Six-Two by Contiki

Contiki came to us with their blog rebuild project, as they needed to graduate to an intuitive, high performing, scalable web platform. A crucial part of the partnership was the migration of their 3,000 articles without jeopardising years of carefully cultivated SEO, and of their 1,000 content contributor accounts free from disruption.

We developed a tailored migration script to extract article data from their outdated system and convert it into bespoke, flexible content blocks. This process not only preserved the integrity of the frontend, maintaining a familiar look and feel with slight refinements, but also transformed the backend into a modern, high-performing environment.

Articles are now composed within an ecosystem of reusable components in the WordPress block editor, revolutionising the editing experience. Workflows that were previously cumbersome and rigid are now intuitive and flexible, empowering editors to publish compelling material that can inspire their readers and drive conversions.

We also streamlined the codebase by reducing dependency on third-party plugins – from over 50 down to about a dozen. It is our standard practice to carefully consider the cost benefit analysis of introducing any additional software packages to our builds, and look for opportunities to craft our own tailored solutions. This is a key ingredient for boosting security, performance, maintainability, and future extendability.

Interactive map

We developed the bucket list map to enhance user engagement and transform travel planning. At its core is a 3D globe that users can rotate to select countries they’ve visited and add destinations to their wishlist.

The journey begins with a user-friendly dropdown interface, allowing users to mark visited countries. As selections are made, a running tally dynamically displays the percentage of the world’s countries they’ve checked off, accompanied by engaging graphics and infographics contextualizing their travel history.

In the next step, users identify their top wishlist destinations, culminating in a personalized, color-coded global map that showcases their past and future travel story. This map is fully shareable, with options to download or post to social media at the click of a button.

To add further value, the system dynamically suggests curated trip packages based on the user’s wishlist. These tailored recommendations inspire future travel plans while providing the Contiki marketing team with a powerful tool to drive conversions.

This feature combines interactive visual design, meaningful insights, and actionable recommendations, offering a seamless way for users to reflect on their travel achievements and plan their next adventures while fostering deeper engagement with the platform.

Real-time coach tracker

We developed the Real-Time Coach Tracker, an interactive map of Europe that brings Contiki’s adventures to life by showing the live locations of all active coaches. This feature is powered by our API integration which dynamically fetches data and coordinates for the fleet of coaches and generates a stylised map consistent with Contiki’s branding.

Users can click on any coach to reveal unique details, such as its community-appointed name, the destination or experience it’s currently visiting, and which trips include that experience – complete with links to the sales pages. General points of interest are also highlighted on the map, with expandable images to inform and inspire would-be travellers. To make exploration even easier, a dropdown menu above the map allows users to select a coach from the list, automatically zooming and scrolling the map to its location.

This feature combines real-time tracking, interactive exploration, and seamless access to trip information, creating an engaging way for users to connect with the Contiki travel experience. For the marketing team, this is a fully automated tool they can use anywhere to promote their trip offerings and convert bookings.

Travel itinerary app

We designed and built a flexible travel itinerary app to showcase tour packages in an interactive and visually compelling way. This app is built as a universal embed with a standalone codebase, ensuring seamless integration into the Six-Two blog and any other Contiki websites and experiences.

The app features a dynamic map that visualizes trip routes, whether within a single country or spanning multiple regions. Users can click on plotted points along the route to discover rich content about each stop, including text, images, videos, catering details, and links to relevant articles.

An overlay box in the top-right corner provides a day-by-day summary of the trip, allowing users to click into specific days for a detailed breakdown of destinations and planned activities. As users scroll through this content, the corresponding points on the map are highlighted, creating an intuitive connection between the route and itinerary details.

At the heart of the app is an intuitive UI within WordPress for creating and managing trip itineraries. Editors can add destinations, events, and rich metadata directly in the block editor, with a streamlined interface that makes it easy to flesh out detailed journeys. Each itinerary can then be exported for use across other platforms, keeping the experience consistent wherever it’s embedded.