Rockstar Energy used Dig In welcome boxes and Live Activations from 2022 to 2025 to get cans to students, many of them trying the brand for the first time.
The brief
Rockstar competes with Red Bull and Monster, and most students had never tried it. The brand needed trial at scale, and feedback on new flavours and can designs.
What we did
At Freshers 2022 we put Rockstar cans in the Dig In welcome box. In 2024 and 2025 we followed with large Live Activations focused on 10 cities: 250,000 cans in 2024 and 358,000 cans of four flavours in 2025. Hall managers displayed the cans in busy areas, and in 2025 posters in each hall sent students to a feedback survey. In 2024, adverts also ran on screens in halls in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
The result
83.5%
of students who received a can were more likely to buy Rockstar after trying it, n=6,865, Freshers 2022
88.4%
felt more positively about the brand after tasting it, n=6,865, Freshers 2022
81%
said they were more likely to buy after trying it, 1,022 respondents, Live Activation 2024
51%
had not tried Rockstar before their free sample, 2,224 responses, Live Activation 2025
4,954,178
digital screen impressions in halls, Live Activation 2024
What it means for brands like yours
Energy drinks are a crowded fixture, and students choose on taste. Repeat sampling across three years kept Rockstar in student hands at the moments they study hardest, and each survey told the brand which flavours and designs to back.
Questions
Did Rockstar Energy sample to university students?
Yes. Rockstar cans went into Dig In’s Freshers 2022 welcome boxes, then into halls through Live Activations in 2024 (250,000 cans) and 2025 (358,000 cans).
How did students respond to Rockstar?
83.5% of students who received a can at Freshers 2022 said they were more likely to buy Rockstar after trying it (n=6,865). In 2025, 51% of respondents had not tried Rockstar before (2,224 responses).
Is purchase intent the same as sales?
No. These are students’ stated intentions in Dig In surveys, not sales data.