Wrap Up: The Power of College Students

After spending the semester writing about marketing to college students, I have discovered a lot about the topic. As I have known from the beginning, college students are a unique demographic with a ton of spending power. Brands are constantly trying to find new ways to market to them because of their intense spending habits. In addition to the amount of money spent, I think that brands and products choose to market to college students because they are aware of the new and current trends. They tend to know about certain things before others, such as new technology, clothing styles, and music. College students are comfortable with using the latest technology. They are obviously more informed than older generations, such as their parents and grandparents, and have the money and responsibility to purchase these things, unlike younger teens and kids. iPods, digital cameras, Google, and even AIM are all newer technologies that most college students are comfortable using and even rely on these things on a daily basis. While recognizing the power of college students, I have learned a variety of ways in which marketing to college students will be the most effective.

College students have busy schedules that are unlike the schedules of any other. Often times they are viewed as being nocturnal, sleeping as late as they can during the day and doing work or partying through the night. They go to classes during the week days and hang out with friends and do work during the week nights. On the weekend, they are busy socializing, partying, and experiencing the college lifestyle. Basically, college students are in their own world. For these reasons, companies have found that using traditional media is often ineffective when marketing to college students. They do not pay attention to media such as radio, newspapers, as well as many magazines and television stations. There are several magazines and television shows that reach a percentage of college students, but the advertisements have to be exceptional if they want students to notice them. College students have “their shows,” which are the television shows that they take a break to watch with their friends. Even if this might seem like a successful way to reach them, companies have to remember that commercial breaks will most likely consist of talking, eating, and not paying attention to the commercials. The ineffectiveness of utilizing traditional media to market to college students has been proven when college students are not purchasing the products. Therefore, this has led companies to discovering new and unique methods of advertising to this demographic.

By figuring out what grabs their attention, companies have originated new approaches when marketing to college students. Essentially, it’s all about creating a buzz on campus. Some brands have discovered how college students pay close attention to their peers. For example, in a blog entry about creating a buzz on campus, I talked about how Microsoft hired student representatives at Boston University to market their product, One-Note. The student reps wore t-shirts with a catchy slogan, handed out flyers, and struck up conversations with other students about the product. Whether students are hired to create the buzz or a buzz is created on its own, students pay close attention to their peers. When walking around a college campus, you’ll notice many of the girls wearing similar clothing, and you will see half the students on their cell phones or listening to their iPods. College students are observers. They notice what others are wearing, what they’re saying, and how they’re acting. Some brands even hire companies to help them create a buzz. Companies such as Mr. Youth and Alloy Media + Marketing specialize in creating a buzz among teens and college students. They use viral and guerilla marketing techniques in order to create a buzz and get a product or brand noticed among this demographic. Even though many college students strive to be different or non-conformists, they are all in this bubble, being bombarded by advertising because marketers know that they have a ton of spending power. In essence, it’s about finding a marketing method that works for a company’s product, but it needs to be new, exciting, and unlike anything else, if the company wants college students to notice it.

Another finding that I have noticed is that companies who aren’t sure how to market to college students are using college students to figure it out. Instead of hiring an advertising firm comprised of adults, companies such as GM and Gardenburger are approaching college students to find out how they can be reached effectively. This method can not only save a company money, but can actually help them reach the demographic. Whether holding a contest for advertising students or approaching a specific college or university, brands are finding various methods to this marketing tactic. Some of the companies offer a reward to the group or college that wins the contest, but for a college student studying advertising, the best reward is pride and being able to put that on a resume. Additionally, college students are coming up with some of the best ways for marketers to currently advertise. For example, it was a group of college students who invented the new “pixel advertising,” in which a company can buy pixels on a website to put a logo that links to their website. The popular college student social network, Facebook, was invented by a college student and advertisers are now looking at it for major advertising. The majority of college students belong to the Facebook and check it at least once a day, making it almost guaranteed that an advertisement will reach them.

My topic connected to what we have studied this semester in audience research because of our media plan project. It just so happened that the media plan topic was spring break, which is marketed to college students. My group had to market to college freshmen for their spring break experience. We chose to market Acapulco as the freshmen spring break destination for a variety of reasons, including that it has the overall spring break package experience that includes both day and night activities. We had to use traditional media for our campaign in 10 cities/markets, but chose our media carefully. For example, advertising on television shows that reach a teen/college student audience and picking websites that are heavily used by the demographic. The project related to my blog in how we had to devise a number of guerilla and viral marketing techniques in order to create a buzz about our product, Acapulco. With everything from a booth at college orientations, a car – wrapped as the “Beach Bug” that would make appearances and later be raffled off at a campus concert sponsored by spring break Acapulco, student reps giving away t-shirts, advertisements in pizza boxes, and bookmarks inserted into textbooks in campus bookstores are just a few of the techniques we chose to use. My blog actually helped me when deciding on marketing tactics for the project because I am now fully aware as to what methods work when advertising to college students. To wrap it up, if a company wants to market to college students, creating a buzz by finding new, entertaining, and interactive advertising approaches is the key to an effective campaign.

Gardenburger Follows the Trend

I recently reported about how GM is using college students to help market the Aveo to the young adult market. This seems to be becoming a common theme, using college students to help market a product to their demographic. With so much spending power, especially in discretionary items, many brands and products want to take advantage of this target market. The issue is that college students are a difficult market to reach, especially since they do not pay attention to traditional media advertising. They need to be pursued and want to be interacted with; therefore, companies are approaching college students and having them create unique marketing tactics in reaching this market.

The Denver Post has reported that Gardenburger is another company that has asked for the help of college students for a new marketing campaign in an article entitled, “CU May Seed Veggie Revival.” When veggie burgers were developed 23 years ago, they were almost impossible to find, mostly limited to organic food stores. Today “veggie burgers are available on menus, in major supermarkets, and increasingly, in college dining halls” (Crowell). Gardenburger has asked five colleges “to spearhead and drive its upcoming campaign and to give the company a fresh outlook.” Colleges asked include, The University of Colorado at Boulder, California State University at Long Beach, the University of Oregon in Eugene, and Columbia University in New York City. Gardenburger approached advertising classes at universities in health-conscious cities and plans to use at least one university for the new marketing campaign, which is planned to launch in the fall. Why college students? Young people are eating a lot of veggie burgers for health and social-conscious reasons. College students tend to be very aware of health and environment issues. Melanie Flaherty, a Gardenburger representative explains, “College students are a ‘natural target.’ They eat the products because they are vegetarian, or for health reasons, or for environmental and compassion reasons.”

Gardenburger is a small company and has to compete with food giants, such as Kellogg and Kraft which have bought out smaller burger companies, such as Boca Burgers and Morningstar Farms. Gardenburger’s 2005 Annual Report stated that the company plans to expand its market from only supermarkets by introducing the product in “sandwich chains, K-12 schools, and college and universities.”

CU-Boulder has a senior level class called Advertising Campaigns, which consists of 15 students who are brainstorming for Gardenburger’s new campaign. They are figuring out how to get CU students to eat Gardenburger products and want to implement some of their ideas before the semester is over. According to their research, “Students said finding vegan meals on campus was important to them. Vegan meals contain no meat, fish, poultry, dairy, or byproducts derived from animals.” Greg Wagner, advertising professor at CU-Boulder commented, “If we come up with terrific ideas, maybe they’ll use us as a test market. Then if (the campaign) works on Boulder they might say, ‘Let’s roll out to other college campuses.’”

This article differed from the GM article in that the GM competition already happened; therefore the campaign ideas were reported. The Gardenburger campaigns are in the works, so the article focused a lot on the company and why they need to reposition themselves (partly due to the fact that they filed for bankruptcy this past October). I find it so interesting that companies continue to approach college students rather than advertising agencies to help them with campaign ideas. I know that it saves them money by not using an agency, but they are trusting students to come up with ideas on how to sell their product. Also, I think that companies figure if they want to get opinions from college students, there is no better place to do it than a college campus. The students can perform research on the product and other students’ feelings on the product, which in turn, helps them with the campaign. There is obviously a trend occurring here and I will once again state that I think that more companies are going to use college students to help them with their campaigns if they want to reach the college student market.

The Rise of the College Newspaper

A Newsweek article from December entitled, “College Papers Grow Up,” was about how some college newspapers have ads, readers, and budgets that match professional newspapers. The newspaper industry has not been having the best luck, which has led to shrinking profits and layoffs, but many college newspapers are thriving. “Today’s premier college dailies – big, colorful and aggressive – are often indistinguishable from professional broadsheets, and the resemblance goes beyond the front page.” Some college newspaper offices are comparable to those of a real newspaper. For example, the UCLA Daily Bruin’s office is lined with over 100 Apple workstations and the Harvard Crimson recently spent $400,000 on color presses and design consultants.

Advertisers are looking to these big time college newspapers to reach the college demographic. Advertisers are aware of the fact that college students are young, educated, brand-conscious, and have a great deal of spending power, with an estimated $41 billion a year spent on discretionary items. An estimated 95 percent of college students read the campus paper, even though professional papers are losing readers. Alloy Media + Marketing, which I have written about in a prior blog entry, links college papers with national advertisers. They work with 1,800 papers which reach about 11.8 million students. Advertising in a college paper can cost more than $2,500 for a one-time full-page color ad, but this is only a fraction of what it costs to advertise in a daily metropolitan publication. Companies that have turned to advertising in college papers include investment banks and technology companies that are looking to recruit potential employees. Additionally, well-known companies such as Amazon.com, Verizon Wireless, and major movie studios are creating national campaigns and spending millions on student daily papers each year.

I have reported in past blog entires about how some people feel that advertising in college newspapers is ineffective and a waste of money. In some cases, that might hold true, but when dealing with publications such as the ones talked about in this article, advertisers are obviously finding them to be successful. The newspapers mentioned in the article come from big colleges and universities, which have large budgets and numerous staff members. The end of the article mentioned that many smaller colleges have just as good-quality reporting as the big schools. Having a bigger budget doesn’t necessarily mean that the journalism will be better. I was pleased that the article mentioned that, coming from a smaller school that has a weekly newspaper. I find that most students read the weekly newspaper here, so I assume that students read daily newspapers at their colleges. Even though newspaper ads are not interactive and do not always empower the consumer, they are guaranteed to have many students who will see the ads. If a company wants to market to the college demographic, newspaper ads definitely seem like an effective method, depending on the college and their newspaper’s reputation.

GM uses college students to market to college students

The Detroit News had a recent article entitled, “Searching for young buyers, GM asks students for ideas,” which was about a contest that GM held. GM was seeking young buyers to purchase the redesigned Aveo, which will be released over the summer. The company wants to increase sales by attracting young drivers who will “become loyalists for life, moving from one GM brand to another as their tastes change and their income grows.”

In order to figure out ways to reach this demographic, GM decided to ask college students for their ideas. 33 college students from across the country competed to come up with the best public relations campaign for the Aveo. The Aveo is the lowest-priced new car in the United States. The students, who are all active in the Public Relations Student Society of America, were split into teams, and only had one hour to devise a campaign and then had five minutes to present their ideas. As the article mentioned, the contest seemed like a student version of “The Apprentice.” Instead of being rewarded with a job, the students won free admission to a Chevrolet-related event, such as a NASCAR race. Several of the groups came up with the idea of promoting the car on college websites such as facebook.com or myspace.com, which I have mentioned before, are social software sites in which students post information about themselves. Many current college students receive news from these sites. In order to advertise on the Facebook, Chevrolet would have to hire a student rep who would post information and run the site. Students also came up with a tagline for the Aveo as part of their campaigns. One student described it as a “small car with a big personality,” which led her group to propose the idea of a contest called, “Why I have the Biggest Personality.” The contest would allow young people to send in homemade videos to compete for an Aveo.

The winning team decided to focus on the fact that the Aveo was not arriving in showrooms until the summer. Many of the teams suggested campus test drives and T-shirt giveaways, which might not work since college campuses empty out over the summer. The winning team pitched a summer road trip for the Aveo, with stops at theme parks, concerts, and other venues. They also suggested the idea that local media be contacted for each stop to help publicize the tour and create a buzz. Additionally, a local at each stop would be chosen to drive the Aveo to the next stop on the tour. The winning campaign also integrated the Internet into their campaign, with travelogue videos, being able to personalize your own dream Aveo, as well as other interactive features.

This article really caught my attention and after reading it, I was amazed at how many of the topics I have discussed in my blog were used in the campaign proposals by the students. I have written about social software, such as MySpace and Facebook and how advertisers are looking to them to advertise to teens and college students. Also, the concept of consumer empowerment was used in the campaign ideas. This newer advertising method is becoming the way for advertisers to break through the clutter. Some demographics are difficult to reach, especially college students, since they do not always pay attention to traditional media. Therefore, consumer empowerment, or putting the advertising in the hands of the customer, seems to be a successful way to reach these demographics. GM’s contest was an excellent idea by putting the advertising in the hands of the demographic they want to reach. Who better to create a campaign than the target consumers? I predict that this will be one of many companies that will allow the consumers create the advertising.

MySpace: The Trendiest Marketing Medium

I receive a daily email called the AAF Smart Brief from the American Advertising Federation which features a compiled list of advertising news articles. This article came from MediaPost Publications and was about how teenagers using social software such as MySpace are promoting brands. Shawn Gold, senior vice president of marketing and content for MySpace.com explained that social networks are “about individuality and identification and connecting with others.” Teens are trendsetters and they like to be the first to know what’s in and to spread their knowledge. On MySpace, teens are incorporating brands into their pages by posting pictures of their favorite products or celebrities.

MySpace is about “empowerment of the individual,” which has become a common theme in marketing and advertising today. Consumer empowerment is a newer trend and social software has become a place for “early adopters” and word-of-mouth marketing. Many users view social software as a trusted form of media. Advertisers have to adopt the tactics of consumer empowerment in order to take advantage of it and somewhat unlearn the tactics of traditional media. For example, several upcoming movies are releasing their trailers on MySpace, and/or incorporating games or activities that empower the consumer. Universal Pictures wanted to create buzz about its upcoming movie “Slither.” They gave fans a chance to create their own 30-second spot for the film and the winning spot will run in one of their television ads. Senior vice president of new media at Universal Pictures, Doug Neil explained, “We’re empowering consumers to be part of the marketing message to spread it virally.”

Brands are beginning to catch on to the MySpace trend. Gold mentioned that Aquafina, the Beastie Boys, and Wendy’s all created accounts. Wendy’s already has 94,000 friends on MySpace and has a variety of features on its page including wallpapers, screensavers, AIM icons, audio, and video. Verizon Wireless, the Honda Element, and Toyota are also among some of the top brands that are developing MySpace pages. What advertisers have to realize is that users do not go to social networks to see advertising. Advertisers have to focus on brand programming that is designed to “catch consumers in their stride as they communicate and connect,” Gold explained. Several brands have taken the advertising route on MySpace including Best Buy, Boost Mobile, and the television show, “Family Guy.” Marketers hope that within the social network, mini social networks will be created based on common interests in brands and products.

Some other facts about MySpace include: As of Tuesday, March 27^th 2006, there were 66 million people on MySpace, with 230,000 people joining each day on average. At the end of the year, it is predicting that there will be about 98 million MySpace users. About 90 percent of MySpace users are from the United States. MySpace is the number two site on the Web behind Yahoo in content consumption. Each day, about 15 million log on to the site, 30 million songs are streamed, 11.5 million friends are added, and 15.5 million comments are left.

MySpace seems to be making the headlines of the news every week, whether positive or negative. This has definitely created a buzz about the social software. MySpace gives teens the opportunity to express and portray themselves in a creative way. MySpace and other social software networks are a great viral and word of mouth marketing tool. As the article mentioned, some brands are creating profiles to advertise to users and other brands are strictly advertising or using consumer empowerment advertising techniques. MySpace is also a great way for new bands to promote themselves and let users learn about them or even listen to their music. A band could even get discovered by a record label by having a profile on MySpace. The possibilities with social software almost seem endless. Once advertisers find the right method to use and come up with a creative idea, I predict that they will consider MySpace and other social software networks an effective medium to promote their brand and products.