Marketing through students' unions

These thoughts from various key players involved in students' union marketing originally appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005).

The vast majority of student marketing takes place within the students' union environment. Here, those involved in students' union marketing talk about their experiences, opinions, approaches and advice when it comes to students and working with students' unions...

Steve Green, marketing director at the Student Media Group, writes:

The "elusive" student market, we like to call it, giving clients the impression that merely communicating with more than a few hundred students is a major achievement worthy of much praise, and of course a large fee.

But let's not be too self-critical. After all, there was a time when the student market was indeed elusive. Not elusive as in difficult to find (students are, after all, conveniently huddled together on the UK's campuses) but elusive as in difficult to reach. Everyone knew where students were hiding out, but only a select few knew how to communicate with them, and fewer still knew how to communicate with them effectively.

Since those dark times (the early 90s) the market has grown up, literally and figuratively. It's size now making it impossible to ignore for companies even vaguely interested in communicating with the UK's youth.

Communicating with students - the good old days
A couple of decades ago the only people who could help companies to communicate with the student market worked for NUS or for the local students' union. NUS and its commercial arm, NUSSL, did a sterling job setting up student marketing as we know it and, more importantly, getting the student market onto the agenda of the few companies that were interested - mostly the high street banks as well as specialists such as STA Travel.

NUS and NUSSL also managed to do something which hadn't been done before; negotiate collectively on behalf of large numbers of students' unions. This meant that local SUs got a better deal, and so were able to provide student essentials such as the night bus and, of course, cheap beer.At a local level, students' unions didn't have any marketing staff and certainly didn't have a marketing department of the kind found in most SUs today. Marketing was looked after by the student officer on sabbatical and perhaps one other. Due to the workload, it was all but impossible to speak to them at certain times of the year; in the run-up to freshers' fairs marketing staff became ghost-like figures, struggling to cope with the nightmare of organising a major event whilst juggling all the other week one activities. Even if you could get hold of someone in marketing, building a relationship was only helpful in the short term because, being sabbatical officers, they were only in the job for a year and then either went back to their studies or off to work.

These days the NUS and NUSSL still provide cheap beer at the SU bar as well as a whole host of other opportunities. At a local level, students' unions now have full-time staff to look after their marketing activities. It's been evolution rather than revolution but the rate of change is picking up and, if all goes according to plan, the next few years promise to be pretty exciting.

Today
There are over 130 students' unions (higher education), students' guilds and students' associations in the UK today, with over 300 staff in the combined SU marketing department. These days there's always someone about who knows what's going on. This is good news because having competent people on the ground is crucial to the development of SU marketing. As in other sectors, clients expect the product they buy to do exactly what it says on the tin.

With permanent staff in place, SUs now provide advertisers with previously unheard-of levels of expertise. They've also started competing on more equal terms with the handful of student marketing agencies promoting media in competition with their own. More SUs now have their own student magazine, which really does have the 'support of the Union' so often claimed by rivals. Many are developing their own promotions teams to compete directly with student brand managers. And of course these SU promotions teams really do have their 'finger on the pulse' and their 'ear to the ground'. In addition, they also have access to the wealth of SU media now on offer - and will be first in line when it comes to negotiating sector-exclusive packages for their clients.

National campaigns
It's not all roses of course and while students' unions do an excellent job promoting their services locally, they face an uphill struggle at a national level because marketing managers working for FTSE 100 companies (or account directors in the case of main agencies) generally want to book high volume media which gives them access to the student market UK-wide. This is where SU-friendly student marketing agencies come in - they act as a shop window for SU media, promoting and co-ordinating campaigns across the UK for clients looking for authorised access to the UK's campuses.

Working in partnership means that student marketing agencies and students' unions benefit from a two-pronged attack, with SUs covering the local market and SU-friendly agencies promoting student media nationally. It's a partnership where, in our experience, everyone wins: clients have a greater choice of national media; SUs are able to outsource the parts of their marketing activity they would otherwise struggle with; and student marketing agencies get to earn a fee for their work coordinating and managing national campaigns.

Student marketing agencies and the one-stop shopThe renewed interest shown by advertisers in the student market has sparked a revival in the student agency start-up business, with a number of new entrants appearing in the last couple of years. Some new agencies survive, primarily because, as recent graduates they, and their staff, can live for over a year on Pot Noodle. With low annual business expenses,start-up student marketing agencies generally sell their services on price, which is a good idea if prospective clients are likely to be tempted by a bargain.

In any case, new agencies (all of us at some stage) are almost always good news for the sector. They shake it up a bit and often develop products which add significant value, thereby improving the standing of student marketing as a whole. Inevitably, some new agencies are unlucky or just not very good, and this can lead to unfortunate setbacks in their development…such as going out of business. This used to be a problem for start-ups but nowadays, whether you're successful or not, help is now at hand in the guise of well-established agencies waiting on the sidelines to "annexe" you.

The one-stop shop
The recent trend towards consolidation in student marketing may not be surprising (everyone's doing it after all) but it is quite interesting. The rationale behind agencies joining forces to provide complementary services is pretty clear and by now we will all have heard the familiar sales pitch:

Clients are more likely to obtain objective 'media-neutral' advice if their agent has no vested interest in a particular media;

Due to the economies of scale which come from buying lots of anything, one-stop shop agencies should be able to provide campaigns for less;

Clients can usually choose to have media-specific contacts, or a single account manager, so managing student campaigns should be simpler;

Multi-media agencies are likely to be larger, better-established and therefore less likely to go out of business in the middle of a client's campaign;

Larger agencies provide access to lots of experienced staff, so clients should benefit from being advised by people who know what they're talking about.

Fantastic for clients then. Great for agencies and, potentially, great for students' unions too.
Some difficulties remain of course. If you're putting together a one-stop shop, either by buying other agencies, or by forming alliances, you need to pick your friends carefully. Unless your budget is limitless, if your hope is to offer potential clients all the main media options (so they never have to talk to your competitors) then there's not much point buying agencies which do the same thing. One student brand manager operation is likely to be enough. And it's probably not a good idea to partner up with agencies offering services which compete with those provided by your clients because that will annoy them. This narrows things down a bit. And if you want to buy (or work with) agencies with an established reputation, which make a profit and are therefore likely to stay in business, you've got about three to choose from. Luckily, for the megalomanically minded, there is another option.

C21 - the online media booking service
Just imagine what it would be like if you could buy all of the most effective media under one roof, for less money, and have your campaigns managed.

Universities and students' unions are currently working together to reach a position where they can offer companies more media options with national coverage, all professionally managed via a network of local, regional and head office staff. Of course, with over 20 different channels already available direct from over 100 students' unions, doing everything is a complicated proposition. Luckily, there's a simple solution in going online.

From our point of view, the best thing about the internet apart from email (which is very handy indeed) is the fact that it's possible to develop promotional tools for lots of different students' unions by copying and pasting all of the relevant media information into a single, easy-to-use framework. This framework is called the Online Media Booking Service and it will be available for everyone to use from March 2005. This is very exciting for everyone.

If you're a national advertiser, you get an online media guide which tells you absolutely everything about SU media - both locally and at a national level. So if you're sat in the head office of a high street bank and want to compare the coverage of the 20 or so student media options currently available, there's no need to phone around - the information's available on your desktop, in a nice graph, alongside a chart showing you "what happens when". Great for campaign planning.

Or if you're a local advertiser you can check what's available from the universities in your city via the university guide. Just select the university of your choice for information on media availability, pricing, lead times, copy format, package deals, basically everything you could possibly need. Download the relevant booking form(s) - sign and fax them back. Confirmation will be sent to your desktop. No messing about.

For the UK's students' unions the media booking service represents a sea change in media booking. SUs will be using the system to monitor the status of orders and bookings (local and national) online in real time. Since advertisers get a unique user ID, SUs can track sales activity and, over time, build up a picture of their clients' buying behaviour. There's also a reporting function which allows SUs to compare sales for different media channels, see what's been quoted against what's been booked and paid for, and adjust marketing activity accordingly. And as staff change knowledge is retained - it's a permanent feature on the server, backed up daily.

Student media development
The student market has been under-funded for years and would (obviously) benefit enormously from higher advertising spend, plus some inward investment from the City. Our objective at the Student Media Group is to help SUs kick-start the process by setting up a virtuous circle of investment and development; improve student media and advertisers will spend more, which will allow us to improve student media etc.


Tim Bodenham, managing director of BAM agency, writes:
Students on the whole are brand-loyal. During their stay at university they are bombarded with new experiences and opportunities. Many have left home for the first time and are getting used to possessing a disposable income. During their stay, they have an organisational body to advise and protect them. This is the students' union.

Students' unions have a direct marketing route to the UK student populous, be it via press, on site, students' union brand managers, SMS, web or any other media. Media that is not endorsed by the students' union rarely reaches its target audience. As this marketing sector grows more and more companies pop up promoting access to the student populous, the golden rule in promoting to students is to always examine the media distribution with the students' union.
Today's student marketing department is far more advanced than ten years ago. Today they communicate nationally on a daily basis, discussing new marketing opportunities and relevant media to their clients. This is helped with new communication tools, including the AMSU AMI intranet [a private communications tool where union staff talk to each other] and BAM's own chat board. If something is happening in this market, within hours all students' unions will have knowledge of it.

In the recent past it was very time consuming and tedious gathering data to organise a national or regional campaign with such a large number of contacts, media and deadlines. For this reason BAM launched an interactive web portal offering students' unions a platform to promote their media to a wide range of companies and help clients compile data instantly.

Face-to-face communications with students are becoming high on the list of priorities of companies who wish to raise awareness of their products with students. Universities can be vast areas and even the smallest hold numerous 'hangouts' for students. Students' unions are constantly organising events such as freshers fairs and balls which, through internal promotions, manage to draw students together in one location.

Students' unions are in constant communication with students at each university, and every student is very well aware of their own students communication media. By no means can anyone say that even through student union media, they will be promoting to every student, but through experience BAM have found that these media and events are part of regular accepted communications with students in each union.

Q&A with Steve Baker, chairman of the AMSU MI (Association of Managers of Students' Unions Marketing Initiative)
For brands that want to succeed in the student market, does the relationship with students' unions matter and, if so, why?
From a union's perspective this is obvious really. Each major university city will have an established students' union and these unions have strong relationships with their students. The unions will all have marketing departments that control the access of commercial companies. The point here is that whoever the brands arrange their marketing with, at some stage someone (either the agency or the company) WILL need to come through the union. If they do not, their marketing ideas or material WILL be removed from campuses all over the country. Either this, or the agency will try other, less effective, methods to reach students.

The unions have a well developed sense of what works in their particular environment. They have identified the best poster sites, the popular meeting places for leaflet distribution and the best attended nights or even the highest footflow days that would enable maximum brand exposure. To ignore this local knowledge is wasteful and sometimes offensive.

How has the union marketing set-up evolved since you first became involved in this area?
I started working in unions in 1999 and over this time there has been a dramatic increase in professionals working in union marketing departments. There has also been an increase in the number of publications and agencies that all claim to be 'the' route to students. Unions are more focused and professional.

What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
Methods and messages need to be simple. If the mechanic becomes overly complicated it becomes difficult to move it from city to city and each union/city will have differing setup.
Are students apathetic? No. They are just different from years gone by. The average student now has to work far more to get through their studies and therefore take the academic side of university life far more seriously because they are paying for it.

What are the biggest mistakes a brand can make communicating with students?
Using the wrong stereotypes. Over complication.

Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
Over the years we have tried new ideas to reach students as it is our job to find the best methods. The major mistake I believe is that you do not need to spend a huge amount of money to achieve good results. The best methods of communication are the established publications and events that are already happening in campuses all over the country. The change for us is to focus on the success of these established events rather than trying to re-invent the wheel every time someone wants to put a new campaign together.

When were you last a student? And how do you think students have changed since you graduated? What evidence do you base your conclusions on?
Students certainly went out more! Every night of the week. Now they limit their nights out and come out later.

Of all the stereotypes about students, which do you feel are most true? And which are wide of the mark?
They are not lazy and unwashed!

What are the frustrations of working in the student market?
Agencies that promise brands everything and never even speak with unions. And the misconception that it is notoriously difficult to reach the student market.

What is your opinion of student brand manager schemes?
A blatant exploitation of students! The student brand managers still have to come through the unions and can get themselves into serious trouble if they do not. They often get asked to do unreasonable amounts of work for very little pay, mostly for the promise that it will look good on their CV.

Who do you see as the key players in student marketing?
How important is NUS/NUSSL? What about student-specialist agencies?
I would suggest that if a brand has the resource available they should go direct to unions. They will save themselves a lot of money and get a far better return for what they spend. The proof of this can be found out by making a few short phone calls to established unions and asking a few pertinent questions of agencies and NUS/NUSSL.

I would also suggest that before ANY brand appoints an agency to do its student marketing they should call a few unions to see if we know about them. If not then it is likely that the message will not reach its target audience.

Q&A with Rob Gofton, sales and marketing manager, University of Plymouth Students' Unions
What are the differences between the youth market and the student market?
I think it is a mistake to even compare the youth market with students as they are very different, to do so would ignore a large percentage of students. The student market is made up from different demographic profiles that go beyond the youth market, such as mature or international students, and it is vital that when discussing the student market we don't forget them. As this blend of experiences and people come together it makes a market unique. It is more experimental, more questioning and more challenging of the information it is given than probably any other. It is these that make it different to every other market.

What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
You can reach the majority of students with the traditional ingredients of humour, sex or beer but this can also alienate many, so to come up with a key ingredient that covers all students is practically impossible. You need to take a step back, look at your product/service and ask who it is aimed at. From this develop your communications plan accordingly. You just have to accept that a successful communications plan for one student may not work for another. Only when you can understand the complexities of the market can you successfully reach it!

Are students apathetic?
I believe this is a common misconception! Students are no more or less apathetic than the general population. The majority of people (students or not) ask: does this affect me? Will I be rewarded in some way? Will it make a real difference? If they can answer yes to some or all of these questions then they will be moved into action. You could argue that student apathy is a reflection on our ability to communicate the answers to these questions.

What are the biggest mistakes you can make communicating with students?
Take it for granted that everyone will understand your message. Universities are microcosms of the population, they just happen to be brought together in a smaller environment. Segmenting and targeting need just as much attention as the 'real' world but most companies forget this. Just because students choose the same university or course as another doesn't make them the same, all it does is bring a concentrated group together.

In your opinion, what are the top student brands? And why do they succeed?
The best student brands are also some of the best brands outside the student market. Those include: Virgin; Orange; Motorola; Barclays; The Guardian. Why? Because they market themselves brilliantly in different segments of the general population and this transfers itself, with some careful promotions, to the student market.

They mass market to students in the knowledge that they have a product or service to match individual student needs and back this up with heavy promotion on a local level. Of course there are always niche companies that aim for the 'traditional' student, but they will never be bigger than those that cross several segments of the student market. Either way, these brands succeed because they have identified their key segments, know how to reach them and in the easiest way.

Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
Mass marketing to students works to a certain level however to communicate with a greater percentage to students you have to use a variety of methods. Students are transitional people, with many at different stages of their life cycle. If you don't recognise this and try to treat them all the same you will not be effective in communicating with them. It is very easy to label all students the same and maybe we want to do it because if we can it will make our jobs easier. Demographic work on segmentation and targeting is vital, our advantage is that we can help companies reach concentrated student segments easier, but they and we still have to get the messages right.

What is your opinion of student brand manager schemes?
We deal with student brand managers in exactly the same way as any company agent so there are no cost benefits. Also, if they believe employing a student gains them a unique access to students then they are misguided. Others regard this as a way to exploit students, my opinion is that with my experience and access to the student market, if I can't find a better, more effective way to spend a company's marketing budget than a brand manager then I shouldn't be here!
My difficulty is to convey this to those companies who employ student brand managers.

What notable developments will we see in the student market in the next five years?
The most important development will be how fees affect universities and student intakes. We'll potentially see more 'local' students (who can save on accommodation costs) and international or mature students numbers may increase. Additionally, I can see more universities working closer with their unions to develop a combined marketing strategy to attract students. Technology such as email, internet and SMS will become the standard forms of communication.

What general advice would you offer businesses new to the market?
Talk to the union marketing manager, each university has its own characteristics in terms of students segments, media opportunities, campus layout, accommodation etc. Only someone who works with students on a permanent basis can understand these and the best way to communicate with them.

Q&A with Doug Anderson, Sales & Marketing Co-ordinator, Bournemouth University Students' Union
What are the differences between the youth market and the student market?
I would say that the youth market is a much bigger area for gimmicks, although the age of the pauper student is well and truly over for the average student, any disposable income seems still to be spent on beer, socialising and clothing.

What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
Originality without a doubt. Students' unions are generally places where there is a huge amount of ambient noise, which means that messages from advertisers and even the union itself can get lost easily and therefore it is important that ideas are original and stand out. Also it is never good to be overly patronising to students as they seem to react pretty badly to it.

Are students apathetic?
Yes, very apathetic in the matters that they see as not affecting them. But we have had more votes this week on a referendum to ban smoking than we have ever had for one of our elections. This shows how some students do not see union politics or indeed politics at large as relevant.
Three words to describe today's student?Image-conscious; pretentious; media-savvy
What are the biggest mistakes you can make communicating with students?Being boring or overly patronising. Also it's never good to be out of touch as trends change so quickly. This is also important for us in unions, we need to know how to communicate and in terms of entertainments, for example, it is important not to get the wrong bands or DJs to play as it will seriously lower your reputation.

In your opinion, what are the top student brands? And why do they succeed?STA Travel have cornered the student travel market even though they aren't cheaper than other agencies. This is due to a dedicated marketing plan that focuses on local unions.

Criminal Clothing. Okay these guys are our clients, but they are constantly evolving and changing their clothing subtly and innovatively as well as making themselves exclusive enough to make it seem cool, but available so that most students can find and afford their clothes.
Asda, not for any marketing genius or planning just because they offer very cheap food to students as well as cheap DVDs, CDs not to mention cheap TVs and other electronics. It's a one stop shop for kitting out a student house cheaply.

Barclays, easy credit card from a bank that has many outlets on campus. They thought about it earlier than most other banks and now have a strangle-hold on campus.Endsleigh Insurance, not surprisingly considering they are part owned by NUS. They appear to offer cheap house insurance for students and again have many outlets on campuses.

Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
I think I have learnt that trying to balance the moral mind of working for a union in terms of not taking certain companies to advertise is hard to manage when you also have pressure to make money for the union to survive in a commercial manner. There is nothing more frustrating than being told your target is higher than last year but you can't take ads from three more companies than you could take ads from last year.

Of all the stereotypes about students, which do you feel are most true?
That they enjoy getting hammered more than anything else: this is without a doubt the truth, having seen the state of them when I DJ.

And which are wide of the mark?
That they don't care about anything. Most students are decent human beings that are in a whole new place and have little or no experience of looking after themselves so things happen. This does not mean that they are anti-social or that they don't care it just means that they are learning.

What are the frustrations of working in the student market?
Local companies not realising that £100 for example is peanuts compared to the money they could make if only 5% of the students look at the promotion and act on it.

What notable developments will we see in the student market in the next five years?
More money as even though fees are going up they don't have to pay any of them while they are at uni so that adds an extra £1000 in disposable income per year. Expect more car drivers, more money spent on clothing and stereos. I think Apple will become a huge player in the student market in the next few years: their marketing is genius and their product is trendy and works well. They also produce student-relevant products.

What general advice would you offer businesses new to the market?
Don't do something that has been done to death. Be innovative and expect to win trust and loyalty - it doesn't just appear. You have to be flexible with students and it is always a good idea to offer a discount.

Owen Parry, Sales and Sponsorship Coordinator, Newcastle University Students' Union
What are the differences between the youth market and the student market?
There is no difference between students and 'normal' people. Our research shows that students do identify themselves as a minority social group however, and campaigns with references to stereotypes can work (as long as they are not degrading).

What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
Common sense, relevance and timing.

Are students apathetic?
This is a leading question, a generalisation and a misnomer. If anything, students have become more driven as the broadening of opportunities in tertiary education has increased competition in the graduate employment market. Students are more mature as consumers, and are more discerning customers of the student union experience.

Three words to describe today's student?
AWARE OF MARKETING

In your opinion, what are the top student brands?
Newcastle University May 2004, O2, The Times and The Guardian

Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
Students will consciously engage with campaigns that resonate with their values, and reject those that don't. They are highly cynical about marketing, but do not necessarily avoid or shun it.

Of all the stereotypes about students, which do you feel are most true?
In general, students see students as DRINKERS (24%) who are POOR (17%) and LAZY (15%). The stereotypical view of students as young and on the cutting edge of popular culture holds more truth than any other views. Students object to being branded as lazy or wacky.

And which are wide of the mark?
Lazy, wacky and in Newcastle, dirty.

What are the frustrations of working in the student market?
Students' unions are intrinsically left-wing. A marketing department is intrinsically right-wing. This combination can be a source of tension and misunderstandings. In the early developmental stages of a fledgling union marketing department, a large majority of the work involves the department marketing itself to the union.

What is your opinion of student brand manager schemes?
We do not support brand manager schemes that exploit students. It is of great concern to us that many of these programmes contravene minimum wage laws. We encourage all SBMs to work co-operatively with the students' union so that we can customise their campaign to the audience at our university.

We do not encourage guerrilla marketing on campus. Guerilla marketing persuades students to break their own accommodation and campus rules and, in some cases, civil laws. I personally feel that deliberately subverting the marketing services offered by students' unions is unfair. Revenues from media sales help pay for financial, welfare and social support services that protect the consumer.

What notable developments will we see in the student market in the next five years?
The biggest change happening in Newcastle is the rapid increase in intake of international students. Both the students' union and the university will have to adapt to provide the same level of support to these people as is currently offered to home students. Our December study identified anguish in many Muslim students, who are often forced to choose between worship and lectures every Friday.

What general advice would you offer businesses new to the market?
Give us a call.