Brand Resources
The Ultimate Guide to Brand Activations on Santé
Everything you need to know about reaching the world's most active travellers — from how activations work, to which formats drive real business results.
94%
of Santé members took an active trip in the past 12 months
4.2×
more likely to purchase premium outdoor gear than the general population
£3,200
average annual spend on active travel, gear & nutrition
3×
higher conversion on Santé activations vs standard display advertising
01
What is a Santé Brand Activation?
A Santé Brand Activation lets your brand set a challenge for our community of active travellers — and reward them when they complete it. Instead of interrupting their experience with a banner ad, your brand becomes part of the adventure.
A member might see your challenge while planning a trip to the Dolomites. They join. They log their climbs. They hit the goal. They receive a discount code for your latest trail shoe. And because Santé knows they're a dedicated mountain runner, they're exactly the right person to receive it.
"Activations feel native to the platform — they're not ads. Members engage because the challenge is genuinely relevant to the trip they're already planning."
Your brand benefits from measurable engagement: joins, completions, and redemptions tracked in real time. The Santé audience doesn't just travel — they spend, they share, and they come back.
02
How It Works
Discovery
Members find your challenge on destination pages, in their activity feed, or via a curated Santé email. When someone joins, their connections see it — triggering a natural referral loop from day one.
Participation
Members log activities toward your challenge goal. As they progress, milestone notifications keep them engaged — and keep your brand in view throughout their trip or training block.
Redemption
When a member completes the challenge, they receive an in-app and email prompt to claim their reward on your website. You control the incentive: a discount, an exclusive product, an early-access drop, or a gift.
03
Which Brands Run Activations?
Activations work best for brands that speak to active lifestyle — whether that's the gear members wear, the fuel they use, or the places they travel to reach. We call these endemic brands.
Outdoor Apparel
Sports & adventure clothing brands
Arc'teryx, Patagonia, Rapha
Athletic Footwear
Performance trail & athletic shoes
Hoka, Salomon, La Sportiva
Gear & Equipment
Wearables, packs, hardware
Garmin, Osprey, GoPro
Nutrition
Performance fuel & hydration
Maurten, Precision Fuel, SIS
Travel & Tourism
Destination boards & regional tourism
Basque Country, Dolomites, Corsica
Sport Retailers
Specialist active lifestyle retail
Decathlon, Wiggle, Ellis Brigham
Non-endemic brands — those without a direct active lifestyle product — can also run successful activations when positioned as a partner of sport or adventure. Financial services, automotive, and premium consumer brands have all performed well in this context.
04
Targeting
Santé's member profiles are built around how people move and where they like to go — which makes our targeting unusually precise. You're not guessing at interest signals; you're speaking to people who actively declared them.
Sport Type
Target runners, cyclists, climbers, surfers, skiers, yogis — or any combination. Members are classified by the activities that dominate their profile, so your challenge reaches people who will genuinely engage.
Environment
Filter by what your audience seeks — mountain, coast, forest, lake, or rural. An alpine gear brand can reach mountain-focussed members; a surf brand can reach coast-seekers. Environment targeting is unique to Santé.
Geography
From global campaigns to country-level, regional, or city-specific activations. Ideal for destination tourism boards or brands launching in specific markets. Subject to minimum audience thresholds.
05
Activation Types
We offer six core activation formats. Each suits different campaign goals and audience types. Our team will help you select and calibrate the right format for your objectives.
Distance Challenge
Challenge members to cover a set distance — a mountain route, a coastal trail, or a cross-terrain epic — over days or weeks.
Hoka: Run 100km in the Pyrenees this month
Elevation Challenge
Members accumulate vertical gain across any activity. Ideal for mountain-focussed brands and aspirational campaigns.
Garmin: Climb 5,000m in the Alps this season
Multi-Day Challenge
Log activities on a set number of days in a given period. Rewards consistency and keeps your brand top-of-mind across weeks.
Patagonia: Move every day for 21 days
Route Challenge
Members complete a Santé-curated route in a specific destination. Perfect for regional tourism boards and destination campaigns.
Basque Tourism: Complete the Camino del Norte loop
Immersion Challenge
Stay a minimum number of nights at a destination and log local activities to qualify. Drives direct bookings and tourism spend.
Dolomites: 3 nights + 2 local activities to unlock
Collective Challenge
All participants combine their efforts toward a shared goal. Creates community momentum and organic social sharing.
Osprey: Together, cover 1 million km this summer
06
How Activations Help Reach Marketing Goals
Most brand partners come to us with one of two primary objectives. Activations can be designed to serve either — or both at once.
Objective A
Brand Awareness
Put your brand in front of a highly relevant audience at the moment they're planning an active trip. Challenge joins, feed sharing, and completion badges create sustained impressions across weeks — not a single ad click.
- Challenge gallery placement
- In-feed share loop
- Completion badge with brand mark
- Editorial co-branding opportunities
Objective B
Performance & Conversion
Drive purchases, email sign-ups, or trial downloads directly from completions. Brands are often surprised at how effective challenges are at driving sales — because members have already committed to an active goal before they see your offer.
- Tracked redemption links
- Completion-gated discount codes
- Email capture at reward claim
- Real-time conversion dashboard
"The goal you set should reflect the audience you're trying to reach. A high bar filters for committed athletes; a lower bar invites curious members who are just starting their journey with your brand. Both have value."
07
How Members Discover Activations
Your challenge appears across multiple touch points throughout the Santé member experience — both within the platform and via owned channels.
Destination Pages
When members browse a destination — say, the Pyrenees or Scottish Highlands — active brand challenges appear natively alongside listings and route guides.
Activity Feed
When a member joins or completes a challenge milestone, their network sees it. Each completion creates a cascade of social proof and new sign-ups.
Curated Emails
Monthly editorials sent to activity-segmented audiences. Your brand can be featured alongside hand-picked listings, route guides, and member stories.
Challenge Gallery
A dedicated browse experience where members actively look for challenges. Featured placements guarantee premium visibility.
Off-platform amplification
Brands that combine Santé activations with their own social, email, and out-of-home campaigns consistently outperform those running platform-only. Our team provides co-branded assets and messaging guidance as standard.
08
Pricing
Activation pricing is based on three variables. Our team will work with you to find the configuration that balances reach, timing, and budget.
Reach
Determined by your targeting: the more specific the sport type, environment, and geography, the more focussed — and often more cost-efficient — the audience.
Seasonality
Peak activity seasons (spring trail running, peak ski season) carry premium pricing. Off-season campaigns offer more competitive rates with a highly engaged year-round audience.
Duration
Activations run from a single weekend event to a full month-long campaign. Longer campaigns build stronger habit loops and accumulate more completions over time.
Minimum campaign investment starts at £15,000. Discounted rates are available for non-profit and conservation organisations.
Get Started
Think a Brand Activation
is right for you?
Our partnerships team will walk you through the formats, help calibrate the right challenge goal, and build a proposal matched to your objectives.
Related Resources
Growing your brand with a Santé Club
Build a long-term community around your brand using our Club feature — sustainable engagement beyond a single campaign.
Read more →Case StudyHow Salomon drove 3,200 completions in 28 days
A breakdown of the targeting, activation type, and reward structure that made this one of our best-performing campaigns.
Read more →GuideAmplifying your activation off-platform
Best practices for combining your Santé activation with social, email, and OOH campaigns to maximise reach and completions.
Read more →