Freshers Festival 2026
Freshers week happens once a year, but the brand habits formed during it last a lifetime. If you aren't in the room, your competitors will be. Freshers Festival brings university and college students from major UK cities together into high-energy, high-footfall spaces designed specifically for brand engagement, data capture, and experiential marketing.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Choose your cities and lock in your space at the biggest events of the Freshers cycle. The perfect opportunity to drive immediate brand awareness, loyalty, and sales.
The original and biggest student event in Scotland! Put your brand in front of thousands of students from Glasgow and across the country.
The premier student event in the capital! Position your business in front of thousands of hyper-engaged London students looking for their new favorite brands.
The ultimate student hub in the North! Connect your brand with thousands of students in the UK’s largest and most vibrant student market.
freshers festival 2026
High-footfall venues, unparalleled engagement, and direct access to Gen Z. Everything your brand needs to smash its Q3 and Q4 targets.
Build your marketing funnel instantly. Run digital competitions, scan QR codes, and gather thousands of valuable student leads live on the day.
Get your product tried and tested. Distribute samples and exclusive brand perks directly to tens of thousands of highly engaged attendees.
Drive instant actions. Put your app, website, or physical service directly into student hands and watch your sign-ups skyrocket in real time.
Your activation doesn’t stop at the venue doors. Back your live presence with targeted email drops and social media campaigns across our network.
Become their go-to choice from day one. Embed your business, restaurant, or venue into student culture right as they start their university journey.
freshers festival 2026
Places are filling up rapidly across London, Manchester, and Glasgow. Secure your spot today to connect with over 30,000 active student consumers this September.
Testimonial
Channel Activations Lead
Freshers Festival 2026
We create spaces students actually want to be in. High energy, massive crowds, and unforgettable experiences mean maximum dwell time for your brand.
Watch what our student community has to say about why Freshers Festival is the absolute highlight of their welcome week. This is the exact energy and engagement your brand will tap into.
EXPERT EVENT SUPPORT
We don't just hand you a floor space and walk away. Our experienced team is here to help you maximise your ROI from day one. From brainstorming high-impact experiential activations and supplying energetic event staff to assisting with data-capture strategy and logistics, we provide the full-service support your brand needs to stand out and succeed in a busy room.
testimonials
Discover what top brands say about partnering with Freshers Festival Group. Real experiences from successful student event collaborations.
Freshers Festival was the ideal event for Just Eat to be involved in because it pulls all the university and colleges campuses together, while also connecting us with numerous companies from an incredibly wide range of industries.
Growth Manager
The Freshers Festivals are really good events. There is a constant flow of people. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be so busy!
Marketing Coordinator
There are tens of thousands of people coming through these doors and these guys are hopefully going to be my future customers. The event is excellent for engagement purposes, our bar is very busy so we don’t get the chance to talk to students one on one but here that is exactly what we can do
Marketing Coordinator
What can I say, I’m speechless, what an amazing experience! Almost 10,000
energetic students over 2 days and some great tunes…
Talent Attraction Manager
It’s mind-blowing. There’s a lot of people, more people than I anticipated – we’ve had a lot of interaction as well!
Marketing Activations Manager
what you need to know
Got questions about working with Freshers Festival Group? Find answers in our dedicated FAQ section for brands.
Freshers Festival is the UK’s flagship student‑marketing company, combining large‑scale freshers fairs in Glasgow, London, and Manchesters with year‑round digital reach. Partnering puts your brand face‑to‑face with tens of thousands of 17‑ to 25‑year‑olds at the exact moment they’re forming new buying habits, delivering unrivalled visibility, product trial, and first‑party data capture.
Our live festivals attract an average of 10,000 students per city from universities, colleges, and sixth‑form centres within a 50‑mile radius. Audiences are 60 % female / 40 % male, highly engaged on social media, and keen to discover new products, services, and career opportunities.
Freshers Festival Glasgow 2026 – 12th September 2026
Freshers Festival London 2026 – 19th September 2026
Freshers Festival Manchester 2026 – 26th September 2026
Before the launch of any campaign we encourage all clients to have an onboarding meeting with our team to understand your brand, campaign requirements, KPIs and what a successful campaign looks like. From there we can support to deliver the campaign needed to achieve ROI. Afterall, we hope to work with you for a long time!
Feel free to contact us here to arrange a call or request our media packs. You can also DM us on Instagram or TikTok through our @freshersfestival accounts.
We work with local businesses and charities through to the biggest brands in the world so have scalable packages to suit all budgets. Drop us a line here and we can send on the Freshers Festival media packs.
As well as exhibition booths at the Freshers Festivals we can support with social media campaigns, email marketing, student & Gen Z influencer campaigns, sampling and more. We can also help you book freshers fair campaigns across the UK including staffing, logistics and marketing activations.
We offer charity rates as well as special support for a limited number of startups so feel free to contact us here for more information.