching 500,000 students each September.

How much does it cost to put a product in a student Welcome Bag?

It depends on volume, the size of the product and whether you want the whole bag or a targeted set of cities. Dig In quotes per campaign, so ask for a proposal based on your objectives.

What products work best in a university Welcome Bag?

Products students need in their first week work best: food, drinks, toiletries, cleaning products and money or phone offers. Give enough to try more than once and a clear route to buy.

Working with Dig In

Dig In has worked with brands targeting students since 2015 and surveys students on the brands inside its Welcome Bag. To include your product in next September’s bag or January’s Refreshers, get in touch.