Marketing to Students - from Reach Students

This blog contains archive material

2009-08-11T21:10:00.003+01:00

This blog stores archived content about student marketing in the UK.

Large parts of it are taken from the 2005 book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide.

It is owned by Reach Students, a marketing consultancy specialising in youth, student and graduate marketing. Find out more here: http//:www.reachstudents.co.uk

Conference: Inspire Student Spend

2008-02-11T15:44:00.000Z

Haymarket’s annual student marketing conference is drawing closer, and this year’s event looks strong on brand representation with presentations from big names like Nokia, HSBC and Channel 4.

For the first time, delegates will also hear from Burger King, Flybe and The Co-operative Group.

The event, which takes place on 29 April 2008, is titled:

'Optimise New Media And Gain The Latest Behavioural Insights To INSPIRE STUDENT SPEND For Long Term Loyalty And Engaged Brand Ambassadors'

If you book before 13 March 2008 you’ll save yourself fifty pounds.

To find out more go to the conference website.

Here's the full programme:

8.30 Registration And Coffee
9.00 Chair's Opening Remarks

Go Beyond The Student Stereotype: Update Your Preconceptions And Tailor Your Campaign Accordingly To Resonate With Today's Sophisticated Student

9.10 Get To Know The Class Of 2008: Keep Abreast Of This Quickly Changing Demographic To Stay Ahead Of The Competition
- What does today's student look like? Refresh your knowledge of the multi-tribe student demographic to engage with this increasingly diverse population
- Apathy and cynicism: why does it happen and how can you tackle it?
- The truth behind skint students' spending sprees: examine the facts and figures of debt and disposable income in the new top-up era. What are the new spending habits and tactics that turn students from gruel to gourmet, snakebite to champagne?

David Lewis, National Treasurer, NUS
Nick Emms, Sales and Marketing Manager, NUS Services Ltd

9.40 Money, Money, Money: Hear An Illustrated Presentation On HSBC's Groundbreaking Online Student Campaign 'Talking Money'
- Maximise your profits by avoiding potentially problematic approaches: find out what the critical success factors were, hear reflections on what could have been done differently and see how this translated into student spend
- See an exclusive snapshot on what students are saying about money in the new top-up era

Lucy Payne, Marketing Manager Youth, Students and Graduates, HSBC
Alistair Lomax, CEO, UNIAID

10.10 The What, Where and Which Of Student Media Consumption: Gain Insights Into Student Time Spend To Make Your Marketing A Success
- What media are students using? They may tell their tutors they are in the library, but where are students really spending their time? Get to know their on and offline habits to find the best environments for your brand
- Which new technologies are here to stay, and which are just a flash in the pan? Get to know the truth behind the trends to make sure your message is absorbed effectively

Tony Foster, Communications Officer, Edinburgh University Students' Association

10.40 Refreshment Break And Informal Networking

11.00 Hear Student Debate On Social Networking As A Marketing Channel
Hear our panel of students' reactions to a series of diverse marketing campaigns. Hear them pull apart what works and what doesn't for take-away tips on what appeals to the student demographic.

Facilitated By: The Youth Conspiracy

New Technologies And New Techniques: Use Fresh Channels To Get Through To Your Student Audience

11.30 What's Hot Right Now: Use New Media For Innovative Up-To-The-Minute Campaigns That Turn Heads And Capture Student Spend
- Podcasts, YouTube, Blogging: what is at the cutting edge of new media, and how can you harness the latest technologies to promote your brand?
- New media: what gets passed over and what makes students sit up and pay attention?
- Students hate space invaders: find out which media areas can be used for skilful marketing campaigns that ensure students view your brand with enthusiasm rather than distrust

Marketing Guest Speaker To Be Confirmed

12.00 User-Generated Sites And Social Networking: They Have Revolutionised Student Interaction But How Can They Revolutionise Your Brand?
- Learn how to make social networks complement your current marketing activities
- Play to the strengths of each individual network to maximise interaction for new and established brands
- Engage the "why should I care?" generation for positive brand affinity and make sure your virtual popularity translates into real-life customer consumption

Steve Forde, Marketing Manager New Media, Channel 4 Television

12.30 Lunch and Informal Networking For Delegates And Speakers: Chat To Students Informally

Web, WAP And Mobile Marketing: Refresh Your Campaign To Capture Student Media On The Move

13.30 Harness The Text Generation: Share Your Peaks And Pitfalls In Our Mobile Marketing Masterclass
- How can you use SMS without immediately arousing suspicion and make your mobile marketing campaign a success?
- Timing targets: learn how to create interest by texting at the right moment with the right information

Will Harris, Marketing Director, Nokia

14.00 Surfing, Searching And Purchasing: Gain Insight Into Students' Relationship With The Web To Create Real Impact Online
- Where do students spend their online lives? Gain insight into student web habits and preferences to make sure you get clicked not blocked
- From email ads to banners and buttons: maximise brand exposure to make students notice you when surfing and searching online
- Online messenger: a unique opportunity to connect to the right audience, or a haven from adverts? Get the right balance to spread the word

Simon Lilley, Director of Marketing, Flybe

Make Students Your Best Marketeers: Work With Students And Universities To Make Your Brand Sell Effectively

14.30 Learn How To Turn Students Into Brand Advocates For Long Term Value
- Generate and sustain brand loyalty by getting inside the student mind
- Be a 'cool uncle' not a 'disco dad': hit the right tone to resonate with students and build powerful connections for long-term brand advocacy

David Kisilevsky, Senior Marketing Director North West Europe, Burger King

15.00 Refreshment Break And Informal Networking

15.20 Case Study Success Story: Revitalising One Of Britain's Oldest Brands To Inspire Student Choice
- Hear how the Co-op brand was reinvigorated to engage a younger audience

Patrick Allen, Director of Marketing, The Co-operative Group

15.40 Learn How To Get Students Talking To Each Other About Your Brand To Establish A Credible Reputation
- Word-of-mouth really works in a campus environment: ensure you're capitalising on concepts which get students talking
- Create credible brand buzz by highlighting USPs and find the best access points in institutions to gain university reach
- Grasp how to effectively double-target: make your campaign stylish enough to catch a student's eye, but authoritative enough to open a parent's wallet

Ian Passmore, Sales and Marketing Director, Endsleigh Insurance Services Ltd
Tony Smith, Head of Marketing, Endsleigh Insurance Services Ltd

16.10 Ask The Questions You Need Answered: Find Out From Our Student Panel How To Make Your Marketing Fit Your Market
- Discover what appeals to students today: is it a retailer that is ethical? Cool? Trustworthy? Innovative? Good value? Or one that just makes their life easier?
- Cut the cringe factor: learn how to tread the fine line between speaking the language that will resonate with students whilst maintaining your professional integrity

Facilitated By: The Youth Conspiracy

16.40 Campus Coverage: Work With Institutions To Hammer Home Your Message And Make Your Campaign A Smash Hit
- Campuses, institutions and organisations: hear how Cobra Beer worked with the NUS to drive brand awareness with students

Will Ghali, Marketing Director, Cobra Beer

17.10 Chair's Closing Remarks
17.15 Close Of Conference

Primark is a top student brand

2008-02-11T11:59:00.001Z

Research from student market specialists Opinionpanel reveals that students' favourite brands are consumer electronic and value brands such as Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Topshop and Primark.

This year Opinionpanel are launching Student Brand Scores (SBS) to investigate preference and loyalty. Highest scoring so far is Apple, followed closely by Amazon, Google and Facebook. There are eight new-media and technology brands in the top ten. M&S food also made it into the top ten - showing even the value-obsessed can't resist Fair Trade Rich Chocolate Truffle Sauce on Strawberries.

For more details about Student Brand Scores and to find out where your brand features please contact Becky Lewis at Opinionpanel.

Beach Break decline Dragon's offer

2008-02-10T18:33:00.000Z

Fans of Dragons’ Den may remember student festival organisers Celia Norowzian and Ian Forshew, who gave an impressive pitch and won a deal with Peter Jones. The confident duo sought investment to turn their Beach Break Live event into a major date on the student calendar.

In an audacious move, the couple actually turned down Jones’ offer before the show was broadcast. Viewers will have been unaware, but a partnership with event and travel specialist Outgoing Ltd, had already been agreed.

The show went out in October, but during the summer Beach Break Live had received some key accolades – including a nomination for Best New Festival at The UK Festival Awards.

This had created interest in the music industry and attracted Outgoing, who are involved with the highly-regarded Bestival event and sell student party packages across Europe.

Celia Norowzian says: “Peter totally understood and accepts that this is a great opportunity for us. When we were frank and open with him regarding alternative options, Peter personally advised us to pursue this opportunity further.

“Peter is delighted to see young entrepreneurs pursuing their dream and agrees that this opportunity should be better for us at the current stage of development.

“We’re going to be working with some of the biggest pros in the industry. After a lot of thought and debate, we decided that the opportunity to work with the people responsible for events such as Bestival and Snow Bombing was simply too good to refuse.”

Peter Jones says: “I wish them all the very best. There are many elements that come together to make the right business deal, and this clearly looks just as good going its own way. We shall keep in touch and they have my number if they need advice.”

New paper for Edinburgh

2008-02-10T17:56:00.000Z

We couldn’t help but be impressed by a new student newspaper that arrived in the office recently. The Journal, an independent title for the 100,000+ students in Edinburgh, is elegant, professional and brazenly serious.

The quality of student newspapers varies enormously across the UK. Which means running a nationwide newspaper campaign can never be comprehensive if you care about where and how your ad is presented.

There are some strong local publications out there, papers that have been established a long time like http://www.epigram.org.uk/ , http://www.varsity.co.uk/home/ and Gair Rhydd.

If you were thinking of putting together a national campaign that uses the best quality UK student media, The Journal would be worth examination.

Contact Devon Walshe, general manager, for more details: Devon@journal-online.co.uk

Sponsor student sports festival

2007-07-11T22:55:00.000+01:00

CalellaFest takes place 30 March to 5 April 2008 in Spain. It’s a multi-sports festival for UK university teams, with marketing opportunities for partners.

“CalellaFest is the leader in its field and inspires massive brand loyalty from its participants,” says Gary I’Anson of organisers Team Link.

“As a result we’ve attracted some great sponsors in the past including the Varsity pub chain, Budweiser and Prozone.

“Essentially, we can provide a captive audience of around 2500 18-22 year olds with opportunities for print, online and viral marketing for potential sponsors and advertisers. This is not counting people who do not actually attend the festival but come into contact with the brand.

“Since 2001, over 14,000 students have experienced a week of seriously social sport and unrivalled after-dark entertainment on the Spanish coast.

“It’s just an hour from Barcelona, a great beach resort and the ideal location for a student tour. Each year we reserve the best facilities - hotels, nightclubs and sports venues - exclusively for CalellaFest participants.”

To find out more go to www.calellafest.com or join them at www.myspace.com/calellafest or www.facebook.com (search: calellafest) for updates.

Alternatively, email students@teamlink.co.uk.

If you think you'd like to get involved in CalellaFest 2008 as an official event sponsor, email g.ianson@teamlink.co.uk for further details.

New SU media packs

2007-07-11T22:53:00.000+01:00

Students’ unions across the land are preparing new media packs for 2007/8.

Among them are Edinburgh, Keele and Brighton.

Contact below to request packs.

Tony Foster, Edinburgh 0131 650 9192
Lee Bradshaw, Keele 01782 583700
Harvey Atkinson, Brighton 01273 642896

Student spelling aint so bad

2007-07-11T22:27:00.000+01:00

Opinionpanel, the student research panel, produce an e-newsletter.

In this month’s we learn that student spelling and grammar isn’t as bad as some complain.

Research showed nearly all students canvassed knew the difference between 'their', 'there' and 'they're' (97%), 'accept' and 'except' (96%) and 'loose' and 'lose' (97%).

There were some words that tripped them up though.

35% of students thought 'necessary' was spelt 'neccessary' and over two thirds of students (71%) thought that 'stationary' was for writing on.

To find out more and read more from Opinionpanel, go here:
http://www.opinionpanel.co.uk/clients/index.cfm

Reach freshers through CD

2007-07-09T16:39:00.000+01:00

The National Student, the independent student newspaper, is currently compiling volume three of its Fresher Sounds CD series. Sponsorship and partner opportunities are available.

The Fresher Sounds series started in September 2004 and has been well received, having exposed acts such as Editors, Forward Russia, The Go Team and Komakino - all before they began to make big waves on the music scene.

James Thornhill said: "The CD continues its aim to bring cutting-edge new music to UK students.

"The National Student is a free paper, distributed in the UK through stands on campuses, in accommodation blocks, bars, clubs and retail outlets. Monthly readership of the title exceeds ¼ million.

"The limited edition CDs will be made available through selected distribution locations and via email application through the publication.

"Potential partners can discuss opportunities, including branding on the CD artwork, within the newspaper, the associated magazine website content and related email marketing."

The CD will be promoted to the UK’s network of student radio stations and also distributed at student gigs.

For more information, contact James Thornhill on 01522 521 211 or james@national-student.co.uk.

The Student Cruise

2007-04-18T21:12:00.000+01:00

Reach Students is delighted to be official marketing partner for The Student Cruise.

If you are a brand or agency interested in getting involved, get in touch with Luke. There are numerous opportunities, from the conventional to the creative.

The Student Cruise is two separate ocean parties taking place this October, one journeying from Portsmouth to St Malo, the other from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

Yes that’s right – a proper cruise on a proper ship featuring 3,000 proper students and a packed agenda of partying and quality entertainment.

The ship’s main stage is being filled by DJs from top house music brand Slinky.

Comedy acts are being delivered by Avalon, who represent the cream of UK comedy talent – everyone from Frank Skinner and Jenny Éclair to Dave Gorman, Harry Hill and Al Murray.

Brands already involved include Red Bull and Ladbrokes Poker.

Already thousands of students have registered an interest in The Student Cruise and media attention has begun.

Next week The Student Cruise begins an on-campus marketing campaign to promote the event.

To find out more about the cruises themselves sail over to The Student Cruise website.

To speak to Luke about marketing opportunities call 0870 199 6495 or email via the Reach Students homepage.

As graduate organisers Ian and David say: “It’s the biggest boat journey since Noah and his ark”.

Diary note - The National Student

2007-04-18T13:19:00.000+01:00

I talked to James Thornhill who runs The National Student the other day.

The National Student publishes monthly during term time; it's a free tabloid newspaper with an entertainments magazine supplement, aimed at all students across the UK.

It celebrates its fourth year in business this month - which is good going, considering the political marketing environment they steppped into.

James said they could never had anticipated the response they initially received when they approached students' unions about distribution. They faced hostility from some.

Some students' union officers considered them an unwelcome commercial rival and a dangerous, uncontrollable voice. One president even told him frankly that he wouldn't allow distribution on campus as he "couldn't control what goes in it".

Fortunately for James and team, things have settled down in recent times.

The paper has continued to pursue its independent agenda and has developed long standing distribution relationships with all the major national accommodation providers, as well as unions, university libraries, campus outlets and other nearby venues that are happy to work with them.
They distribute 100,000 copies of each issue.

To see a copy and find out more, contact James on 01522 521 211.

Visit them online at: http://www.national-student.co.uk

Graduate recruitment website wins “best in class” design award

2007-03-02T11:38:00.000Z

The Interactive Media Awards™ recognise the highest standards of excellence in website design and development and honour individuals and organisations for their outstanding achievement.

Created by the Interactive Media Council, Inc. (IMC), a nonprofit organization of leading web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers and other web-related professionals, the competition is designed to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.

Graduate Recruitment Bureau's website won the award for “Best in Class” in the Recruiting category.

Dan Hawes, Co-Founder and Marketing Director says: “We are delighted to be recognised by a design awards body. We spent six months in research and development with our agency to elevate our site and it is paying off already with higher traffic then ever before.

“We listened to what UKs students and graduates wanted and did it! The site is now able to offer much more to job seekers such as a blog section allowing users to post comments on all aspects of graduate recruitment; a free Graduate Job Success Kit download packed with useful advice from over 10 years in the business; an RSS feed for users to keep updated with new content; profiles of the staff at GRB and of course more graduate jobs.”

Further improvements are scheduled throughout 2007 to secure its position as the strongest graduate job-hunting portal in the UK. “The new site now provides a strong platform to make further enhancements and keep up with demand for graduates seeking a career”.

To read more about our award visit the IMA site.

Beach Break Live

2007-03-02T11:27:00.000Z

This looks interesting...

The student beach break with a festival vibe
A unique and memorable three days, three nights on a stretch of land overlooking the renowned Polzeath beach, North Cornwall.

Emphasis on culture, performance and outdoor activity.

Student prices – tickets £65 (including camping) with return travel by coach from only £20.

The first democratic line up - ticket holders choose the band line-up by voting on their favourite breaking bands.

Where students “create the space”
Universities societies across the UK will showcase some of the UK’s best talents in film, comedy, theatre, surfing, dance etc.

Alongside leading artists
Live music from the UK’s best breaking bands including Baby Head, The Ray Barnaby Quartet, Suzerain, alongside top DJs including Scratch Perverts and Groove Armada (all TBC).

Guest speakers.

Underpinned by a strong ethical message
An ethically responsible, socially sustainable event that informs customers about its values using experience.

‘Fair business’ – a simple business ethic that addresses the disconnect between people and profit.

Contact Celia Norowzian for details of numerous sponsorship and commercial opportunities: 07917 421471.

More ways to reach London students

2007-03-02T09:48:00.000Z

The student marketing environment is more competitive than it ever was, with all sorts of university keyholders and start-up media owners offering new ways to reach students.

Universities are thinking more commercially than they ever have, whether it's about their student recruitment markets or monetising their own assets.

It's a trend that I believe will only grow.

Here's an example. University of London Housing Services have traditionally relied on funding from the various colleges that make up the University of London. They topped this up with income from landlords, letting agents and private companies.

Now they are widening their net to capture broader student marketing spend, offering a range of opportunities to anyone interested in targeting London students, including print, email and web advertising.

They are the largest private sector housing advice service for students in London, with more than 40,000 regular users of their service.

To have a look at their rate card, contact Roland Shanks on 0207 862 8071.

It's clear that universities could exploit their situation and create complete, integrated marketing environments if they wished. To date, most haven't been interested, preferring to focus on the job of educating and supporting their student cohort.

However, slowly we are seeing universities becoming more inclined to consider their students as assets.

Freshers packs - Autumn 2007

2007-01-30T16:25:00.000Z

Running nationwide freshers pack media is a big organisational challenge, which is no doubt why many firms offering it don’t last long.

Student Cents have been offering freshers pack media for at least three years now in the UK, and a few more in Ireland. That’s pretty good going considering the market environment.

They recently put out details of their Autumn 2007 packs.

The success of marketing through such packs often depends on the quality of giveaways included.

Students commonly rip through freshers bags, filtering out the best stuff and dumping the remainder.

It’s worth offering as good a voucher or freebie as you can manage in order to be judged the 'best of the bag' and gain kudos.

Below is the lowdown on Student Cents this year.

It’s worth bearing in mind that there are alternative routes you could take to get in freshers packs.

You could see what individual unions are offering or you could approach a student media booking agency such as Student Media Group or BAM to see what they can put together through unions.

There will be differences in coverage, rates, sponsors and deadlines, so I would recommend investigating both routes to see which suits you best.

200,000 new 18-19 year old students at 85 campuses will receive Student Cents Freshers' packs in Autumn 2007
Student Cents distribute welcome packs to UK students when they arrive as Freshers at campus.

The 2006 pack was sponsored by Gillette and co-branded with Walkers Nobby's Nuts.

These packs are plastic bags with sponsorship on the outside and various promotional items on the inside, either samples or paper inserts (cards/fliers/brochures/vouchers) from companies and services trying to target students/18-19 year-olds.

Student Cents are producing 200,000 Freshers' packs for FE college and HE university students again in 2007 and would welcome involvement from you.

The packs go out in September/October 2007 to 85+ campuses around the UK.

For 2007, Student Cents have had an encouraging amount of interest already at this early stage from a large numberof new potential participants. These are from a diverse range of sectors including phonecards, pre-paid credit cards, discount shopping, mobile and music downloads, food, bingo, insurance, printer cartridges and healthcare.

Many clients, such as Apple, The Daily Telegraph, Pass Plus, Nivea and O2, have been with Student Cents for two or more years. Here is a link to some client testimonials: www.studentcents.co.uk/testimonials.htm

Links to images of the bag and content: http://www.studentcents.co.uk/images/2006bag1.jpg
www.studentcents.co.uk/images/2006bag2.jpg

A 10% discount on rate card is available for early payment before the end of April 2007. Otherwise, a 50% booking deposit is required on booking and final 50% on production of the packs. A weight surcharge might apply on heavier items. Quotes for half pages/quarter pages on request.

The 2006 pack was sponsored by Gillette and co-branded with Walkers and the contents were as below.

Inserts:
1. Dominos flier
2. Apple postcard
3. Brochure (StudentCentsUK including Adobe, TGIF, JJB Sports, The Works, The AA, Walkers, Sony Ericsson, O2, Tenpin/Megabowl, Macmillan, Vue Cinemas)
4. Sponsor insert (Gillette)
5. Pass Plus flier
6. Sony Postcard
7. Dot Mobile A4 flier
8. Telegraph A4 vouchers leaflet
9. Bacardi alcohol calculator
10. Lloyds bank Door Hooks
11. TV Licence insert
12. Play Insert

Samples:
12. Men Nobby’s Nuts/100,000 scratch card for ladies
13. Fishermans Friend
14. Nivea
15. Lil-lets
16. Bodyform
17. Chupa (Mentos fruit)

Contact Student Cents' David Barnes on 01604 754985 for more info and bookings.

Refreshers fairs

2007-01-20T12:18:00.000Z

Nowadays it's very common for unions to run 'Re-freshers fairs' as the second term beging(mid to late January).

These events are a second chance to reach students directly on campus with freebies, deals and products.

Contact your preferred unions to arrange a stall.

Dhammika at the University of Westminster sent through details of their event above.

Most graduates would choose same uni again

2007-01-11T14:54:00.000Z

Do universities make the grade? The class of 2006 thinks so according to a poll by Graduate Recruitment Bureau (GRB).

GRB asked graduates if they would choose the same university again and an impressive 77% said yes.

Dan Hawes, GRB Co-founder says: "This is great news for universities who compete hard to attract students and then provide an academic environment empowering them to fast track their careers."

Reasons the graduates gave for their high level of satisfaction included:

* Excellent facilities and support from staff.
* Really interesting courses.
* Campus life was incredible.
* Made lots of good friendships.
* Top quality facilities.

Those graduates who were disappointed targeted the poor reputation of their institution with employers, suspecting that they were being deselected in applying for jobs based on their universities ranking in the various league tables.

There was frustration at not being successful in applying to study at an institution with a better reputation and teaching standards. Some students were deflated after three years of studying with little to make them stand out.

Dan Hawes says: "This underlines how important it is to not only choose the right course but the right university. The job market is so competitive nowadays plus recruiters are spending more resources on identifying the best graduates so every part of your CV really counts".

The online poll surveyed 2,166 graduates.

For further information contact Dan Hawes on 01273 200411.

Opinionpanel launches speakers' corner

2006-12-20T15:32:00.000Z

Student research specialists Opinionpanel have begun a series of guest articles over at their site. They aim to showcase opinion from industry experts on subjects such as the student experience, higher education policy and student marketing.

First up are Esmee Hanna, a Phd student at Leeds, and Professor Nicholas Barr from the LSE.

Hanna argues that the marketisation of higher education is fundamentally changing student life, leading to the eradication of any radicalism at all.

Meanwhile Barr puts forward a straightforward defence of the current fee system and accuses NUS of encouraging inequality in higher education participation.

Lowering the tone somewhat, look out for a piece from Reach Students later in January explaining how the growth of digital media has revolutionised student marketing.

Flashmobbing didn't go away

2006-12-14T23:46:00.000Z

Remember Flashmobbing, the media-sticky craze of 2003 where large groups of people descended on a public location and acted out a, usually surreal, task?

Most famously in the UK it saw 500 ‘in-the-know’ people suddenly visit a London sofa store to test out furniture.

Well thanks to the growth of social networking channels, the craze has become something of an enduring hobby for thousands of UK students.

They’ve found they can organise flashmob events quickly and efficiently.

As a result, local people in university towns have witnessed a plethora of apparently spontaneous madness.

In June, Cambridge shoppers looked on while a large group dressed in yellow performed a conga.

Loughborough residents were recently bemused when over one hundred students appeared at the foot of a town centre statue and performed a worship ritual.

And, our favourite, the krazy kids of York University confused their fellow diners in the refectory with this random act of Ooga Booga chanting.

Numerous flashmob groups have now appeared across student networks and even one or two official societies at students’ unions.

It’s easy to see the appeal of flashmobbing. With its roots in situationism and surrealism, it taps into a prevalent student mindset. Students may have changed since the days of sit-ins and Monty Python, but they still love being mischievous and confronting conformism in society.

It goes to show: students can and will mobilise themselves for a cause that engages their interest.

Viva la flashmob!

Welcome

2006-12-08T23:19:00.000Z

This is the blog of the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide, published by Reach Students in 2005. Here you will find most of the content from that book, as well as archive articles from the previous title The Reach Students Handbook. Use the 'Labels' on the sidebar to pick out content topics that interest you. It's all free and issued under a Creative Commons License.

Also here is a list of marketing firms and media owners operating in the UK student market. Most of those featured supported the publication of Targeting Students and the aim of spreading awareness and understanding of the £10 billion student audience.

This blog exists to continue updating marketers on the student marketing arena as it develops. It welcomes contributions from those with fresh case studies, market research and resources. We also monitor and report on new media opportunities and marketing channels as they appear and cover the latest issues.

The content here mainly applies to the wider student marketing perspective. If your interest is predominately digital markleting to the intelligent youth market, you will be better served visiting our sister blog at Reach Students.

Enjoy your reading and please get in touch by email with any comments or news.

Luke

See Reach Students for contact details

Today's student

2006-12-08T23:12:00.000Z

Today's student originally appeared in 2005's book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide and formed the introduction.

Students are widely recognised as a valuable audience to engage with. They are at an age when they make decisions that stick with them for many years. Compared with other audiences, the 18 to 24 year-old in full-time education is highly consumptive in various product sectors, such as cinema, mobile communications, music, internet banking, snack food, beverages and healthcare. And although many marketers find it hard to pitch their communications effectively to students, those that get it right often find the response is enthusiastic.

Student marketing has grown significantly in the last ten years and the marketplace has become crowded and competitive. Students have also become more marketing savvy, and any marketer that wants to engage should not underestimate the student's understanding of techniques and motives. The attitude generally of students to marketing is, in part, trend dependent; there was a cultural backlash in the late-Nineties which caught out those marketers behind the pace. Today's student, now fully aware of his or her worth to marketers, assumes an attitude of perceived power, striking deals and often seeking to get one over on the marketer.

Today's student is conscious that there is a literal price to pay for their education. They seek maximum value from the experience, whether that be on a social, academic or personal development level. The shift of funding structures in recent years has turned around the 'poor student' legend; today many students have relatively easy access to cash while at university or college but become poor on graduation when years of debt-accumulation begin to impact and loans stop. Imminent changes in the funding structure is likely to create an even more dramatic contrast between student and graduate finances: students will find university life easier to survive but post-graduation will bring some mighty debt.

Every year the student accommodation provider, UNITE, commissions MORI to find out what students feel about their university experience. The key findings of 2005's survey were:

Students are generally a happy and contented group, enjoying the freedom to live as they want and considering the experience to be worthwhile. On the downside, increasing proportions are feeling stressed since coming to university.

Financial constraints are likely to be adding to the stress factor with little money, debt and the lack of a regular income being the three worst aspects of student life. Trying to juggle studying with other commitments, especially work are also key triggers.

Students enjoy their social lives, a large majority feel that they have good opportunities for social activities, to meet people and to try new experiences.

The pub is their favourite activity but despite a high level of awareness of the risks of binge drinking, significant proportions buy more alcohol than the recommended levels for safe drinking. Similarly, significant proportions continue to smoke and do not acknowledge the risks involved. However, they are more likely to recognise the dangers of smoking cannabis and, especially, using hard drugs.

Despite their vices, more students today care about fitness than in previous years. Seven in ten now claim to care very much about health and fitness in body and mind compared with the four in ten who said three years ago that they spent their spare time playing sport or taking exercise.

Mobile phones with picture messaging are the gadget of choice with males owning the most gadgets overall.

This book takes a look at more of the research findings that help create a vivid picture of today's student in the marketing context, including chapters on advertising that gets noticed, segmentation opportunities and market research techniques. There is also a close look at some specialised areas, such as field marketing, student television and working with students' unions.

In the preceding book to this, the Reach Students Handbook (2003), we predicted it would be a critical year for the big student websites and student brand manager schemes, that new student media such as SUBtv (students' unions plasma screens) would be worth watching closely, and that new innovative methods would be employed in student marketing to engage students.

Since then Virginstudent.com and StudentUK.com have both lost their financial backing, The Guardian has ended its brand manager scheme (one of the most successful in its time) because it feels the idea has been exhausted, and SUBtv has developed into one of the market's most interesting and versatile media. There have been various new advertising ideas employed, projections onto university buildings being a popular one, some of them more gimmicky than others - the fleeting availability of students foreheads for advertising messages springs to mind.

This year we believe that clients will start to demand more accountability from their student marketing, which in turn will either force results or bring more pressure on those at the front line than can be managed. A massive amount of student marketing is eventually realised by or within students' unions, institutions that are not overly concerned with profit-making. They will be asked to deliver more, and inevitably there will be those that can't or won't, encouraging the search for other routes to access the student audience.

Among specialist agencies there is a spirit of co-operation and consolidation that is welcome: the cowboy days that gave this sector a bad name are fading, and experienced student marketers are willing to work together to create a more attractive and rewarding experience for clients.

All in all, it could be the year that student marketing comes of age.

Marketing that cuts through to students

2006-12-08T22:59:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell, Reach Students. Originally published in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005).

In January 2005, Reach Students commissioned the student market research specialists Opinionpanel to find out which marketing campaigns had made the biggest impact on campuses last year. Just over a thousand students from nearly all UK universities were asked what campaign they remembered, whether they liked or disliked it (or had no strong feelings) and whether they had any comments or observations to make. The survey was hosted on Opinionpanel's fortnightly Online Student Omnibus Survey. The results were predictably diverse and required careful analysis to find trends and themes, but there were patterns to be found and they were significant.

From the thousand students polled 196 unique campaigns were mentioned. In many cases specific brands and their marketing were mentioned, but sometimes the answers were generic ("cheap drinks"; "insurance"). 16% of the results fell under three categories: students said they most noticed advertising for "clubs or bars", "students' union events" or "alcohol".

One statistic leapt out immediately: 20% of students said they hadn't noticed any advertising around them at all. They could not remember one particular marketing campaign.

Even if what respondents really meant was they weren't noticing ads or promotions worth mentioning, this is a grim outlook for those desperate to capture students' attention, and it lends credibility to the argument that students are a difficult audience to engage. In a market that is saturated with advertising, from posters in the urinals and plasma screens in the bars, to screensavers on the library computer and leaflets under doors, as well as promotional teams on campuses every month handing out freebies, it is remarkable that a fifth of the audience isn't, apparently, seeing any of it.

Top ten brands
But what brands are getting noticed on campuses this year? How are they cutting through and what can others learn from them? The ten brands most mentioned by students were:

1 Endsleigh
2 Red Bull
3 Barclaycard
4 Malibu
5 Barclays Bank
6 NatWest
7 The Guardian
8 NUS
9 Orange
10 STA Travel

All these names, with the exception of Malibu, have a record of long term, relatively heavy investment in student marketing. They have all spent time creating the marketing mix that suits their products, and they all make use of a number of different channels. The white elephant however is NUS (National Union of Students), an organisation of union affiliates that doesn't really market to students as such; students who answered "NUS" are more likely referring to the marketing of their local students' union - bar promos, welfare campaigns, club events etc. That said, the NUS brand, although somewhat damaged in recent years, undoubtedly retains strong recognition among the student cohort, even if many are unsure what it stands for.

What makes Endsleigh the most recalled brand name so far this year among students? Disappointingly there's no secret or shock explaining their achievements; it's based on long term investment and hard work. Stuart Wartalski of the company says: "Endsleigh has been the official insurance service for NUS since 1965 and during this time the brand has become synonymous amongst students and their parents. We pride ourselves in offering products that are tailor-made for students including car insurance, travel cover as well as possessions insurance.

"For the past 20 years or so we have repositioned our brand and developed our product range so that graduates continue to use Endsleigh throughout their careers. 80% of our clients are now career people, whilst at the same time we insure more students than ever.

"Endsleigh ran its usual freshers campaign in September and October 2004. Our activity has been fine-tuned over the past 40 years and includes every conceivable marketing channel. Having 500 sales staff around the country is the real key to our success. They are able to negotiate significant marketing packages with universities and students' unions. Of course the campus branches themselves play a vital role, not just at freshers but all year round."

The Malibu factor
The presence of Malibu provides a fascinating suggestion as to the source of success for the other top brands mentioned. Malibu are new to the student market. Their campaign, Shake It Like Shaggy, was a high profile piece of experiential marketing that saw a 35 foot inflatable Shaggy (the Jamaican singer who promotes the rum drink) tour the UK's biggest universities by night, encouraging students to compete to see who had the best dance moves. Free Malibu-and-cranberry mixers were served to all who took part. It was a campaign with strong pre-event publicity, which was effectively delivered and enjoyed, and then fondly remembered by students. It created a buzz.

Students who mentioned this campaign as the one they most remembered (they represented a variety of universities) were likely to also make
comments about it: "It was appealing, amusing and I like the drink" said one. "Because it was fun" said another. ""Free stuff, good product, unique style of promotion" said another. 'Fun' was a word often used.

Matt Williams of NUS Ents, the entertainments arm of NUS which delivered Malibu's student campaign, provides some further insight:

"Malibu's extensive activity on campuses over the last year provides a fascinating example of successfully using a sophisticated experiential marketing campaign to build a strong relationship with consumers and position the brand's values.

"Over the last two years Allied Domecq [the owner of the Malibu brand] has undertaken a massive campaign to change the perception of the Malibu brand amongst the youth market and encourage reconsideration and new consideration. Core to this activity has been their work within the student market, after Allied Domecq identified this area was key to success.

"Why did they target the student market? Firstly, because it is full of 18 to 21 year-olds - their target audience. Secondly, the student environment allows a brand to own nights in what is a relatively closed, captive audience - and provides the opportunity to reach large audiences of between 500 to 2500 in one night. Thirdly, NUS venues are actively looking to work in partnership with brands to deliver great nights that increase sales, getting fully behind promotions giving best value to brands.

"Allied Domecq and their advertising agency worked closely with NUS Ents/Making Waves, and in consultation with NUS Services and the Portman Group, to design a campaign that would work within the student environment while harnessing relevant aspects from the Malibu global tool kit. Key to this was the use of worldwide pop star Shaggy, who as Malibu's global brand ambassador embodies the brand values of 'Seriously Easy Going'. Finally, following research that showed Malibu and Coke was often considered too sweet, every serving delivered was a more refreshing mix with cranberry, ice and a slice of lime.

"In 2004 the Malibu 'Seriously Easy' campaign took place at 71 universities, consisting of 143 events and had an estimated reach of 568,000 students. Phase one was called Malibu 'Noise' Activity. During the week leading up to the parties, 10 of the largest unions were visited by a 35 foot inflatable Shaggy, that's 4 stories high!, ably assisted by a team of Bo' Selecta!-style Shaggies handing out Shaggy masks promoting the events and an online competition to win a "Seriously Easy Grand'.

"In phase two, students' unions were transformed into 'Seriously Easy Parties'. After being greeted by Malibu promotional staff, students passed through the 'Seriously Easy Going O'Meter'. If 'Seriously Easy Going' enough they were immediately given Malibu VIP passes entitling them to one free and one half price Malibu and cranberry - as well as stick-on Shaggy beards! If the buzzer went off, promotional staff asked tongue-in-cheek questions to check the 'Seriously Easy Going-ness' of students, and then gave them their VIP pass.

"Once inside, Malibu and cranberry flowed from a fast-track bar and the venues and bars were branded as 'Malibu world'. Crowd interaction was key. DJ shout-outs announced games including promotional staff taking pictures of customers with Shaggy (cardboard cut-outs that is) as well as inviting students to 'Shake It Like Shaggy' to win prizes including Malibu coconut lip balm and exclusive Shaggy CDs.

"In phase three, to increase awareness of the events, a comprehensive media campaign was carried out across 75 student publications with a readership of 738,000.

"Phase four saw Malibu post-event activity take place. Immediately following the events a scratchcard promotion began, with prizes ranging from Malibu flip flops and t-shirts and a life-size cardboard 'Shaggy' to a £1000 shopping spree at Topshop.

"The results saw 82,474 students sampled. 35,934 students bought a half price drink; Malibu experienced 9% growth following the beginning of the activity and is now the third biggest brand in the student spirits market, challenging Jack Daniels [NUSSL figures].

"HPI cardinal, the independent research agency, said: 'Of all promotions on campus Malibu had the highest spontaneous recall. 75% of the attendees knew the night was going to take place before attending. 90% of students rated the events excellent, very good or good and 70% of students recognised that Malibu was the brand 'for people who know not to take life too seriously'. 38% of those who attended concluded they were much more likely or more likely to drink Malibu."

Why is field marketing better remembered?
Looking again at the top student brands listed, you realise that field, event or 'experiential' marketing forms an important part of all their approaches. These brands all take their products out to the students and attempt to engage their interest face-to-face. Red Bull use similar tasting events to Malibu. Endsleigh and STA are stalwarts of the freshers fair. Barclaycard are on the road up and down the UK all year round, signing up students for accounts and offering incentives. The Guardian and Orange are innovative and often change their strategies, yet they generally include a field element. The banks, Barclays and NatWest, are also regulars on the freshers circuit - though NatWest is generally considered to have a higher profile than Barclays in the student market and it is likely that many of those referring to Barclays actually meant Barclaycard, a far more ubiquitous brand in student marketing.

It would be short-sighted though to assume that field, event or experiential marketing is essential to a brand's success with students - what also unites the top ten names is the fact that they all spend relatively highly on student marketing. But it can obviously play an important role when it comes to brand recall, and the relentless touring of these heavyweight student brands suggests that they have realised this through years of investment.

In some instances this form of marketing may be the difference between making the top ten and missing it. Orange, one of the first into the student market with its music tours and, later, high brow debates, has certainly lost ground since competitors joined them with their own on-campus activities. It has suffered a 9% loss of student custom between Summer 2003 and Spring 2004 according to research by SUBtv/Social Research Associates, conceding the position of favourite student mobile network brand to O2.

Why does face-to-face marketing seem to resonate so strongly among students?
Job Muscroft, a director at student marketing firm Face, says: "Because it's the most personal media channel. It enables brands to engage with students on a one-to-one basis with truly interactive campaigns, where students can experience both the product and brand values of the company first hand and receive immediate feedback to their questions."

It's not only popular with clients because it works with the audience, says Muscroft. "It can also be used to fulfil a range of marketing objectives by all brands that have a quality product that is relevant to students' lifestyles. For example our clients include high street banks that need to sign up new customers, mobile networks that have created music events to increase brand awareness and demonstrate new handsets, and newspaper and drinks companies that sample their products to drive sales growth in conjunction with student price promotions."

Muscroft's tip for making this type of marketing work is to focus on the quality of the message delivered on the day, in the field: "In our experience the brands that get the most out of these types of campaigns are those that are prepared to invest in tailoring their creative and consumer proposition to make it relevant to the student market and those who focus on making their face-to-face campaigns as interactive as possible."

Later in this book Chris Johnstone of the Campus Group, which has run campus events for the likes of O2 and The Times, explains the fundamentals of working with students in the campus environment.

Red Bull still has wings
The continued high profile of Red Bull, a brand operating in a particularly fickle drinks market, seven years after it launched, is remarkable.

Students in the research volunteered comments such as "Fun", "Fun and unusual - made you ask what was going on", "Unique" and "Impressive design on minis" when explaining why they remembered Red Bull marketing before all others.

Elsewhere in this chapter (see page 25) Tony Harbron, who came up with the much-imitated student brand manager idea in 1997 and used it to successfully launch a flagging Red Bull, explains the birth and development of that unique marketing channel.

What students liked and disliked
Of the students asked what campaign they had most noticed, 31% liked the campaign mentioned, 9% disliked it, and 60% said they had no strong feelings. A total of 375 students (38% of the sample) volunteered additional information about the reason for their choice.

Among those that had positive comments to make, the words that most often appeared were: fun or funny (or similar eg amusing); informative; clever; and bright or colourful. The words most often occurring in negative comments included: annoying, pushy, aggressive or intrusive. Most of the negative comments were directed towards those promoting financial services; the ever awkward relationship between students and debt, and the increasing need of students to seek financial services in order to survive their studies, is bound to create tension.

Precise use of humour was clearly the winning factor for many campaigns. Those with serious messages to communicate might have assumed they faced a harder challenge, yet the research showed that public information does get through and even gets recalled first (7% of students questioned remembered public information campaigns above all others). Campaigns that struck a chord included safe sex cautions, mumps vaccine awareness, drinks spiking warnings, anti-smoking initiatives and requests to give blood. Marketing that offered careers advice was also popularly mentioned.

What makes a top student brand?
In the book preceding Targeting Students, the Reach Students Handbook, we published a list of the top ten students brands. The list was based on the opinion of those working in the market: brands that communicate their message precisely; brands that invest in the right media at the right times; brands that students talk about; brands that are prepared to invest money and energy to get results. It was an unscientific poll, yet six of those that featured also appear in this more methodical top ten: Orange, The Guardian, STA Travel, Barclaycard, NatWest and Red Bull. Students and student marketers are recognising the same brands as successful. Tellingly, the brands on both student marketing lists have good budgets; no brand slips in through the back door.

So what campaigns did students refer to? In the case of Orange, it seems that - once again - it was the on-campus activity that stuck in the minds of students. Most comments referred to a wallet giveaway promotion: "I found the promotional material handed to me useful, as the wallet previously holding my ID had broken"; "Because they gave us free wallets"; "Free stuff". There were also positive comments about use of humour in Orange ad campaigns: "Comedy content"; "The characters were funny and likeable - made me look"; "Funny".

Sheraz Dar, Senior Acquisition Manager at Orange, provides an insight into the brand's approach: "What we try and do is give something to students without there being any catch involved. We don't approach them wanting to sell them something, we want to create a relationship so that next time they decide to buy a phone they will have empathy with our brand and think of Orange.

"We put on music events with artists who students can relate to. We will have examples of our technology on display at the events for students to find out about, but we won't have sales staff there trying to sign up new customers. The students have come out for a good time and we want to help them enjoy themselves; they won't change their mobile on the night - it doesn't work like that - but they should go away feeling positive about the brand.

"We don't want to put on an event that students really look forward to and then spoil it for them by selling."

Orange talks to students, no strings attached. When the student is ready to buy, Orange ensures the products they need are there. "You do have to back up your marketing with a product that students actually want," says Dar. "It's not all about creating awareness and empathy, it's also about making sure you offer the right product and services. Today the phone is more than something for making calls on.

“Many people don't wear a watch because they have the time on their phone. Mobile phones are for texting, for sending pictures, for getting information. New services are joining the list all the time. Students readily adopt and want to engage with these services, so long as they find them useful. We deliver products that students want."

Meanwhile over at The Guardian, the marketing ethos is grounded in the newspaper's liberal agenda. Marc Sands, marketing director, explains: "In my view it would be a disappointing and scary world if everybody only read either the Telegraph or the Mail. The Guardian has a remit about reach and influence, we're about ensuring a more progressive, liberal perspective is conveyed to as wide an audience as possible.

"Newspapers clearly have a role in shaping opinion. The point at which a person leaves home and goes to college is a period when they are at their most influential and influenceable. It's a time when they make decisions that are key, some of which stick with them for many, many years. So there is a window when people are making massive decisions. Students are an audience to whom our message should be receptive.

"From an ideological perspective, it's crucial that the student audience is open to the message of the Guardian, even if they choose not to adopt it."

The Guardian relied for several years on a student brand manager programme to deliver results on campus. Student sales eventually started to drop, but it seems a fresh approach (the scheme has been dropped in favour of a unique 'Guardian Student' newspaper, available at students' unions) has stimulated interest. Student comments on Guardian marketing included: "It was interesting, informative and not patronising"; "It was a free, decent paper"; "It is informative but not pushy"; "Well represented, offer cheaper newspaper"; "It was clever".

At STA Travel, PR manager Louise Clark summarises the leading student travel agent's approach very simply: "We're young at heart." Students in the survey said about STA marketing: "It offered deals that appealed to me in a fun, young and vibrant way"; "I love travelling so it allowed me to see what is out there"; "I just don't mind [their] advertising".

"We are one of the biggest investors in student media," says Clark. Indeed, it often seems that wherever there is a student-orientated publication, event or promotion there is an STA presence. "We'll be at 150 freshers fairs this year. We'll be running Student Travel Week again - that's a solely student-focused promotion that we promote heavily through student media. And I will be offering some more press trips - I took six student media editors to Brussels recently. I should get six articles out of that."

Few marketers would think to take a group of student journalists on a European jolly. Although things are changing, they too often expect to satisfy student media with the scrappiest of scraps. The only exception is in music plugging where it is common for student journalists to be offered one-to-one interviews with high-profile acts and receive advance CDs at the same time as the regular music hacks. STA's enlightened take on student market PR - essentially treating student media with respect - brings them rewards.

The company employs two staff to look after relationships with student media. The staff deal directly with editors and union marketing managers every day and ensure at least one press release is sent to them every week. This direct contact is appreciated by student media, as is - obviously - the large amount of money being driven into the union. An investment in student media is also a donation. It pays for more pages, better resources and training courses. The majority of student media is union-run, meaning they are non profit-making.

Have a long-term strategy
"If you're looking for a quick win," says Sheraz Dar of Orange, "it may not work. Brands that are popular with students have normally had a dialogue with them for some time."

It is a peculiar phenomenon. If any market could provide a quick win, the student market should be it. After all, almost a third of its customer base is replenished every year with fresh imports. In the space of three years the entire student audience has changed. But no, brands that have taken a short-term approach to student marketing have consistently suffered, while those that invest year-on-year have reaped the benefits. The results of this survey prove that.

While students move on after three or four years, the marketing produced for them leaves a legacy. University and students' union personnel - who don't necessarily move on so quickly - are still on campus remembering, for example, the Orange Student Tour or the STA stand at freshers fair. The profile of those brands remains high among the people who run services for students. When Orange turns up to do an event, staff welcome them back. When STA arrives at freshers fairs, new students have been briefed by those who were there last year that the stall is not to be missed. The brands are familiar and everyone on campus is comfortable with them.

Brands that have operated in the student market for a long time have learnt lessons. They have got their marketing down to a fine art. The success of Orange, The Guardian and STA has no doubt come from many years of evaluation. This is certainly the case for The Guardian and STA who, between them, have over 50 years experience marketing to students. Nat West, also on the list of remembered campaigns, has been targeting students seriously since the 1970s.

Understanding of audience
"Students prefer to discover things for themselves," reveals Sheraz Dar. "Be it TV programmes, be it bands, be it the first time they choose a mobile phone, if you try too hard to overtly target them they will look at you and think 'You are overtly targeting me'. They won't like that - they'll look for a brand that's cooler.

"Students are very sharp, very marketing savvy. There's a fine line between engaging with them and appearing to try too hard."

At STA they have used their knowledge of the changing student
demographic to shape the direction of their business. "We're doing packages now," says Louise Clark, "which is revolutionary. We're also offering Global Clubber - trips to the clubbing capitals with discounted entry to the famous clubs. We have to think more widely. Students are so savvy, they've got so much choice. The research we've done shows that students take one independent and one package a year, plus a city break. We have to provide for all their travel needs."

The Guardian's Marc Sands explains the main reason today's students are different: "By the time a student is half way through their second year they're starting to think about what they might do when they finish. It's a fundamental change. When higher education was funded by the state you had time to luxuriate in your student life and get severely into the subject you were studying. If you're being asked to pay such a lot more for education, I think it radically alters why you choose to go to university and what you do when you're there."

Red Bull - a student success story
Tony Harbron of Campus Media explains how Red Bull exploded into the student scene and gave life to a flagging brand

The first launch of Red Bull in the UK in 1996 was a bit of a pig's ear. The brand had achieved considerable success in Europe - specifically Austria, from where it originated - but the UK market just didn't get it to start with. We had Lucozade thank you very much; that was the only 'energy' drink we needed and nobody understood that Red Bull was a different type of product with a different functional difference.

The original advertising campaign, which featured the ubiquitous Chris Evans, didn't articulate what Red Bull was exactly, and consumers were confused. Also the drink was listed originally in supermarkets where there is great commercial pressure - if you don't fly off the shelves it isn't long before you lose your space. For a product all about giving you a mental and physical boost quickly when you need it, this was completely the wrong environment to launch into.

Red Bull were in trouble and they recruited Harry Drnec, who had been behind the Sol phenomenon [the bottled Mexican lager that was hugely popular in the late Eighties and early Nineties, served with a slice of lime]. Harry was an associate of mine and he asked if I could help. I was a brand strategist.

We believed the European success could be matched in the UK - after all, the promise of quick boost has universal appeal - but to do so we really needed to start the whole process again. Changes were made at every level to communicate what the brand offered functionally, get it into the right kind of distribution, and build the same brand positioning that was being developed in other markets. One fundamental change we made was adding the word 'stimulation' to the name rather than 'energy'. It became 'Red Bull stimulation' and suddenly that said a lot more about what the drink was about and instantly people (especially the trade) started to get the
difference between Red Bull and Lucozade. We recognised that there were two roles for the drink in terms of its relationship with consumers: the role as an energy drink, providing a sugar and caffeine boost when needed; and
the role as a stimulating drink when mixed with a spirit. We built
distribtution in places people would be able to get a cold Red Bull when they needed it including petrol stations, newsagents, clubs and late night convenience stores. And we identified some core consumer groups we thought were ideal targets for the brand including drivers, athletes, commuters, clubbers and students.

We were convinced that students could become a new core audience for Red Bull marketing to complement their 'work hard, play hard' lifestyle. We realised that in order to spread the word it was absolutely essential that we worked with insiders - the brightest, most influential students who could become ambassadors and brand champions for Red Bull within their individual university communities. Our vision was to get together some young marketers who were interested in getting involved in the spirit of the brand, who could help us build an understanding of Red Bull and spread its imagery. At the time this idea had never been considered before and we had no idea if it would work. But, to the credit of Red Bull, the senior
management all the way up to owner Dietrich Mateschitz showed complete faith and backed us on the strength of our gut feeling.

We developed a job description for these brand champions, who we named 'student brand managers'. They would be responsible for building awareness on campus, informing us of student opinion and changing attitudes, improving visibility of the brand, which included talking to outlets and offering them merchandising, and identifying potential new outlets. They would run focus groups and deliver a report of their experiences.

Our idea of a student brand manager was, and still is, someone who will build the brand intelligently. This is not someone who simply puts up posters and hands out flyers - that is straightforward promotion, and when we offer that service to clients we call it that. Our idea of brand managers sees the student get completely involved in the marketing experience, which includes getting the kick backs as well as the successes. It is a relationship of shared investment. In the case of Red Bull, we took a team of students to Austria to learn about the work and see the brand as a success before they began their commissions.

The Red Bull scheme turned the drink into a phenomenon. It's incredible that the brand is still achieving the same recognition and success six years later, and as far as I know the scheme that Red Bull run is still centred on the same principles that we founded it on.

After Red Bull I went on with my business partner to create Get Real!, offering similar schemes to all sorts of brands. We are now part of the Campus Media group.

Brand manager schemes have become huge as everyone has sought to tap into that success, but they have also become quite hard-nosed, with clients sometimes perhaps a little too focused just on measurable results at the expense of some of the amazing but less tangible benefits the programmes can achieve. We find that those who relax and concentrate more on brand perception get far better results. Our current client, Jack Daniels, has much the same holistic and open-minded attitude that Red Bull had and they are doing some fantastic work using student brand managers and getting superb results. They run taster nights and PR events where student opinion formers are invited to an 'Evening with Jack', as well as conducting research, monitoring trends and running promotions in the off-trade. Jack Daniels have integrated the student brand manager programme fully into their wider brand marketing activity and are reaping the benefits, while the student brand managers involved are all entitled to submit their work to the Chartered Institute of Marketing for a career development award.

There are lots of schemes run now on UK campuses, but it doesn't matter how many there are, it's about how well you run your programme and what you do with it. They are difficult things to co-ordinate and require a lot of time and sensitivity. In our opinion, the programmes have to be developed to create a 'win-win' scenario for all parties involved, including the wider student community as well as the brand managers and the clients. You have to bear in mind the role of the students that work for you too - this is not the most important thing in their lives - and offer flexibility around their other commitments. There are lots of factors to consider and you only succeed when you judge them all correctly. But everything I've seen since that original Red Bull programme has reinforced the understanding that if you want to carry out marketing activity in 20, 30 or 40 student locations you need someone who is a real part of your team to provide intelligence, monitor it or carry it out and report back the results. Someone who is completely committed to what you want to achieve. I would never do any activity on a campus without such an available contact.

Making student marketing budgets accountable

2006-12-08T22:35:00.000Z

Guest article by Ben Marks, Opinionpanel. First published in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005).

Ben Marks set up Opinionpanel in January 2004 in association with Professor Martin Collins, former Chair of the Market Research Society and leading writer on research techniques. Ben has over fifteen years of marketing and market research experience and an MBA from City University. Opinionpanel Research runs The Student Panel comprised of 22,000 students in UK higher education.

Here he explains why he set up Opinionpanel, the first online research panel dedicated to the student market, and how it could help deal with one of the key issues in student marketing: accountability...

Student marketing budgets have, for too long, been unaccountable due to a lack of access to quantitative research. Over the last year, The Student Panel has made quantitative research among students affordable.

For many in student marketing, market research simply means thinking back to being at university. For the more analytical and those prepared to accept that times change (and rarely has there been more change in higher education than over the past decade or so) market research often means the focus group. These have reached almost mythical status; politicians - and marketers - announce no changes unless their plans have been shown to 'research well' in groups.

But while focus groups are ideal in certain circumstances, they simply cannot answer many of the important questions. If you need to determine your market size and share accurately, measure the effectiveness of your campaign and compare it to the national norm, segment your market, benchmark against competitors, run opinion polls, test customer satisfaction or measure brand awareness, you really have no alternative to quantitative research. Yet in the student niche, quantitative market research methods usually get overlooked.

For example, as we reach a tipping point in the PC market, it is quantitative research that is best suited to provide time-sensitive, market share data. We researched a representative sample of 1031 students and found that today, more own laptops (38%) than desktop PCs (37%), and an astonishing 22% of students own both a laptop and desktop PC. With the rapid proliferation of wireless hotspots on campuses and in halls, it seems mobile computing is finally coming of age amongst students, and marketers need to know these kinds of 'hard facts' as they happen, not a year later, and not through an anecdotal sense that laptops are becoming popular.

The reason quantitative methods have been neglected: there simply hasn't been much available on students. While the general UK consumer market has plenty of independent sources for tracking and market measurement, they have all tended to let students slip under their radar. Long holidays, variable work hours, frequent home moves and a lack of fixed line phone contacts have conspired against representative samples appearing in (supposedly) UK representative research. In terms of research tailored specifically for students, very little has been developed, either for ad hoc or continuous work. Research firms have traditionally baulked at making big investments in what they see as niche market (despite the spectacular growth in recent years). Finally, samples of students that are specially recruited tend to be either of poor quality (just a few sampling points on each campus at a small number of universities) or time-consuming and extremely expensive. The result: students have become a research blind spot.

This has been bad news for student marketing. It has led to a proliferation of 'best guess' marketing strategies based on the unsubstantiated claims of media owners. It has meant substantial marketing investment in the student market that has not been made accountable - which has led to some spectacular failures over the years. It has meant marketing has been heavy on implementation and light on analysis, planning and control. Not a very fertile business environment; and where angels fear to tread…

Most of the bespoke student market research services, in the past, have been provided by media owners and marketers with big student subscriber lists. They have tended to fail due to a lack of independence, lack of expertise, unrepresentative lists and importantly, subscribers who got fed up with providing free research for companies they were contracted to for other purposes.

Opinionpanel is different because we are specialists, independent and fully accredited. We have the only fully representative online sample, with over 22,000 students covering almost every one of the 170 higher education institutions in the UK, and large enough to provide robust coverage for almost every sub-group: sex, ethnicity, type of course, individual institutions, etc. They are all pre-recruited through agreement with UCAS (the UK's central body for handling university applications) and word of mouth.

Face-to-face recruitment on campuses fills quota gaps, making the panel nationally representative. Each panellist has actively submitted a detailed joining questionnaire, is rewarded by Amazon vouchers, and receives regular feedback bulletins. Our panel members are never approached for sales or marketing purposes. Rigorous security procedures mean there are no multiple identities and every panellist is a 'real' higher education student.

There are two ways to use the panel. Our Student Omnibus Survey reaches a representative sample of 1,000 students once a fortnight. Clients can place as many questions as they like. Recent questions into student drinking habits found a diverse picture. Once upon a time student drinking patterns were straightforward: beer (and lots of it) at the students' union. Today most students start drinking at home before a night out. And while the students' union is still popular, it's no longer the automatic choice, with local pubs and style bars playing an important part of nights out. Our other main service, The Student Access Panel, allows researchers to reach any profile of students at any time. Fieldwork normally takes three days and response rates are typically above 60%; 'clicking through' is minimal and open ended questions yield rich detail.

So let's consider how it works. How, for example, can you determine your market size and market share? A questionnaire that addresses issues of spend, usership and brand preference allows market size and market share to be logically inferred. At Opinionpanel we set quotas for year group, university type and gender, made nationally representative using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency [HESA]. And we can easily set quotas for many other discriminators such as course, degree, social grade, region, ethnicity, etc. Because our samples are representative, we can multiply up to obtain market size and share. So we offer a unique capacity.

In terms of tracking student opinion, The Student Panel has evidenced a dramatic change in student political views, highlighting just how volatile and dynamic this market can be. The Student Panel carries out continuous research into student voting intentions, and has built up research over the past year. Heading into the 2005 general election, we've noted a fall-off in support for the Liberal Democrats from 40% to 31% of the student vote, with a concomitant rise in the Labour vote from 20% to 28% between August 2004 and February 2005. Voting intentions are just one of many metrics that can be tracked.

When it comes to products, we can collect data on purchase locations, frequency and brand preference as the basis for a full marketing plan emerges.

We can help unravel some of the contradictory rules of student marketing. For example, some say that freshers week is the best time to market to students as so many of them are receptive to marketing messages and on the point of making important decisions that they will stick to for some time. Many others say freshers is too busy; unless you have a big budget behind your campaign you will not cut through the noise.

We researched when students choose to switch mobile phones (contract and/or handset) and found that campaigns taking advantage of the freshers' fairs chose an important switching occasion. Despite widespread criticism of these events as being too crowded for brands to get heard, 9 per cent of students overall changed phones during this short period; even higher - 14 per cent - for first year students. Research can help you identify the key moments in the year around which to base your marketing schedule.

Then there's the delicate matter of getting your tone right. Many brands fall into the trap of patronising students with hackneyed creative - booze, bonking and baked beans. Research can help get the message right. This is often best achieved using qualitative techniques - depth interviews, focus groups and ethnographic methods can be really powerful in this pursuit. The Student Panel comes into its own when testing alternative creative approaches.

The message is that it is worth doing your research. For too long student marketing budgets have been largely unaccountable. My three key recommendations to those interested in understanding students are:

1 Don't spend significant amounts of money based on hunches and guesses, or what you remember of student life from your time at university. The market moves fast;

2 Use a mix of qualitative and quantitative research to understand what motivates students and what will make them engage with your brand;

3 Make sure you evaluate. This is the key to making your marketing budget accountable. Quantitative research methods will be central to achieving accurate measurement.

I believe that those that do their research in the student market will see a year-on-year return on investment grow.

Field marketing to students

2006-12-08T21:33:00.000Z

Guest article by Chris Johnstone, of the Campus Group. This piece originally appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005)

Field Marketing is one of the fastest growing disciplines in the marketing industry so it is perhaps surprising that its precise definition still causes some confusion.

In a nutshell, it's about using people to communicate with consumers. As the Direct Marketing Association puts it: "Field Marketing is the provision of highly skilled and trained people to conduct brand-building strategic (long-term) or tactical (short-term) exercises on behalf of clients."

It encompasses a broad spectrum of activities from 'big bang' brand experience events and roadshows through to flyers and posters. Somewhere in the middle of all this are more technical services such as POS [point of sale] work, merchandising, auditing and mystery shopping. Outsourcing these activities enables clients to utilise the specialist staff employed by a field marketing agency in order to achieve specific goals and targets

Successful above-the-line marketing is fine for increasing brand awareness, but given that the average person is exposed to over 2,000 advertising messages and images a day, it's difficult to measure the impact your spend is generating.

Field marketing, on the other hand, is widely considered to be one of the most efficient and economical ways of re-enforcing brand positioning. It is measurable, quantifiable and perhaps most importantly, completely targetable. As long as the habits of human beings continue to be in the least bit predictable, field marketing will remain an important part of the marketing mix.

I still remember the first major field marketing campaign I came across while holidaying in Canada in the early 1990s, the Pepsi Taste Challenge. To this day I can remember everything about it, the taste obviously, but more importantly the friendliness of the staff, the thrill of the game and the rather naff (but to a 16 year- old, incredibly exotic) prizes that people were getting for taking part. I remember feeling pretty impressed that a big company was taking the time to come out and talk to me as a young consumer rather than shouting at me through the TV or via a massive billboard at the side of the road.

On the other hand I can't tell you much about Pepsi's above-the-line campaigns. I know that in the past they've used Michael Jackson and more recently Beyonce, Britney and the entire Real Madrid team. I couldn't recall them using Ray Charles, Fred Savage, The Rolling Stones or even the Spice Girls and I certainly couldn't describe the content of any of these adverts.

So how does this translate to the student market?
Student numbers across Europe have grown rapidly over recent years. In the UK 43 per cent of 18 to 24 year-olds now experience higher education and, despite the stereotype of a restrictive student budget, their spending power is estimated at £10 billion per year.

The majority of this market is concentrated in 150 or so large institutions around the UK. Each student remains in this single geographic area for three or four years of their lives. Their daily movements are planned and published in timetables. We know where they are, when they are there, what they consume and why.

In fact, student cities and campuses offer brands a near-perfect environment for successful field marketing but like everything else the success of the campaign will ultimately depend on the planning and execution and this is where many brands and their agencies go wrong.

Planning
Our position as an agency is to remain completely neutral when it comes to advising clients on the route to market. If field marketing is the way forward then we guide our clients in that direction but when an online or offline media campaign would be more effective then we advise them so. In this niche market I think we are quite unique in this regard.

We ask our clients a series of questions which helps us build up our
conclusions as to the most effective strategy.

1 What do you want to achieve?
2 What investment do you want to make?
3 What results do you expect?
4 How do we measure success?

Sales, an increased long term brand awareness, the launch of a new product, data capture, market research. All of these can be achieved through field marketing - but only if the answers to 2, 3 and 4 support them.

Successful brands invest in the student market. Long term strategy and long term consistent spend are vital. We can help our clients understand this market but they must be committed to it. If they do commit then the results can be phenomenal.

Some of the most successful and memorable student marketing campaigns of recent years have had been delivered predominantly through field marketing. These include the Orange Enjoy Music Tour, The KPMG Pods and the regular campaigns employed by The Times, Barclaycard, Lynx and O2. Any conversation with a student about marketing on campus will ultimately result in one or more of these campaigns coming up. They work for the students and they work for the brands involved. These brands invest in the student market and the result is that students feel empathy towards them.

I believe that brands should link their student campaigns to those running in other markets. At the same time however students should not feel that a national campaign has simply been rehashed for the student market. The effort of brands such as those mentioned has resulted in a level of expectation from students. They expect brands to have a 'student campaign' and expect to be an important target market for any self respecting brand.

Students are the ABC1 consumers of tomorrow. They spend now and worry about it later. They are an attractive proposition to any marketer and they know it! With this in mind, field marketing becomes an increasingly attractive proposition. The face-to-face nature of the marketing makes it feel personal and relevant. The flexibility of field marketing allows a national campaign to be adapted to the audience and the cost effectiveness of it makes investment in the student market a sensible business strategy. We've been working with The Times on its student campaigns for over four years and their field marketing campaigns remain an integral part of their overall marketing strategy. Their objectives are simple:

Data capture to build up a database of readers allowing them to interact with their audience in a more regular and effective manner;

Drive sales by offering students discount vouchers which allows this objective to be completely measurable;

Sampling to increase readership amongst students who wouldn't normally consider purchasing The Times;

Build empathy amongst students through regular contact and lots of freebies (from bottle openers to DVDs, books and chocolate).

They use their national campaign slogans to keep the campaign relevant but personalise it through the vouchers and goodie bags. The results are
consistent and excellent value for money.

Execution
We are firm believers in the use of local, unbiased student advice and
assistance in the planning stage and just as importantly, in the execution of any campaign.

We consider the students we employ (campus brand managers) as our insiders. The eyes, ears, hands, feet and voice of our clients on campus.

The debate over the use of campus brand managers has been rumbling on for a couple of years now and our position on this strategy is the same as everything else. If it is the most effective strategy for our client then we will use it.

There seems to be a common misconception that campus brand managers are all about trying to sell something to their friends, like some kind of student pyramid scheme but that is not the case. Most campaigns are designed to keep a constant level of brand awareness and insight between major activities such as fresher fairs or roadshows. This can be nothing more complex than a regular distribution of posters and flyers, carrying out market research and sourcing PR and other marketing opportunities. Make no mistake that campus brand managers can be extremely cost effective and measurable. The insight they give the client can be worth the investment alone.

Many of our campus brand manager campaigns are in the area of graduate recruitment, helping a recruiter get ahead of the game. With over 600 recognised graduate recruiters in the UK, competition is fierce and using students is an excellent way to gain a competitive advantage. It's also easily measurable by looking at the number of applications the company receives, or how many people show up to the on campus recruitment presentation. One of our clients employed a team of students covering their nine key target universities. Applications from these universities increased 400% in one year.

Another important point to make is that not all campus brand manager campaigns are long term, major projects. We have developed a national team of generalist student staff who work with us on a wide range of projects and take part in all field marketing campaigns we work on. Even if we are running a national roadshow we ensure our permanent staff are supported by our local student teams, who have the opportunity to work towards a Chartered Institute of Marketing qualification through their work on our campaigns.

Remember that field marketing is all about people, and students like to see their peers being integrated into any marketing campaign. It reassures them that the campaign has been thought about, that it will be relevant to them and that the brand cares enough about this audience to involve them in the execution of it.

We try to strike a balance between specifically trained, professional, full-time staff who move the equipment and marketing collateral around the country, and local student staff who use their local knowledge to improve our results on the day. It's an important balance as neither one extreme or the other would be as effective.

Involving the students' unions
Students' unions are another important piece of this puzzle. They are the gate keepers to the campus and collectively are the largest student media owner in the country. They offer a wide range of media and have come on leaps and bounds over the past few years in terms of commercial outlook and awareness.

The biggest challenge remains their fragmented nature. Each students' union marketing department is independent and therefore there is minimal
standardisation amongst them. Prices, the media on offer and even standards of reporting vary wildly and this is where agencies such as The Campus Group fit in well.

We offer a link between the 150 institutions we work with and our client. We offer one point of contact and consistent, high quality reporting to the client while bringing marketing spend they wouldn't be able to secure independently to the union.

Our independence is vital here also. Students' unions quite rightly encourage all spend to be put into their own media. That is after all their prerogative. But students' union media solutions are not always the best solution for a client. Sometimes a national campaign via university PC screensavers, situated in the university library, might be far more appropriate, but unfortunately no-one associated with a students' union would ever want to give that advice.

We work closely with the students' unions on our field marketing campaigns and would encourage everyone to do the same. Our events and tours for The Times, Shell, 3, Deloitte, Kingsmill and O2 have all taken place within the students' union. They have vital knowledge of locations and footfall and can add a lot of value to the campaign.

Some things to remember when working direct with a students' union:

It can be hard to get hold of people. They are usually small teams with lots of responsibilities which keep them out of their office. Get a mobile
number!

Bear in mind the bureaucracy and hierarchy that comes into play when dealing with a university. If you are trying to do something bespoke (especially if it is outside the union building) check and double check that all necessary permissions have been sought.

Make very clear what you expect with a service level agreement. Things like copies of mailings, photographic evidence and detailed reports should not be taken for granted.

Conclusions
Field marketing is ideal for the student market. The general benefits of this part of the marketing mix are accentuated by the nature of the student market.

Field Marketing campaigns are very well received by the student audience as they are direct, personal, tailored to the market and relevant to the audience.

The majority of campaigns we eventually recommend to clients involves a major element of field marketing. In most cases it will provide far more measurable, targeted and cost effective results than any other part of the marketing mix.

If you target students, make sure you are there for the long haul. Invest in the market and you will reap the rewards.

Never make assumptions about this exciting and dynamic audience. Things change quicker than you can ever imagine. Work with people who are involved with the audience on a day to day basis.

Involve students in everything you do. As well as being your audience they can become a vital part of the planning and execution of any campaign.

Work with both a specialist student marketing agency and the students' unions. Bringing the agency on board is often no more expensive than working direct with the students' unions but you will benefit greatly from one experienced point of contact.

Students and television: the old verses the new

2006-12-08T20:02:00.000Z

This article on students and TV was originally published in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005)

"Television as a stand alone medium is not actually a great way to reach students," says Jon Kingdon, creative director at SUBtv, the students' union TV network. "The majority of their day is spent at university, in the library, at lectures or in the union. When not there they are out at events or at the bar. If they're at home they're usually congregating at someone's house to watch a DVD or play computer games.

"What we've done with SUBtv is attempt to become part of the fabric of their lives, connecting with them through bespoke content."

SUBtv is a relatively new student media that sees plasma screens in 65 students' unions used to stream content into the bars, cafes and high footfall areas. All linked via broadband technology to a central hub, unions choose the content they wish to download. It's made a significant impact on the student media scene since its arrival in 2003 and has witnessed some innovative student-centric advertising campaigns from the likes of Ubisoft, mobile operator 3 and Sony Ericsson.

Peter Miles, managing director of SUBtv, believes mainstream television has lost its touch when it comes to the youth market. According to BARB (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board), ITV's coverage of 16 to 24 year-old males dropped by 17.2 per cent in 2004. It's because, says Miles, young people have better things to do than sit in front of the TV - and his relatively new media offering targets them in the environments they prefer to spend time.

He explains the background of SUBtv, why it has come about and how it aims to tap into the lifestyle and thinking of today's student: "Students comprise a large slice of the UK youth market, spending £13 billion a year. They no longer go to university with a tin opener and a few posters, but with electronic brands worth anything between £3,000 and £7,000 per person.

"Research by the Royal Bank of Scotland shows that students spend £940 million on alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks per year, £480 million on cigarettes, and similarly large sums on clothes, entertainment and electronic goods. A fifth of them get their own cars while at university. Yet reaching this desirable group is notoriously tough. You need to find media that are close to students both physically and emotionally.

"Students want to be in touch with what's going on 24 hours a day, for example through instant messaging on their PCs or text messages through their mobiles. And they demand flexibility and interactivity.

"The internet, which students increasingly get free through their broadband university networks, lets users select their content and interact directly with the medium. It allows them to feel emotionally linked to, and part of the media, rather than passive consumers of it.

"Our research shows that more than 30 per cent of students want to influence the content of student media on their campuses while 60 per cent would enter text-based promotions that allowed them to select music to be played in the bar.

"Given these characteristics, it is essential to take the media to the student, hence the increasing amount of media content on mobile devices, and the growth of out-of-home media in leisure venues such as bars, shopping malls and student campuses."

Creative director Jon Kingdon explains how this affects programming and how it is directed by student habits: "Students will turn off if the programming is not interesting or goes on too long. At SUBtv we keep everything short - three to four minutes - which allows it to exist in the student bar without disturbing the pace and atmosphere of that environment. A group of students can watch a short feature and it can become a discussion point rather than turning them into gawping zombies and destroying the social dynamics.

"Our programming is tuned into them and life at their university. On a Wednesday afternoon we know that the sports teams are out across the UK. We know that they will all be back in the evening to get lashed and celebrate or commiserate their results. We theme all the content on Wednesday nights so it's sports-related and run the day's results on tickertape so they can compare with other unis. This kind of programming has never been done before.

"We know what sort of programming students like because we hear from them all the time through text messaging. We know, for example, that in London and the south east students prefer hip hop and R'n'B music content, whereas students in the north prefer indie. This gets reflected in the content they receive. We draw on the talents of the student body to enhance programmes and we are keen to develop this area. We're trying to involve clients in the same way.

"The students' unions use the technology for their own marketing messages, which is a sure sign that it works as a media. They wouldn't use it if it wasn't getting through to students."

Although clearly a quite different television media compared to the likes of Channel 4 and, to a lesser extent, MTV, these are the youth brands that SUBtv seeks to compete with for advertising spend. Peter Miles says: "Prior to SUBtv I would argue there didn't exist a simple way of a media planner devising a student campaign on a national basis. We're trying to pull spend over from the big TV, cinema and poster budgets that are spent targeting mainstream youth. We can't survive on the paltry student marketing budgets that are assigned - we're working to convince clients that students are part of the youth audience they are looking for, but a much more easily
targetable part."

Meanwhile at Channel 4, Mike Parker, head of client and strategic sales, says he doesn't view students as a segment. To Channel 4, students merely make up a large part of the wider youth audience. Channel 4 may be the favourite TV station among students, but the channel has not found advertisers interested in targeting students especially. That said, the station's ongoing research does show differences between the two audiences that could interest some brands - NatWest, for example, who ran a TV ad campaign in 2004 to recruit student accounts.

Parker explains the differences between students and the wider youth audience as he sees it: "Students in full-time education make up 46% of 15 to 24 year-olds. The things that motivate and interest them are generally the same as all 15 to 24 year-olds and they watch the same amount of TV - the reach of TV over a four week period is 87% of the total youth market.

"If you look at the top youth programmes you've got the likes of Faking It, The OC and other easy viewing like Friends and the Simpsons. It's actually the same TV that comes out top among audiences overall. But when you look at programmes that have the highest student audiences it's often the intellectual comedies like Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Black Books and even Bremner Bird & Fortune, which might surprise some.

"Like the rest of youth, they tend to watch TV in the early evening and late at night. But then with students there are the oddities. Countdown on weekday afternoons has a very strong student following. T4 on a Sunday is very popular: it's hangover TV, easy viewing.

"Commissioning editors are always looking at research to guide programme-making, but I wouldn't pretend that Channel 4 pays attention to the student segment in its planning. I don't think they are an important segmented market for Channel 4, simply because the marketers haven't made it one.

"But my advice to anyone targeting students is that they aren't a homogenous group: engineers are different to geographers. They aren't radically different to youth generally either. But what does characterise them now as opposed to ten years ago is that they are incredibly ambitious about earning big salaries and getting good jobs. The old idea that students loll about being unfocused about their futures, is over now. They're certainly far more ambitious under Blair than they were under Thatcher; they want to own their own home, and a second property, and travel the world. They are far more materialistic nowadays.

Parker believes the youth audience is distinguishable from others by the sophistication of its media literacy: "Young people decode things very quickly. They are a generation that's grown up with soundbite culture, they like advertising that is smart, quick and clever, and they can be very cynical about celebrity. They get tired of ideas very quickly, and that is particularly true of celebrity. Peter Kaye in recent years has been a youth phenomenon but he will go, just like that, when he's seen as mainstream. Young people are very challenging and very media-literate.

"Despite claims to the contrary, they're not apathetic about current affairs either. They're very concerned about certain issues like ethics and environment, but they do feel detached from party politics."

On the subject of student research and new assumptions he is cautious: "Some of the findings on students you wonder about. Take the top student brands. The Guardian clearly positions itself as a popular student paper, but actually The Sun has far more student readers - probably five times as many. And research that shows students believe it's worth paying more for organic food is probably more about their attitude than their actual buying habits."

"Our research shows that young people like Channel 4 because it's seen as non-establishment. The BBC tone is always slightly establishment. The way they approach, for example, a history programme is very much 'this is how it happened', whereas with Channel 4 it is 'this is an opinion of what happened'. Channel 4 is about reflecting society, not making moral judgements."

Advertisers now have an extra choice: they can reach students through
televisual media outside of the home as well as inside it. But perhaps the bigger picture is not about where the media is located, but how it engages the student. SUBtv's Peter Miles is certain that the future will be brighter for those that embed themselves into the audience lifestyle: "Reach needs to be achieved in an emotional as well as physical way. This demands what I would call consensual media, which follows the lead of the internet and constructs an environment that provides choice and interactive flexibility for their audiences. For example, one leading bank teamed up with an ISP [internet service provider] to set up its own dedicated student website providing a range of advice, from finding a flatmate to planning a gap year.

"As these students become adults they will expect to maintain the same degree of control and flexibility that they experience with these consensual media. Other media will have to follow suit and build similarly powerful and interactive relationships with their audiences."

Online communication with students

2006-12-08T19:51:00.000Z

This article originally appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005)

Students, it is often claimed, are hard to reach. Dispersed across the UK at over 600 institutions, each with their own timetable, they regularly change address and are not practically targetable through any piece of old media. They've had marketers gasping for breath for years.

It's easy to see why the new media revolution has attracted many new businesses to the student market. The arrival of the internet, email and mobile phones has brought a tantalising opportunity to make direct contact with the student community.

The fact that all UK students have free internet access, that many are early adopters of new technologies, and that communication resources are the lifeblood of the highly sociable away-from-home young adult, have all helped make the new media proposition irresistible.

79% of students use the internet, most of them every day. 100% of students have an email address. 64% own laptops, 37% have their own desktop PCs and 22% own one of each. Many are connected to the web in their student accommodation via broadband.

Tom Edge, new media manager at the National Union of Students, says: "Students are online for consistently long periods, for both work and pleasure, and are willing to be entertained while they surf.

"Email is proven to be a primary method of communication for students - especially with friends and family elsewhere in the country. Given the relationship between email and the net, effective campaigns online can find their message quickly spreading when there's user approval. So the student audience is there and waiting."

Of course businesses always had the opportunity to reach students through on-campus promotions, student media, sponsorship etc. But the costs involved have been prohibitive to many. The major attraction of new media is that it can be very economical. "It's cheap to get a good online campaign underway," says Edge, "relative to TV and radio spots. Even a full site and game build, with hosting, will come in way under the budget for a cheap localised TV spot - and a good campaign may bring millions of users to not just notice, but interact with your brand. The potential benefits are sky-high even with low cost products, so long as the creative element works."

Ah, the creative element; creative executions have delivered the successes and failures of many a student-orientated business. So how can marketers make sure online ventures work for this tricky demographic?

"Ignoring banner ads and rich media promotions, there are a lot of websites out there today vying for a surfer's attention," says Edge. "A company willing to invest in promoting their message online should thoroughly survey the competition and attempt to find a new, innovative hook for their site. When it comes to viral emails, student web users are very often experienced and jaded - another low-end Flash game won't catch their imagination unless it has a serious creative hook behind it. The idea of the game must be at least as amusing as the pleasure of the game play. People only forward emails which have amused them enough to want to spread the joy - everything else gets binned.

"So being innovative is key, even if you're just putting a sharp new spin on an old idea. Poor quality, hackneyed ideas are probably the greatest obstacles to an online promotional campaign's success - getting it built and hosted professionally is a comparatively small worry."

One of the best-known creators of effective online campaigns aimed at young people is Skive, a London-based new media agency, and Kerb, based in youth Mecca city Brighton. Both are a dab hand with 'viral' games - those that get passed around by email to friends and spread like an infection. These games are particularly effective with students - a NetValue survey in 2002 found that they account for a third of the UK's 3 million regular online games players.

Skive's clients have included Adidas, Sony Playstation and Wrigleys. MD Sean Singleton thinks their recipe for success with students is pretty simple: "We try to inject humour into our work because it's really effective online. We think that young people tend to laugh at the same things. Being a student is about going out, enjoying yourself, being a bit cynical and laughing at the world. That's the approach we have at Skive.

"The problem we have to overcome is finding that place where the brand is comfortable with the creative and the student can laugh at it. What works best with viral campaigns, for example, is the extreme stuff. But brands don't always want to be associated with that.

"That said, we would always encourage risk-taking. I don't think many campaigns are worth doing unless they involve risk."

See the case study in this chapter for a summary of how Kerb achieved viral success with their promotion of a DJ's new record, and also a case study on digital specialist agency Glue's work for Pot Noodle.

Meanwhile, equally successful at student-orientated online communication is Mike Slocombe, who runs activist website Urban75. Slocombe's not-for-profit website is his passion, but such is its success with intelligent young people, he is often offered commissions by brands eager to make use of his impressive e-communication skills. Slocombe has produced work for Virgin Radio, Xfm and Youthnet.

"I love daft, nonsense stuff on the web," he says. "I don't like to see it used by companies as some kind of expanded corporate brochure, and I think a lot of students probably feel the same.

"Good practice is always inviting the student to feed back on what they're experiencing. Bad practice is thinking you can create an environment that young people will flock into and inhabit, but creating it so it entirely suits your own needs. You can't set up a chat room, for example, and ban swearing. It won't get used."

What has to be remembered before any online communication with students is attempted is that this group are habitual new media users. "Students close down pop-ups without noticing their content," says Tom Edge. "They can detect a spam mail from a dozen clicks away and won't, generally, be generous enough to see a page through if it doesn't entertain - there are too many options out there. It is easy to get it wrong, but those who get it right may well enjoy a global spread of their message that would be hard to achieve in any other medium."

Indeed, as online head at NUS, Edge has experienced first hand what happens when businesses don't think intelligently about intelligent audiences: "nusonline had its origins in the gold rush days of internet VCs throwing money at anyone with a laptop and a Hoxton Fin haircut. The resulting site - a partnership between ITM Communications and NUS - tried to be all things to all students, reviewing films and games, covering NUS news, storing documents used by students' union officers, and selling products via paid ad spots. It was a poorly executed mish-mash."

Famously within the student movement, after three years of foisting an ill-conceived product on students, ITM ran out of money. They went into administration, leaving NUS out of pocket but with the freedom to create a site that worked for its audience. "The site went through a crucial revamp. We stripped it down and focused on NUS' core concerns: campaigning,giving advice to students and building on the NUS card's status as the primary discount card used by the student market. We changed the site's construction and cut the under-performing peripherals such as
entertainment reviews.

"We've concentrated on developing a new media strategy to serve nusonline's varied audiences, rather than treating it as a get-rich-quick side project. Having said that, we do still use the site for revenue streams, selling limited commercial solus mails as well as placing limited banner ads on the site. We also attract sponsorship for our monthly update emails to our 750,000 registered members."

Edge outlines the benefits new media has for NUS and the student movement: "It saves us money - our mailing costs have been slashed as we now tend to place documents online and use email to communicate with key members. The commercial value of our brand is difficult to assess accurately, but certainly a better site has increased our credibility within our membership, helping to preserve our status within the student market."

In the book preceding Targeting Students we predicted 2004 would be a critical year for the big websites that, like the old nusonline, continued to address themselves to the fictional 'generic' higher ed student. Since then the companies behind both StudentUK.com and VirginStudent.com have both gone bust (though the websites have continued to run in plastered-up form). The online world is a tougher, unforgiving place nowadays.

Viral game creators will have to find new formats and fresh ideas if they are to keep students entertained and copywriters are going to have to get a much better sense of student thinking if they are to avoid delete buttons getting the better of text messages and emails.

All the evidence shows: the student audience is online and waiting. The question is, who is smart enough to reach them?

Risk-taking online: success at viral marketing

2006-12-08T19:36:00.000Z

This interview with Jim McNiven of respected viral agency Kerb first appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005).

Sex. Violence. Humour. According to the rules of online viral marketing, you need at least one of these ingredients to make your campaign work. But Kerb, a Brighton-based digital marketing agency that does a lot of work for youth and student-orientated brands, doesn't take any notice of rules.

Kerb head Jim McNiven describes how they managed to get a warning message about the power of multinational corporations to the inboxes of over half a million people...while selling a few records at the same time.

"We were approached by the DJ Adam Freeland to create a website to promote his new band’s politically-aware debut single. The record, 'We Want Your Soul' by Free*Land, rails against consumerism and apathy.

"He wanted us to create something that would get people thinking about Free*Land's message and also provide an outlet for selling the track. It was a bit of a paradox - how do you sell a product that professes to be a comment on anti-consumerism to a bunch of cynical anti-capitalists!

"We know that to make something viral you have catch people's imagination, get them excited or interested. You also need a strong incentive to encourage them to forward the site to friends. We know that people like to compare and contrast with their friends.

"We created a site which led people to believe that two corporate giants had teamed up in a bid to buy people's souls. At the time it was in the news that Monsanto was close to decoding the human gene. We came up with the possibility that someone like Monsanto, with the financial backing of someone like Haliburton, could actually seek to 'buy' your soul. So we set about creating a site where two corporates had got together with that very aim. We couldn't say directly who they were, but we listed their real time share prices on the site, which gave a strong hint.

"We wanted to make people think: ‘Is this real?’ We wanted to create a wake up call, make people think this is something that could happen in the future.

"So the idea for the site was there, but we needed the extra hook, the feature that would get people to say to their friends, hey, you've got to check out this site.

"We came up with the idea of an online quotation form, similar to those sent out today by finance companies, but with echoes of the late Eighties when lenders were worried about dangerous lifestyles. It would determine the value of a visitor's soul by asking a series of questions. Do you eat fast food? Are you a practising Christian? Have you ever stolen anything of value? That kind of thing. Each answer would have a positive or negative impact on their soul's value and the visitor would end up with a quotation. They could then email their value to a friend and invite them to compare. After doing this they would be told they could raise the value of their own soul for a small fee - by buying the Free*Land single. There was a link through to a site selling the track.

"We've got a mailing list of 20,000 early adopters - people who like our content and want to be the first to receive it. It's a quality list. People are on it because they like getting viral content, not because they want to win some top-up vouchers or a holiday. We seeded the site there and waited to see what happened.

"Very quickly it was picked up by some crucial sites. It was on Guardian Online, Cruel.com, Popbitch and B3ta. Then all the blogs started picking up on it. It seemed every blog had a link to We Want Your Soul.

"We typed in the phrase 'We want your soul' into Google before we started and there were no returns. Within weeks of launching the site Google was registering 1,300 separate results! A month after launching we'd had 350,000 visitors. The hosting company, which had been arranged by Free*Land's management, pulled the site at one point, which is often the death knell for a viral piece because very few users will go back to a site later if they find it's down. But we got the site to a new host 24 hours later and it bounced back even stronger. To date it's had 563,819 visitors.

"There's so much crap talked about viral marketing. Half of what you see isn't viral. Viral is something that grows exponentially - you can send it to 200 people and it gets seen by 10,000. A viral campaign to a lot marketers means creating a poor bit of content for £10,000 and then spending £100,000 on banner ads trying to push traffic to it. Whereas you could spend £50,000 on content and get the best viral piece ever.

"There's a case for saying it's damaging the industry - this flooding of poorly-conceived creative. No-one's going to feel more affinity with a brand by playing some shonky platform game - the lack of creative thought that goes into it offends me. As viral specialists we're at risk of getting tarred with the same brush as all the amateurs that have come into viral marketing recently. Three of four years ago we were desperately trying to make people realise the potential; now I sit in front of marketing people who tell me: ‘This MUST go viral!’ It's become just a buzz word, without proper understanding of the nature of viral.

"But I'm still hugely evangelical about this method of advertising. You can hit half a million people with £5000, using something that people not only see but recommended to their friends. And there is so much freedom. If you make a funny TV ad, but it's a bit risque, people will complain. Online, it's self-censoring. If someone sends me something they know me, and they know I'll like it. No-one is going to send Kerb's wanking game to their granny or their 7-year-old nephew, but if they did it wouldn't be Kerb or the brand sponsoring the piece that would get the blame, it would be the sender.

"We did something for a top drinks brand - it was meant to be a lairy, crazy breakdancing game aimed at 16 to 30s. They made us take out any slight drug reference, anything vaguely sexual. Really minor things like a tent where you could see two people's feet hanging out. They said, look, we're a family brand we can't afford to offend people. We said to them: you can be more lairy online, because it's not going to be seen by anyone who'll be offended. I think youth brands will realise they can afford to be a bit more outrageous.

"You learn in viral marketing to go for the lowest common denominator. The success of We Want Your Soul was driven by the fact people liked to see what they were worth and compare that with friends. For a while, every blog site was asking: 'How much is YOUR soul worth?' It was a bit sad that everyone wanted to value their soul; I'd been really pleased with the creative as I thought it tapped into a really interesting topic for further thought, but basically its success was driven by people wanting to say 'Hey, guess what my soul's worth!'

"I don't know that we at Kerb are anymore in touch with the kids than our peers. Our success has come because of the fact we like to push it, like to see what we can get away with. Perhaps our influences have helped - our first office had four very anarchic little companies in it - a skate firm, a sound system, a t-shirt printer and us, and we probably benefited from that environment. There were dogs running loose, graffiti on the walls - it was a complete state. Clients used to wipe the feet when they left."

Taking Pot Noodle online

2006-12-08T19:30:00.000Z

Case study, as told by Jo Hagger and Seb Royce of digital agency Glue London.
This article originally appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005).

"Our brief was to take Pot Noodle, the slag of all snacks, online. Students were considered to be a big part of the audience. There's a Pot Noodle sold every four minutes, and a lot of them are sold on campuses.

"We knew straight away that we wanted to do something other than the most obvious interpretation. The obvious approach might have been something like a sex shop mock up. We wanted to think it through further.

"The key theme at the centre of the Pot Noodle campaign is about illicit consumption. Pot Noodle takes the place of sex when you apply the illicit consumption idea. So firstly we started looking into what that means online.

"We realised quickly that it is a lot about porn, and in terms of the 18-24-year-old male audience that Pot Noodle is aimed at, porn takes up a significant proportion of their time online.

"We thought about how we could utilise that without being too crass or obvious about it, because Pot Noodle is very much tongue-in-cheek, cheeky humour, not outrageously offensive.

"We know that a lot of porn sites are organised in the form of web rings: a collection of sites that are interlinked and that you can travel round in without having to go elsewhere. We thought that idea could lend itself to the brand's site very well because it allows you to represent the different flavours, with each site having its own personality and linked to the overarching Pot Noodle brand.

"Once we came across porn web rings we realised the art direction would fit perfectly with what Pot Noodle had already done offline, because of its trashy feel. These web rings are often really poorly designed with appalling typos everywhere. We thought the amateurishness would make a great feature. We stopped trying to think about good design and concentrated on bad design.

"We had to reign ourselves back because of budgets, because the possibilities were limitless. We designed a site that navigates horizontally rather than vertically. When a site has just one entry point people don't drill down enough because they can't be bothered, but when there's not much to see on one level people tend to explore.

"Students are regular web users and have highly developed surfing habits. They like quick hits of content and don't like to dig far for it. We wanted to create something that had a broad yet shallow structure that was easy and quick to use.

"We were also careful not to push the product down their throats. There's a lot of FMCG [food, manufacturing and consumer goods] sites that are laughable - the products themselves aren't interesting and you think: why do they bother? Luckily we had a great campaign to work with, all about the attitude of Pot Noodle than the product itself. Yes, there is a section on the site where you can find out the nutritional benefits of Pot Noodle but generally the site's about having fun.

"There are certain bits you can't access without putting in your data and there are areas, like the hysterical girlfriend interactive video game, where you need broadband. These features create a sense of exclusivity.

"We experimented a lot with certain features and the great thing about this project is Unilever, the owners of Pot Noodle, just said 'do whatever'. So we did. Then when we did show them everything they did say 'but not that, or that'! But to their credit we virtually had carte blanche and that gave us enormous inspiration to be creative.

"Pot Noodle is a renegade brand, but what is and what isn't acceptable is a matter for careful consideration. Despite being hugely successful and having won awards, the Slag of Snacks campaign has fallen foul of the Advertising Standards Association on a couple of occasions which increases sensitivities. We knew that the target audience wouldn't be offended by anything we put out, but you have to bare in mind those visitors who aren't the target. At the same time, this is not a push media and people would have to pass a warning before they got in.

"When it comes to explaining the web's potential as a medium, it's not just about the technological advances, but what you can get away with. There are seriously offensive things on the web, some seriously edgy things, not necessarily selling products but very accessible. In terms of this target market's threshold, they are not easily shocked. They have been brought up on a diet of hardcore films of every genre, Jackass TV, sick stuff flying round on email. When you're not in that target group, it's difficult to see through their eyes.

"We created an anti-Pot Noodle site as part of the package. We tried to be as authentic as possible; a lot of porn web rings get hijacked by people trying to get their own messages out with pop ups, which must be massively irritating for the user but perfect for what we wanted to do. We wanted to keep people there as long as possible and if we had pop-ups with anti-Noodle sites it would add to the authenticity and the idea that Pot Noodle is something really bad that you shouldn't be doing. It definitely fitted with the message that you just can't help yourself.

"One new aspect for Pot Noodle is that we introduced them to dialogue with the consumer. There are lots of areas where you can speak and interact with the site - email the webmaster, t-shirt requests etc - and that brought something new to the brand.

"The beauty of the site is that it can be added to and developed easily, at least while Pot Noodle sticks with the illicit consumption theme. We've got loads of ideas to be rolled out as and when they're needed.

"We would say one of the main things we have found working with students is that they like to be heavily incentivised and the incentive needs to be massively relevant to them."

Marketing through students' unions

2006-12-08T16:20:00.000Z

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.

Graduate recruitment marketing

2006-12-08T16:09:00.000Z

Guest article: Dan Hawes, Graduate Recruitment Bureau
This article originally appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide

What I know about graduate recruitment marketing
We used to go to careers fairs but we didn't find them the most responsive or effective method for hiring graduates. We've since deployed several other marketing activities that generate a far better targeted response. Our online jobs board is at the core of our business.

Targeted responses - that's the key to our work. Our clients are very specific about what they look for and we have to be able to identify the target very quickly. We're not into generating huge quantities of students and graduates; we know exactly what our clients are looking for and we go out to get them.

It's almost headhunting, but we are very client-led. Students who register their details with us fill in their qualifications and tell us what they'd like to do. But when a client uses us, top of the list in our search criteria is qualifications. Students will often try to register for jobs that they're not qualified for. When we search we always make sure qualifications match.

The Graduate Recruitment Bureau set up in 1996 after some years of research and funding. We set out to offer recruiters solutions and graduate recruitment strategies, and we consider ourselves experts in this field now.

Marketing to graduates is fascinating. Today's tribe of graduates is constantly moving and communicating with them is an art. Unless a recruiter can get inside the head of a graduate their message will fall on deaf ears. Being creative and different and setting yourself apart from the competition is essential. But it's not easy. What works one year won't necessarily work the following year.

Five years ago postcards in pigeonholes worked very well for us, but it gradually got less effective and we moved to e-marketing. E-marketing is working very well for us; I visit a lot of universities and I walk past the computer pool and it's always very busy - you've got to embrace that, you have to communicate through the means that students are using every day.
You really have to try to get into the head of a student. I realise, walking around universities, that I don't notice most of the noticeboards - and neither do students. It's very competitive on campuses, very noisy.

In graduate recruitment, one major shift in recent years has been the postponement of looking for, and then starting, a graduate job. At the moment, only 65% of the approximate 300,000 graduates a year plan to start work immediately. The remainder either think about postgraduate study, time off or temping.

I can understand why students are increasingly looking at postgraduate study; there are so many graduates out there, to set yourself apart you have to do further study. In some jobs it's become essential. Taking a year out has been made more popular - the young royals have helped change the image - and increasingly employers don't view it as poorly as they did. Employers really see how a student can become more open minded, a more rounded person by immersing themselves in different cultures and trying new things. Also they feel students will have got it out of their system - rather than joining a firm straight away from university, taking the training and then saying right, I'm off travelling. Because that's always in the back of the head of employers when they hire a graduate: is this person going to want to go travelling? We happen to think travelling after university is advantageous to both parties, and a lot of our own staff have taken a year out.

It's always tricky knowing when to target students. They don't have time in their final year. There's more pressure on them and they have the attitude 'I've paid for this degree - I need to get a good result'. Looking for work is a full time exercise and they don't find time easily to do that. Sometimes recruiters get a poor response and wonder why. Well we know there are contributing reasons: either it's the wrong time to talk to them or they may be considering other options.

We target students from freshers to graduation. It's important to have a dialogue with them throughout. Although someone in the first year isn't thinking about a job at all, what they are thinking about is ways to increase their chances of work when it comes to it. That has been a big shift of focus for our marketing.

Some marketers are even going back to school-leavers. There's a long lead time on that investment - you're looking at someone who's going to change their mind a lot in four years. But that's how competitive this sector is - if you get someone who's on four As and on their way to Cambridge, you need to get in there early.

In terms of creative, what puts students off most is pretending you understand them. It stands out a mile. They are very cynical. If you can get through to an influencer and create positive word-of-mouth you have pretty much won the battle. Anything else around that can be superficial. We have several competitors whose theme is very light-hearted. We've done the opposite of that because we think getting a job is pretty serious. We only want people who are serious to respond to us. Don't get me wrong, new ideas can be very successful. But there's a fine balance. If you go in for drinking references, traffic cones etc it's very tired and not effective -
students have moved on.

Graduates still offer companies useful skills to grow their business. Despite the investment of time, it is still worth investing in graduate recruitment. People talk about cost per hire, but the most important thing is quality per hire. It is very important that companies still recruit graduates, but communication is key. You need to understand the issues facing them and address those in all your communications. A lot of companies want to do things very quickly. They should take more time to prepare and research, because it will pay off.

Companies can also succeed by playing to their differences. They should think about what's good about their organisation and what will attract people. At GRB we do that ourselves. Our website is often commented on as giving very professional but personal image. We looked at what we're about and decided we wanted to have faces on there - so many job boards are faceless, you're dealing with a computer. And we don't advertise too much because we don't want to appear to be trying to hard. Nothing turns off students more than if you shout from the hilltops. In some respects we like them to come us, rather than us to look for them.

Luke Mitchell, Managing Consultant

2006-12-08T15:11:00.000Z

Reach Students was founded in 2002 by Luke Mitchell, a former content developer at the headquarters of the National Union of Students.

Luke saw a need for honest, independent guidance for businesses and organisations interested in marketing their products and ideas to students.

For too long fly-by-night agencies and unscrupulous marketers had been exploiting the unique, hermetic nature of the student marketing environment by portraying themselves as THE route to students.

Complicated issues that govern success in the sector needed to be explained in the open.

Creatives lacked understanding of modern student attitude and too often resorted to cliches and stereotypes.

And organisations that had been following the same schedule of activities year-on-year had lost touch with the sheer range and potential of opportunities available to them today.

Early days
Reach began as a website and newsletter offering no-nonsense advice on student marketing. We monitored changes in the market and reported new trends, habits and research.

The response was astonishing, with hundreds signing up to the free newsletter and messages of praise and support coming in from those inside and outside of the student marketing sector.

It wasn't long before Luke was being regularly asked to visit businesses and find ways they could increase their success with students. A major commission from a government body followed and the Reach Students consultancy was born.

Serious business
Since then we have grown to employ associate consultants, implementation staff and partners. We have worked for a diverse range of clients in a manner that has been completely bespoke to their needs: we've researched campaigns, planned them, created them and run them on campuses across the UK.

We've introduced new brands to the student market and helped long-standing ones get better results.

Our success comes from our objectivity, experience and knowledge.

We only recommend routes that are precisely suited to our clients' needs and we draw on years of experience at the frontline, working, talking and understanding students and the marketing arena.

And we conduct and publish our own research, as well as other editorial products, to stay ahead of a fast-changing market and encourage a wider view.

Today
The student marketing environment has changed radically in a very short period of time. Fundamental developments - namely the growth of digital as a credible, exclusive alternative for all student marketing - led us to commit 100 per cent to digital strategies in 2006.

We are now the UK's only student marketing consultancy entirely focussed on creating and delivering successful student campaigns through digital channels. And we're very excited about it.

There is a new frontier in student marketing and we're delighted to be there at the frontline, delivering results that were unthinkable only a few years ago and searching for the boundaries to be pushed.

So that's our story so far.

If you like what you've read, get in touch and tell us yours.

Research links and pdfs

2006-11-23T23:13:00.000Z

UNITE/MORI Student survey 2005
Previously:The UNITE Student Living Report 2003.

Report on student drinking habits This report, written by Reach Students, was commissioned by Fresh Direction magazine.

Sony Ericsson Shame Academy Case study from Campus Group

Young people and the way they use mobile technology An ethnographic study conducted in anticipation of 3G.

The Next Leaders A broad attitude survey conducted by the Adam Smith Institute (a right-leaning think tank).

Mental budgeting Interesting work by Dr Sue Eccles of Lancaster University, looking at how a student prioritises their budget.

FE insightResearch from Boomerang on the habits, attitudes and behaviours of further education students (generally 16 to 18s).

Advertising and millennialsAn uncompromising look at the context that today's 18 to 24 year-olds are viewing advertising. People born after 1980 have been subject to as many as 20,000 commercial messages a year. This large extract is from the 2004 book Coolsearch.

Hotmail case studyHow Microsoft originally captured a massive student audience in the UK.

SMS Technology: Evaluating Media For Youth AudiencesAn article by Steve Watkins of 2CV Research that refers to research conducted with 15 to 24 year-olds.

University of Dundee: case studyHow falling student recruitment figures were reversed.

Student media links

2006-11-23T23:06:00.000Z

Student media changes and links break all the time. Please contact us if you find a broken link, via the Reach Students contact link.

Student media Magazines/newspapers
Apex Anglia
Badger Brighton University
Barefacts Surrey
Brookes News Oxford Brookes
Concrete Uni of East Anglia
Cry Wolf Wolverhampton University
Courier Newcastle
Cub St Mary's, London
Durham 21 Durham University
Dusted Uni of Deby
Epigram Bristol
Exepose Exeter University
Falmouth Navigator
Falmouth College of Arts
Fuzzclog Sothampton Institute
Gair University of Wales
Gaudie Aberdeen
Glasgow University Guardian
Glasgow University
GK Uni of Staffordshire
Impact Bath Uni
Kred Kent
Label Loghborogh
London Student ULU
Massive Online City University, London
Nouse York Uni
Orbital Royal Holloway
Oxford Student Oxford Uni
Pi UCL, London
Palatinate Durham
The Rabbit Uni of Essex
Pluto Newcastle
Pugwash Portsmouth Rabbit Uni of East Anglia
Redbrick Birmingham Guildhall
Ripple Leicester
Saint St Andrews, Scotland
Scan Lancaster University
Shep Sheffield
Smiths Goldsmiths, London
The Smoke Birmingham
Scrapie Bradford
Spaghetti Junction Birmingham
Strathclyde Telegraph Strathclyde University
Student Direct Manchester
The Student Web (TSW) East Anglia University
Universe Herts
Varsity Cambridge
Warwick Boar Warwick
Waterfront Swansea
WattsOn Herriot-Watt
Wessex Scene Southampton
Westworld Uni of the West of England

Radio
Burn FM Birmingham
Burst Bristol
Cambridge University Radio Cambridge University
Ear FM London Guildhall University
Fly FM Nottingham Trent University
Fusion 106 Glamorgan
GU2
IC Radio Imperial College
Insanity
Krisp FM
Junction 11
LCR Loughborough
LSR
NSR
Pulse Uni of Sussex
Pure FM Portsmouth
Red Uni of Essex
Ram Air FM Bradford University
Siren FM
SubCity Glasgow
Sure Sheffield
Tube FM London College of Music & Media
Ram FM Derby
Raw Warwick
URE Exeter
URF Surrey
URM Bath University
URN Nottingham
URY York
Wired Goldsmiths, London
Xtreme Swansea

Student media awards NUS/Daily Mirror National Student Media Awards
The Guardian Student Media Awards
Radio One Student Radio Awards

Student politics v marketing

2006-11-19T23:06:00.001Z

Student politics is a bristly domain. Dominated by extremists, run by careerists, fuelled by gossip, back stabbing and dodgy deals, it does a great job of putting your average student off politics before they even get chance to vote. Visit the Educationet message boards and witness the mayhem.

Though the majority of students wouldn't recognise Leon Trotsky if he staggered through their halls carrying a bloody ice pick, the fact remains: a small group would. And they have considerable power. So organisations have to carefully consider the political reaction they might get before they go bounding into the student market. Or they could be booted straight back out.

Nestle, a gigantic brand, finds its superpowers drained within the kryptonitic student community. The ethical issues that surround its baby-milk marketing techniques have been discussed in students' unions since the late Seventies. A large number of union shops refuse to stock Nestle products, student media regularly debates the boycott and some unions are running votes 'for or against' Nestle every year, ensuring the subject stays on the agenda. Even the National Union issues a 21 page briefing document on the company, and while it encourages its members to make up their own minds you can be sure the famous Nestle bird's nest would never be let near NUS' influential logo.

The ban frustrates Nestle no end, and they periodically meet with student politicians to put their case across. They also try other methods; it was no surprise that the Nestle-sponsored Family Monitor came down so heavily on student tuition fees last year. But the boycott remains.

Somehow this is all largely contained within the student community. Good evidence of just how hermetic the student world can be.

There are plenty of other blacklisted companies, all having done their bit to upset students at some stage in the last thirty years. Emap took a bruising when their FHM laughed about student suicide. The Armed Forces can't get into the student market without deploying tanks to help. McDonalds, Barclays, Bacardi, Stagecoach and Times Newspapers all get frosty looks when they poke their heads around the door. These are just for starters.

It's essential companies don't underestimate political sensitivities. What goes in the mainstream market does not always transfer. Businesses should do their research. When they commission creatives they should test their awareness and choose those with credentials in the student market.

Because, as Nestle have discovered, a bad name sticks in student politics.

Spotlight on: student drinking

2006-11-19T23:00:00.000Z

Research by NUSSL - the commercial arm of the National Union of Students - has pinpointed the main difference between student and non-student lifestyles: students drink more.

A massive 85% of students classify themselves as regular drinkers when entering university. Students spend an average of £20 a week on alcohol. 25% of them spend over £20 a week. For good or bad, the typical student consumes between 26 and 40 units a week - the equivalent of 20 pints or seven bottles of wine. But alcohol is by no means the only liquid that passes their lips - NUSSL will buy 10 million litres of soft drinks this year to quench student thirsts.

Drinking is important to students because the culture of student life increasingly revolves around active social interaction. Because of the enthusiasm for drinks of all kinds, the response to drinks brand marketing is almost always positive.

To succeed in the student drinks market you need pay close attention to emerging student trends. Currently the top-selling female student drink is vodka. Kickstarted by the Red Bull and vodka revolution of the mid-Nineties, the spirit has found popularity today as the staple of almost any soft drink mixer. "I drink it because it's the lowest calorie alcohol," says Steph Lloyd, a Brighton University student.

According to student bar managers, premium packaged spirits and spirit based 'alcopops' are this year's success story. At Keele union they account for four of their top five sellers. And because no student drinks their vodka straight, soft drink sales are also going through the roof - Coke, Diet Coke and orange juice are the current mixers of choice. The student drinks market moves at a pace.

Away from the bar, student shops are reporting an increase in non-alcoholic drink sales. Again, these are affected by passing trends as well as different seasons in the student calendar. Exam times, for example, see sales of energy drinks soar as students look for something to help them through intensive studying. Water sells better now than it ever has, as awareness about dehydration issues spreads. New product lines of all types of drink find favour with students, who love novelty and the chance to try something different.

Spotlight on: student leisure time

2006-11-19T22:58:00.000Z

A massive £1,800 a year is spent by students on their spare time activities. According to MORI, over a third of the student budget gets spent on entertainment and NUSSL (the trading arm of the National Union of Students) say the student leisure market is worth £1.6 billion a year, with students spending an average of 18 hours on leisure activities a week. So what are they doing in all this spare time?

Half of students (46%) go clubbing every week, while watching bands is as popular as ever with 79% gigging once a month or more. Students are big filmgoers - 92% visit the cinema at least once a month. They are also big consumers of video, DVD and games. Alex Sparks, managing director of Blockbuster UK, explains why his company visited over 40 freshers' fairs this year: "Targeting students is a natural fit for Blockbuster. Students are not only a major section of the current movie and gaming market, they also represent the future consumers and influencers of in-home entertainment in the UK"

All students have free access to high-speed internet in their university libraries and, increasingly, in their accommodation. They make good use of it, checking email every day, using message boards and chat rooms, and visiting mostly entertainment-related sites for humour and gaming. In fact, a survey by NetValue found that a third of all those gaming online are students.

No longer are they relying on shared computers in university facilities. At a typical institution like University College Worcester, where the cost of living is average, a staggering 91% of students own their own computers, a third of them laptops.

Sport is obviously an integral part of the student experience, and students have access to a phenomenal range of choice. Wednesday afternoons are reserved for sports activities in universities across the UK and BUSA (British Universities Sports Association) claims 1.2 million students and 3,200 teams take part.

When it comes to favourite leisure venues, as a rule the students' union is number one for first year students, who often spend their early months getting familiar with their immediate surroundings. But beyond the first year students start venturing off campus, spending equal amounts of time in pubs, clubs and cinemas (and many of them are regulars at pool clubs, karting tracks and bowling alleys).

It should not be forgotten that, to pay for all this activity, many students have to take part-time jobs. Some 43% work up to 29 hours a week.

Spotlight on: student shopping

2006-11-19T22:56:00.000Z

"If I'm going to go out and have some fun, I need to be wearing the right clothes to do it in" Female student at Lancaster University (from 'Mental Budgeting', research by Dr Sue Eccles).

Wearing the right clothes is a key concern for today's student. Recent MORI research identified the modern fashion for designer labels, along with keeping up appearances with peers, as the two biggest influences on student clothes spending. The average UK student spends £46.63 per month (women £49.65, men £43.44) on new items. At one university alone - Brunel in Middlesex - some 13,000 students spend £2.1 million on their wardrobes. No wonder retailers such as TopShop have invested heavily in student marketing.

What else do students spend their money on when out shopping? Personal convenience goods - CDs, DVDs, magazines etc - account for over £30 of the typical student's spending a month. When it comes to entertainment spending, audio equipment is second only to alcohol in the outgoings table, taking up 22% of the budget.

Book costs, an obvious expense, have led banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland to offer discount deals when students sign up for new accounts. "Depending on the subject studied, students spend, on average, up to £200 on text books per year," says Andrea Aitken-Paige, head of student banking at RBS. "Consequently, we are offering a minimum 20% discount on books."

Household accessories and decorations should not be forgotten. Habitat, which recently started offering an NUS discount, is seeing more and more image-conscious students come through its doors. The students are looking for items that will give their homes the same air of style that comes with their other purchases. They are the most transient consumer group in the UK, getting through three or four addresses a year sometimes, and each move precipitates a furnishings review. Whether it's lava lamps and Radiohead posters or Rothko prints and Phillipe Stark lemon squeezers, students treat their room decor as a personality statement.

At the end of all this spending it would be wise for students to get insured. 70% of crimes against students involve theft or criminal damage. NUS calculated the average student has £3,000 worth of possessions in their home, a fact that has inspired awareness-raising campaigns from students' unions and police forces across the UK.

Spotlight on: student health and beauty

2006-11-19T22:54:00.000Z

Student spending on healthcare products is partly driven by students' unions and university welfare teams. These bodies have a responsibility to inform students on health issues - they invest heavily in promoting practices such as safe sex, nutrition and bodycare. Their marketing work on campuses is among the most visible, and as a result student awareness is high.

Being a student is different today than it was ten or even five years ago. Among the many changes that have impacted on student lifestyles is the withdrawal of free prescriptions. Nowadays students rarely bother visiting a doctor unless they feel especially unwell - they prefer to take advice from a pharmacist and buy over-the-counter.

There has also been a marked rise in sales of vitamins and energy supplements, as students seek to counter-balance the effects of heavy nights out and intense study. Products like Pro Plus have won a permanent place in the bathroom cabinet: "Pro Plus is as essential a part of the modern student's toolkit as the mobile phone," said The Guardian recently.

Meanwhile cosmetics retailers and those selling grooming products have benefited from the eventual death of the 'great unwashed' myth. It may have once been cool to be unclean, but today's fresher is full of fragrance. It's all about pulling power according to Daniel Goldup, who writes for York University's student paper. Speaking about male students, Daniel says: "There is more pressure these days. Standards have been pushed up by the, letÕs call it ÔfeminisationÕ, of male culture through the likes of David Beckham, Jude Law and various boy bands. No longer is the ideal of male beauty the rugged look of the 1980s. For now at least it is the pretty-boy, well shaven and immaculately groomed look that is dragging girls wilfully between crisp Habitat sheets!"

And it may come as a surprise to those who remember students as disorganised characters, but today's students often arrive at university with a medical kit full of aspirins, cold remedies, creams and potions - because university handbooks encourage students to come prepared. Campuses are notorious harbingers of illness, especially in the first term when thousands of young people from all across the country come together.

This year the Department of Health will spend £2 million on a safe sex campaign pitched at students and young people. Boots the Chemist have invested in the student market with the large-scale sponsorship of university facilities, such as the Boots Library at Nottingham Trent University. Meanwhile brands such as Nivea, Clinique and Brylcreem have recognised students make up a massive part of their customer base and targeted their marketing accordingly. From condoms and sanitary products to aspirins, cold remedies, hair sprays and skin lotions, students have proved a key market for the health and beauty sector.

Spotlight on: student travel

2006-11-19T22:53:00.001Z

Research by youth-travel specialists STA reveals that students like to take three different types of holiday each year. Typically they book a city break, one 'sun and sand' package and a backpacking trip.

Travel is an important part of student culture. For many it's a kind of social yardstick, marking them out on campus as individuals with a passion for adventure, excitement and discovery. It's a popular subject of discussion in union bars and halls of residence.

Conservative estimates from NUSSL, the trading arm of the National Union of Students, say the average student spends £540 a year on travel. With over 1.8 million students in higher education, that makes the student travel sector worth somewhere in the region of £1 billion.

"The student market is massively important to us," says Louise Clark of STA, "and we are one of the biggest investors in student media. We've changed what we offer to meet the needs of students - we're doing clubbing packages now. We have to think more widely because students are so savvy and they have so much choice."

If today's student wants something, they find the money to buy it. Students borrow massively to satisfy peer expectations, and foreign travel is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. Even those who comfortably survive university often make a claim for the full student loanÉand then spend it on their summer vacation. There is already a generation of graduates paying off three-month holidays in South-East Asia.

As the student demographic has changed - seeing students from wealthy backgrounds dominate - so gap years have gained popularity. One in five students take a gap year nowadays, believing that, among other things, it makes them more broad-minded, confident and ready to meet the challenge of university.

And travel within the UK should not be forgotten. For the larger part of their university lives students stay within a small radius - in some cases within a mile of their university. But they still make numerous trips around the country in a year - visiting family, friends at other universities or special events - for which they rely on public transport. Students are the UK's largest transient demographic, so discount cards and reduced prices have proved attractive incentives.

Students have long been associated with the travel sector. The thirst for global exploration and the basic need for affordable transport around the UK has not waned in over thirty years. In fact it's one of the only things that remains constant in student lifestyles.

Spotlight on: students and their phones

2006-11-19T22:41:00.000Z

The majority of students already have a mobile phone when they arrive at university. But a major change takes place in their relationship with this most vital of new technologies. For most, university marks the time when they start paying the bill out of their own pocket. Suddenly students start looking more closely at free text offers, money-off incentives and complimentary top-up cards.

There are plenty of other attractive reasons for mobile phone retailers to talk to the student market. Students are early-adopters - they are quick to pick up on new products, especially communications tools, providing they can see value in what's on offer. They are tech-savvy; able and willing to learn how new features work. And most importantly, communication is their lifeblood - campus life is built around sociability, and today the mobile phone glues it all together.

There are also practical factors that mark out students as a key audience. Few of them, knowing they are likely to have numerous addresses while at university, bother with a landline. For most, the mobile is their only phone. For some, it is also their only watch, camera, diary or camcorder.

Even universities themselves, often quite behind with student trends when it comes to marketing, have realised the role mobiles play in students' lives. This year Bradford University sent text messages to students waiting for A-level results reading "Hoping 4 gr8 results Thursday :-) frm bfd uni".

A survey by Orange found that students are finding ever more creative ways of improving time management using their mobile phones. Of 1,000 questioned, three-quarters said they would rather call a friend at the bar to place a drinks order than queue themselves. Nearly half say they would resort to calling their flatmates on their mobiles when they are too hungover to get out of bed. 86% admitted to sending a sneaky text during lectures, while 80% of all student text messages are about campus gossip (and that applies to male students as well as female). David Taylor, commercial director at Orange UK, says: "Increasingly, students are relying on their mobile phones for even the most basic communication needs."

Because students are always looking for ways to stick out in the crowd, novel phone applications and features are always popular. Ringtones and logos remain of interest - last year, according to NOP, 80% of 15- to 24-year-olds downloaded at least one ringtone.

Spotlight on: students and their money

2006-11-19T22:29:00.000Z

A recent NOP finance report identified students as 'green shoots' - newly sprouted consumers with lots of potential. Although their financial holdings are low, their youth makes them the perfect target for those selling first-ever current accounts, credit cards and other financial products.

The abolition of grants in the late Nineties opened the floodgates for the finance sector. There is now an insatiable demand for borrowing, and it is a rare student that does not need to call on the help of overdrafts and credit cards to get them through university.

The modern student lifestyle has accelerated the need for credit. Today's student has a 'live today, pay tomorrow' attitude and expects to live a full life at university. As The Guardian recently said of students: "They are now uniquely flashy, conditioned to expect a lifestyle of cocktails, designer clothes and en-suite travel."

So isn't this a bit of a worry? Not according to students, says Dr Sue Eccles of Lancaster University. She conducted research into the borrowing phenomenon and found: "The general consensus amongst university students was that they have accepted that they will have extensive debt as an inevitable part of their experiences. They do not treat loans or overdrafts as 'real' debt but merely as a long-term investment." They may now have money, but students are still out for all they can get for free. Incentives such as gifts, discounts and prize draws are guaranteed to capture their interest in finance products. When it comes to signing up for a credit card, it is often the originality of the giveaway that makes the difference. Barclaycard found last year that its free popcorn-maker was massively successful in attracting new customers. One Aston University student told a newspaper reporter at freshers' fair: "The funny thing was I was not interested [in getting a credit card], but at the same time felt tempted."

The plain facts of student finance are that, to get through three years of university, the average student needs in excess of £15,000. Even though 83% of students nowadays are from ABC1 backgrounds, £5,000 per year is beyond the budget of many middle-class parents and just as many are not inclined to provide that level of support. The typical student leaves university with over £10,000 owed, and prepared to work hard to manage their finances.

The student lending market is the strongest of them all. And with the prospect of 'top-up' tuition fees just around the corner - meaning students will pay up to £7,000 extra to get into a top university - it can only get stronger.

Spotlight on: student eating habits

2006-11-19T22:25:00.000Z

Kebabs, Pot Noodles, Coco Pops and toast. The four staples of the student diet according to folklore. But how true is the stereotype? What do students really eat, is it all about convenience and how do students choose their snacks, meals and confectionery?

Increasingly, research suggests student lifestyles are changing. Reports say students are becoming more sophisticated in their choices. Mike Bond, managing director of Scholarest, which runs university catering outlets, says this applies to food too: "Students are more cosmopolitan about food and drink than ever before. In terms of what is offered to them, they are looking for lots of variety, quality and taste, and probably that reflects what they can find in the high street."

But this trend away from cheap and basic foodstuffs towards exotically flavoured products does not mean you're likely to find undergraduates crammed into the communal kitchen every night, experimenting with rare spices. Students don't do a lot of cooking. In fact, they're doing even less cooking nowadays: "Students are now eating more on the hoof," says Graham Crump, who manages catering facilities at Warwick University. "This is partly due to timetable demands, which is why snack foods have become increasingly popular."

Research by the National Union of Students supports this. Penny Hollings, national secretary of NUS, explains: "Students are moving towards snacking as lectures are held any time of day, and some do part-time work. It's about convenience."

The rise of the convenience noodle market is evidence of the student trend towards no-fuss meals. Mintel reported that noodle sales rose by 45% over the period 1998-2003, reaching an estimated £189.6 million in 2003. The overall rise was driven, they said, by sales of easy-cook and instant snack products, and they acknowledged students as the core market. It's clear that if you have a product that meets their needs, students can deliver brands dramatic success.

Market Research Solutions found that on average students spend £3.88 a day on meals on campus, with first-years spending the most (on average £4.03) and postgraduates the least (on average £3.65). Students in London and the south west tend to spend the most on food (up to £4.26) compared to students from Scotland and Northern Ireland, who tend to spend an average of £3.43. Most students said they were more likely to buy their lunch from supermarkets than on campus.

Soundbites: wise words from student experts

2006-11-18T22:20:00.000Z

See contributors list at the end for mini-biographies
These quotes originally appeared in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

On students and the student market

The student market is very important to EMI-Virgin. Practically every single band will have student promotion as part of a marketing and promo plan these days. DOLLY CLEW

Whilst many students struggle to make ends meet, others - for the first time in their lives - have significant expendable incomes to thrash on booze, shopping, records and holidays. Retailers wishing to secure future loyalty are well advised to make their services attractive and available at this early opportunity. TOM EDGE

Young people have grown up with technology and they adopt it very easily. Three or four years ago there was zero SMS sent a month, now there's a billion. That kind of growth is incredible. That's neverhappened before in terms of adoption of technology. Students and young people push this technology. They're quite influential and they're happier to change their habits than someone aged 66.SEAN SINGLETON

Most undergraduates consort, primarily, with fellow undergraduates, enabling trends on campus to root and flourish quickly. TOM EDGE

I entered the student market many years after leaving University in the Seventies and learned through market research and experience that students today are not the same as students and student bodies ofyesteryear. JULIAN FOULGER

Students don't like people who are out to make a fast buck.EMILY DUBBERLEY

Three words to describe today's student? Competitive. Overwhelmed. Money-conscious. SHARON LOUGHER

There's a massive misconception of students: they're really crazy and wacky. In fact, most of them aren’t. JUSTINE ANDREWS

If a student wants something now, they are usually prepared to pay for it. SHERAZ DAR

Students are very pressured in terms of image consciousness. If you walk round any student bar you'll be amazed that these people who are up to their eyeballs in debt are wearing top brand clothes, driving better cars than most of us, wearing good watches, going onexpensive holidays, buying top range hi-fi. When I was a student, if I'd gone overdrawn by £50 I'd have palpitations. Now, they just accept that they're going to leave with £15,000 debt. Students on paper are no doubt in hardship, but they are also lifestyle-rich.JUSTINE ANDREWS

Our experience of students today is that they share many of the values of their parents when purchasing. They are not naïve and we treat them as adults. That means they deserve and get the same sellingprotections as other members of the public. Students can also be your customers after they leave University, treat them well.JULIAN FOULGER

Students aren't apathetic, they just don't care about the things you might previously have thought they would. I don't think manystudents are politically, environmentally or socially motivated any more. A lot of them are money motivated. They want to cut the best deal for themselves. They're not apathetic, they're focussed on other things. This is the next generation of Gordon Geckos. It's not for me to debate the rights and wrongs of that, but it's what's happening and I find it very interesting to observe. JUSTINE ANDREWS

Compared to the Sixties and Seventies students aren't so political nowadays, but there is still a sizeable political element. You only have to look at the numbers of students involved in the Stop the War campaigning to see that. MIKE SLOCOMBE

Students have become more career conscious and these days better understand the advantages of making contacts and building their CV. DOLLY CLEW

Students have to work very hard, now more than ever.SHARON LOUGHER
Students work hard at their studies and expect those that sell to them to work hard at selling their offering. Students today demand service from suppliers. Selling to students is as difficult as selling to anyone else so don't think you can cut corners. JULIAN FOULGER

10 years ago very few students had part-time jobs, now most do. Generally they have access to more money now. They don't have more money, but they have access to more money and consequently they have much bigger debts. SHERAZ DAR

Tuition fees changed the very nature of student life.SHARON LOUGHER

Students are being massively affected by tuition fees. So many just can't afford to go to university nowadays. Those that do have to work their way through it. It's no holiday any more, it's hard work and expensive. MIKE SLOCOMBE

They're studying in a different economic and highly competitiveenvironment: if a student has had to produce very good academic grades, shown some flair in an interview and had to fork out a large amount of money to obtain a place on a course, he or she is going to apportion their time differently and protesting may have to take a back seat to that. SHARON LOUGHER

Students can be quite politically correct when they're in groups, but as individuals not so much. In the bar there may be an anti-sexism poster, but at the bar they're telling sexist jokes…rightly or wrongly. SEAN SINGLETON

Students prefer to discover things for themselves. SHERAZ DAR

On marketing to students

The student market is a hell of a lot easier to get hold of than the youth market. You know where they are going to congregate. Most students hang out around either the union or one or two pubs in town. You might miss a few, but you're damn near 100 per cent of the market. EMILY DUBBERLEY

Students aren't difficult to reach, but it is hard work reaching them - there's a difference. EMILY DUBBERLEY

Students are such a desired consumer market, they can often beoverwhelmed with things - especially in the first few months of uni. It's difficult to capture attention. SHARON LOUGHER

It's not difficult to reach students, but maybe the market isover-saturated.
Especially during freshers when every company thinks about students. DOLLY CLEW

Don't market during freshers week. All the companies market then, and do nothing else for the rest of the year. EMILY DUBBERLEY

The only difficulty is competing with the amount of information freshers are overloaded with at the start of university when the guide is published. SHARON LOUGHER

I once got asked to run a seminar called 'How you can segment and accurately target the student market'. I said I'd do it, but I didn't believe it was worth segmenting the market. I mean, you could split it into your jocks, your indie kids etc. But given what the market is worth as a whole, why bother? There are certain things that work on a universal level: sex, beer and humour. If you can produce something with those three elements you're on a winner. EMILY DUBBERLEY

Given that the government intends to put 50% of people through higher or further education, the 'student audience' is a pretty broad church. TOM EDGE

We try to inject humour into our work, because it works online full stop. With humour obviously you're going to hit, not just students, but a younger demographic generally. LOUIS CLEMENT
We think that young people tend to laugh at the same things. I don't know whether there is a student sense of humour; it's generally about going out, enjoying yourself, being a bit cynical and laughing at the world. That's the approach we have. SEAN SINGLETON

We know what makes people laugh, but the question is what is a brand prepared to do? With viral it's quite extreme: horror, sex, extreme humour. Brands don't always want to be associated with that. The problem we have aiming at the student market is finding that place where the brand is comfortable and the student will laugh. SEAN SINGLETON

The tricky part is the creative end. A campaign will flounder unless the end product is genuinely useful or, better, entertaining. Being innovative is key, even if you're just putting a sharp new spin on an old idea. Poor quality, hackneyed ideas are probably the greatest obstacles. TOM EDGE

We would always encourage risk taking. I don't think manycampaigns are worth doing. In terms of marketing you just get so much notice taken. SEAN SINGLETON
Patronising and taking students for granted is the biggest mistake you can make. And expecting them to embrace anything projected at them with open arms - they know when they are being ripped off.DOLLY CLEW

When I did SBN news we had a sponsor who wanted to put a drum'n'bass bed under our programme. I told them: this is ABC1 news pal - you're not putting that behind the news! That's the difference between the youth and student market that some don't get.The student market, by logical default, is all ABC1.JOHN HANDELAAR

These days they're just more savvy in what really affects them and what doesn't, and are more cynical as a result. For example ifstudents have not felt the effects of student union campaigns during whatever time they've spent in college, they're not going to bother to vote on their student elections. Governments are savvy to protests now and protesting these days does very little - the protests against the Iraq war illustrated this - and I think that's very demoralising for students. SHARON LOUGHER

Students like value for money. ‘Cheap’ is viewed with suspicion and as we all know cheap today in IT could prove to be expensivetomorrow when there is a problem and no-one is around to help you. JULIAN FOULGER

You will know your products and USPs, but do you know how to communicate them to your student audience? We used a students' union to write our copy for student media and although the message was the same as for our other markets, the words used werevery different. JULIAN FOULGER

Students are blind to a lot of marketing. It's not a case of apathy or anger, they just don’t see it.
The majority of students aresophisticated, more media literate. Walking past a row of stickerson the toilet mirror isn't going to do it. JUSTINE ANDREWS

Work experience works as an incentive. Because it's really hard to get work experience. EMILY DUBBERLEY

There's a lot of nervousness about the student market, a lack ofclarity about how to approach students. Do you treat them as a youth market? What exactly do you do? In the end brands just hand over the money to someone they think knows what they're doing.JUSTINE ANDREWS

A lot of student marketing seems to be five years behind the students. EMILY DUBBERLEY

You can't claim to know what the kids think if you're past it yourself. That's a very dangerous game. So I'm always very sceptical when I come across marketing executives who tell me what's 'hot' with the kids today. MIKE SLOCOMBE

Marketing people don't use focus groups in the right way. They ask the wrong questions. Focus groups are good for testing theergonomics of a product. They're no use for making creativejudgements. 'What colour do you prefer? Red or blue'. Some will say one, some will say the other. Nothing useful comes out of it.MIKE SLOCOMBE
We advise holding back on branding. Entertain first, brand later. Students don't mind being sold to if they enjoy themselves first. LOUIS CLEMENT

Most good student campaigns are simple, but done well.SEAN SINGLETON

Don't underestimate students. A lot of student marketing is aimed at the lowest common denominator, still very pound-a-pint mentality. I'm surprised when so much money is spent on marketing, and when mainstream campaigns have got so sophisticated, that the student campaigns are so wide of the mark. I wonder whether brands really understand students as a consumer. JUSTINE ANDREWS

You see a lot of garish campaigns that, to my mind, would appeal to a younger age than students. JUSTINE ANDREWS

The graduate recruiters aren't the most exciting campaigns, because it's quite a sensible product they're pitching, but the creative from the likes Accenture and PWC, who do have money to get it right, isusually very well done. JUSTINE ANDREWS

I have more respect for brands who have been student marketing for a long time. A lot of brands jumped in five years ago when the whole student thing really took off, but those that were there beforeI respect. EMILY DUBBERLEY
You get someone who was heavily involved in the drama society goes to work in student marketing and comes up with the idea ofsponsoring plays. The problem is, often marketers think they're the same as everyone else. EMILY DUBBERLEY

A lot of people dive into student marketing without knowing what they're doing. They graduate and, having heard the legend thatstudents are hard to reach, think: 'I know - I'll start up a student marketing company'. Then they realise that the reason students are hard to reach isn't necessarily that everyone else is doing it wrong; it's because it actually takes a lot of work. EMILY DUBBERLEY

It's amazing how many big brands put money into these fly-by-night agencies who think if they send a couple of promotion people to stand outside the gates of a university that's an effectivemarketing campaign. JUSTINE ANDREWS

There are still those times when you find a box of samples or leaflets dumped outside the union. Unions now get onto the brands and let them know they've made a cock-up with the agency they've chosen. JUSTINE ANDREWS

The best way of doing student marketing? Pay every student, pay them a reasonable amount of money. EMILY DUBBERLEY

People think it's a great market to get into. They pop up one week and they're gone again the next. JUSTINE ANDREWS

If you're looking for a quick win, it may not work. Brands that are popular with students normally have had a dialogue with them for some time. SHERAZ DAR

Student brand manager schemes? Big mistake. DOLLY CLEW

Student brand manager schemes are a good idea. Contacts areeverything, and those sorts of schemes are as good a place as any to start. SHARON LOUGHER

One of our competitors who sold through student brand managers was viewed with deep suspicion. Who likes being sold to by one of their mates who you know is getting commission and may not think they are selling the best product in the world? Students will recommend but they want to recommend with objectivity. JULIAN FOULGER

A brand manager rarely tries to sell things to their friends. Most brand manager programmes are designed to keep a constant level of brand awareness throughout a term. This can be nothing morecomplex than poster and flyer distribution, some market research and sourcing sponsorship and other opportunities. They are in effect an extension to the clients' own marketing team - the eyes and ears on the ground. The insight they give the client is worth the investment alone. CHRIS JOHNSTONE

I think there is a danger when you use students to sell to otherstudents that you will be seen as being desperate. We have always felt more comfortable developing a relationship with students directly. We have shops with fantastically trained sales people to sell our products. SHERAZ DAR

Most of our brand manager campaigns are now in the area of graduate recruitment, helping a recruiter get ahead of the game. We ran four campaigns in the autumn and each one showed an increase in quantity and quality of applications received by the recruiters involved.CHRIS JOHNSTONE

The Time Out Student Guide acknowledges that London is anincredibly daunting place. Time Out really is an authority on everything there is to do in the capital: the guides to London are the capital in a book. The magazine captures the changing culture and life here, and the Student Guide is a useful tool to introduce students to all the things that Time Out does. SHARON LOUGHER

We don't want to put on an event that students really look forward to and then spoil it for them by selling. SHERAZ DAR

Having said that, you do have to back up your marketing with aproduct that students actually want. It's not all about creatingawareness and empathy, it's also about making sure you offer the right product and services. SHERAZ DAR

The number of freebies that became synonymous with freshers fairs have fast diminished in recent years. Which is why it's nice to give away such a substantial product. SHARON LOUGHER

When you see a brand that has confidence in itself, you feelcomfortable with it, and that's how students feel with Orange. But it's no use people thinking you're a great brand unless you back it up with the products that they want. SHERAZ DAR

A company that did really well through us was one that didn't care about image. They were a new online casino and they just wanted as many visitors as they could get. Just build us something good they said. So we took the three elements of what works virally - horror, humour, sex - and created 'Strip or Die'. Russian roulette with stripping. It's got gambling, violence and nudity involved: notvery pc. LOUIS CLEMENT

Strip or Die was massive. It took down our server. Six months later it's still crazy - most viral games only have a three month shelf life. For one week our site was bigger than Warner Brothers'.SEAN SINGLETON

On student media and students' unions

A lot of clients falsely assume that you go to NUS, you pay them a broker's fee, and you guarantee a really successful campaign. But they don't realise how NUS operates. I know one guy who'd beentrying to get a meeting with NUS for 15 years! EMILY DUBBERLEY

Everyone thinks you have to go through NUS, but NUS are a pain in the arse. You should ignore NUS and go straight to local student media. The most effective way to reach students is through thestudent press. Full stop. JOHN HANDELAAR

Student media has its place, like normal media. In many ways as a great training ground for people who are moving on into the music mags. These days if you write for a good student paper and build upa good relationship with a record company plugger there aren't many bands you cant interview or go and see play. DOLLY CLEW

The student papers change every year. Our relationship with them depends on who the music editor is. Student Direct (Manchester), Leeds Student and Gair Rhydd (Cardiff) are consistently good to work with, and there are a lot of others that are brilliant this year but last year weren't. Its a bit of a merry-go-round. DOLLY CLEW

There is naivety in student media, but not the kind businesses expect. Student journalists fall into two camps: those who believe they are a journalist and no different to those in the mainstream, and those don't think they're important at all. Both of them are wrong. Individualstudent journalists and publications are not important at all, but as a mass student media has power. EMILY DUBBERLEY

The Student Broadcast Network is a fantastic place to start breaking a band. Its ears are often more open to a lot of music than other commercial radio stations. It should be encouraged. DOLLY CLEW

The main frustration dealing with student media? Getting them to send copies of their newspaper to us. DOLLY CLEW

There's enthusiasm and a lack of cynicism from the student journos. DOLLY CLEW

Students' unions value and market advertising opportunities aggressively, but do not think you can play one off against another. They do talk to each other. They also act as a sieve to ensure unscrupulous traders are not given free access to the student market and you can expect some vetting before being allowed to advertise in student publications. View them as allies, not as foes.JULIAN FOULGER

Students' unions talk to each other. We work individually and collectively. JUSTINE ANDREWS

It's easier for the client to pay one company to sort out your student marketing, but from my point of view it's better to work direct with the union. JOANNA BIRD

I don't work on commission, I don't get bonuses. I'm on a salary. All the rates that I put together are proportional to costs. We're not here to make a profit. JOANNA BIRD

On students and new technologies

Email is proven to be a primary method of communication during student years. TOM EDGE

An online campaign can be low-cost and highly-targeted, and exists in a medium where if something is catchy a few clicks see it winging its way, via email, to a dozen new potential customers, at zero cost to the advertiser. This should be very attractive. TOM EDGE

Student web users are very often experienced and jaded - another low-end Flash game won't catch their imagination unless it has a serious creative hook behind it. TOM EDGE
People only forward emails which have amused them enough to want to spread the joy - everything else gets binned. TOM EDGE

We keep an eye on marketplace developments, but our core strategy is less reliant on innovative technologies than many others. We try to keep our pages simple and easy to use on a 56K modem. Thedevelopments that do catch our interest tend to be content forms - blogging and suchlike. These are the kind of things we hope to pick up on and introduce to the site in the next 12 months. TOM EDGE

Generally our work is aimed for youth brands, but when we consider the student application it's the practical issues. When we're choosing a list or placing an ad, we think of the time of year: are the students actually going to be using that email address to check their email? Are they going to be at university using a student website? We're always considering where students might be at certain times. The chances are, for example, that you're going to get less studentschecking their email over Easter. LOUIS CLEMENT

A lot of students who use university machines haven't got sound, file size is a bigger issue. Obviously these things are changing day by day, connection speeds are improving. LOUIS CLEMENT

Online can deliver great value. We looked after the online part of a broad Royal Navy recruitment campaign. 80% of their resulting enquiries came from online. We certainly weren't 80% of the campaign budget. SEAN SINGLETON

PCs will continue to be important to students because that's where they do all their work. SEAN SINGLETON

Don't waste £500,000 of your money on website that no student is honestly going to go to. Spend 10 per cent of it on a great piece of content that can be placed somewhere that students are.SEAN SINGLETON

Contributor bios
JUSTINE ANDREWS works in media sales for Student Direct, Manchester’s student newspaper. It has one of the largest circulations of all student press in the UK

JOANNA BIRD is Advertising and Marketing Coordinator at the University Of Bristol Union. She is on the AMSU Marketing Initiative Commitee

TIM BODENHAM runs BAM, a student media booking agency

ADAM BUSS is PR Manager at NUS Ents, the entertainments arm of the National Union of Students

LOUISE CLARK is PR Manager for STA Travel

LOUIS CLEMENT is Creative Director at Skive Creative, a new media agency notorious for its student-popular viral games

DOLLY CLEW is a music plugger for EMI-Virgin

SHERAZ DAR is Senior Acquisition Manager at Orange

EMILY DUBBERLEY is a writer and consultant. She has a regularcolumn in Revolution magazine. Emily founded the Student Press Association and has spoken at conferences on student marketing

TOM EDGE is New Media Manager at the National Union of Students

JULIAN FOULGER is Managing Director of Tick PC, an onlinecomputer retailer focused on students

JOHN HANDELAAR is now a web designer. He co-founded the Student Broadcast Network and is a former editor of London Student

CHRIS JOHNSTONE runs the Campus Marketing Company [now CAMPUS GROUP]

SHARON LOUGHER is editor of the Time Out Student Guide

ANNA PEARSON is an Account Director at Liquid Communications, who handled the award-winning Big Red House campaign forVirgin Mobile

MARK SANDS is Marketing Director of The Guardian

SEAN SINGLETON is Managing Director of Skive Creative

MIKE SLOCOMBE runs Urban75.com, an activist website popular with young people. He has designed sites for Virgin, Xfm and Channel 4 and has been consistently labelled by Internet magazine as one of the web’s most important people

KIRSTEN WILLIAMSON is Managing Director of Petrus Communications, a France-based European student marketingcompany. She has worked in the student market for over ten years and has lived and worked throughout Europe

Copyright Reach Students

Case study: The Guardian

2006-11-18T22:15:00.000Z

The Guardian - 25 years of student marketing
This case study was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

The Guardian has had a commercial interest in students for over 25 years. It's an interest that today consumes £500,000 of the paper's overall marketing budget. Its portfolio of studentmarketing activities is broad and diverse:a student brand manager network; the Saturday careers supplement, Rise, aimed as much atundergraduates as graduates; the Student Media Awards; a discount voucher scheme;regular on-campus promotions, ranging from quiz nights and debates to sports events. Plus miscellaneous sponsorships, such as careers fairs, arts exhibitions and talent showcases.

The paper is not unusual in investing large sums of money in the student market - broadsheet competitor the Daily Telegraph is rumoured to spend a six figure sum each year, and The Times also has a large student marketing budget. But The Guardian is different in that it has achieved great success. Not just as a daily newspaper, but as a student brand. Whether or not they buy the paper, every student knows The Guardian.

Good marketing has created the desired impact on sales; in the mainstream market the Telegraph outsells The Guardian by two-to-one, yet among students The Guardian is by far the biggest-selling broadsheet.It's not so simple as to say The Guardian, aleft-thinking, comparatively radical paper is bound to be more popular with the student audience. Because students can no longer be assumed to be left-thinking and radical. Recent research by the Index on Censorship found most of today's students accepting of authority, happy with the status quo and keen on the idea of a nanny state. The current ruling executive of the National Union of Students is made up mainly of centre-aligned independents and includes a Tory - once upon a time unheard of. Students just aren't the banner-wavingrevolutionaries they once were.
It's more accurate to look at the quality, consistency and commitment of The Guardian's student marketing.

In conversation with Marc Sands, Marketing Director at Guardian Newspapers, it quickly becomes apparent as to why the paper has achieved such striking success with a supposedly difficult audience. Sands explains the philosophy behind The Guardian’s student marketing: "In my view it would be a disappointing and scary world if everybody only read either the Telegraph or the Mail. The Guardian has a remit about reach and influence, we're about ensuring a more progressive, liberalperspective is conveyed to as wide an audienceas possible.

"Newspapers clearly have a role in shapingopinion. The point at which a person leaves home and goes to college is a period when they are at their most influential and influenceable. It's a time when they make decisions that are key, some of which stick with them for many, many years. So there is a window when people are making massive decisions. Students are an audience to whom our message shouldbe receptive.

"From an ideological perspective, it's crucial that the student audience is open to the message of The Guardian, even if they choose not toadopt it."

The Guardian marketing team is on a mission to promote liberal views, as well as sell papers. Their evangelical belief in their product, and how it can impact on society, drives their work. It's no coincidence that other brands that do well, like Orange and STA Travel, have an offering that it is 'easy' to get passionate about - they have an innovative and engaging product that students feel can genuinely benefit them.

Lots of businesses try out the student market. Some like what they find and hang around. Many - often to the amusement of student market stalwarts - get a fright and bail out. An awful lot of businesses never consider carefully why they want a relationship with students in thefirst place.

The Guardian is absolutely clear on why it wants to attract students. "Historically people tended to read the newspaper their parents read," says Sands. "But now many don't, and the period when they go touniversity is a time when they make their decision. Choosing your paper, particularly a broadsheet, is part of the transition made between childhood and adulthood. It begins to define you. So, in terms of life stages, students are at a pivotal period. From a commercial point of view, students are the future of the paper."

"People rarely change newspapers, and the life-cycle value of a reader is a lot. Readers are our lifeblood. There are good commercial reasons for reaching them as students."
The Guardian's student marketing works, but why does it work? Sands feels their student brandmanager scheme is behind the good results: "You'll hear lots of people talking about student brandmanagers," says Sands, "but the truth is The Guardian invented them [this is hotly disputed by Tony Harbron, who founded the Red Bull SBM scheme]. Everyone else copied The Guardian's model. They thought: that's a good idea, let's apply that to our business. That's the way it goes."

"The brand managers are the advocates for the paper. You'll find them mainly in the liberal arts universities rather than the science baseduniversities, because that's our constituency. We targeted those universities specifically."If, in the newspaper, we're giving away a CD on Saturday, we'll brief our brand managers to adopt that and plug it like crazy on campus. They run their campaigns to tie-in with everypromotion the paper does.

"I think the reason we don't make mistakes and our student marketing works so well is because we give an awful lot of autonomy to the brand managers. If it was down me I'd make lots of mistakes because I was at university 20 years ago. My idea of a good promotion is a pile of discount vouchers inside a packet of what looks like Rizlas - when I told the person who runs our student brand manager scheme that idea she looked at me and laughed. Because she's aged 24, not 39. So we don't go wrong because we don't do things like that."

While Sands may steer clear of the creative side of marketing, he pays close attention to the way students have changed over the years and makes sure his marketing evolves accordingly. "Because funding has changed, the onus on the student is so much greater than 20 years ago," he says. "By the time a student is half way through their second year they're starting to think about what they might do when they finish. It's a fundamental change. When higher education was funded by the state you had time to luxuriate in your student life and get severely into the subject you were studying. If you're being asked to pay such a lot more for education, I think it radically alters why you chose to go to university and what you do when you're there.

"That's changed The Guardian's approach. The Guardian has been a recruitment and jobs paper for some time. But now we push that very hard to undergraduates: we're the place to find your job."

Like other top student brands, The Guardian is now considering ways to reach students off campus. They have noticed that today's student is a moremetropolitan character, and that the city centre is a valid place to make contact. Sands is looking at ways to operate the daily discount scheme in high street newsagents - another example of the paper staying ahead of the game.
So how does he sum up the overall effect of this 'student marketing from the frontline'?

"Some students may not like The Guardian," he says, "but they will be aware the paper is an important influence. And that is important."

Copyright Reach Students

Case study: Virgin Mobile

2006-11-18T22:09:00.000Z

Virgin Mobile's Big Red House campaign
This case study was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

The poor quality of creative aimed at students frequently causes groans in the student market, particularly from those that have to channel it. Student-orientated magazines, websites andlist-owners are sometimes embarrassed to host work through their mediums, although few, if any, would ever turn creative away. And while there are some excellent examples of promotional marketing by student marketers,the overall standard is below average.

So when a student promotion from Virgin Mobile won a prestigious Institute of Sales Promotion award in 2003 it raised eyebrows. The fact that the award was for Integration, Innovation and Creative Excellence was quite outstanding: here was a massive student campaign, involving the full gamut of marketing methods, beingrecognised for consistent quality.

The Virgin Mobile 'Big Red House' promotion was delivered in three parts. The giant hook that captured the imagination of students came at the end. That hook was the chance to win a year's free accommodation for four in a house rented by Virgin Mobile.

Anna Pearson, Account Director at Liquid Communications who created the campaign, explains the thinking behind it: "It started out from some research that showed accommodation and rent were top of the list of student concerns. Rent and accommodation are a bit dry as subjects, so we were thinking how to take that research and turn it into something entertaining that could also achieve results. We had an objective to collect student data and make Virgin Mobile a brand that's better recognised with students.

"We needed to create something irreverent enough to suit the Virgin Mobile brand and alternative enough to go against all the big guys out there."

The big guys included Vodaphone and, at the top, the mighty Orange, who have developed their student marketing into an art form. At the time Virgin Mobile was the fifth most recognised mobile phone brand, so there was some work to do. "One of the obstacles we faced," says Pearson, "was that Orange and Vodafone were out there already. But they were mainly working in the crowded music arena. We didn't want to compete head-on because they have much bigger budgets and we wanted to dosomething different. You can out-spend thecompetition or you can out-smart them. Our only choice was to out-smart them."

The idea of giving away a house for a year was just part of the overall Big Red House promotion. It all kicked off with an unbranded teaser campaign at 50 universities. The creative featured striking use of home-related icons in white on a simple red background. "We were very calculated," says Pearson. "We always knew what was coming next. Timing is very important and we made the decision to avoid freshers. Everyone else was there at freshers and we weren't big enough to make an impact. We waited for that to die down and then we started the teaser campaign.

"The breadth of material and channels we used made it an integrated campaign. We used offline and online. Offline we used beer mats, which are found in the perfect social environment for this campaign - student mates can chat about the idea. We did washroom posters, we wrapped as many objects as we could find, we chalked the Big Red icon on pavements, we gave out carrier bags and matchboxes. Everything pointed to the Big Red website.

"SMS was our best medium. It raised page impressions on the website fourfold on the day. Our viral emails also worked well - aboveaverage click through rates for both. One was a game, it was quite crude and involved catching sick in a bucket. The other was a text-based email in the style of a spoof landlord's letter. It was designed to appeal to the wordier student audience, those into a bit of irony. We were quite surprised that the sick game was much more successful. You can't second-guess students. In this instance the crude game worked better."

Launching an unbranded campaign at this audience can be quite daunting. Imagine if there was little response? The next move would be anuncomfortable one. "We obviously couldn't get quantitative research," says Pearson, "but the qualitative research we got back from the student brand managers we used was very good, so we were confident. Students don't always respond to brands pushing something directly in their face, but when it's done through a student brand manager - one of their peers - it can work. The student brand managers absolutely loved our campaign so it helped us a lot."

"The next time we approached students it was as Virgin Mobile and it was to offer them the chance to win a house party. They could win a massive party pack, provided by us, that included a DJ, a bouncer, invitations to send to mates, apology cards with earplugs for the neighbours, a sick bucket, a Twister game and lots of other bits and pieces. They had to tell us why they'd stage the best party. Ten party packs went out to the ten best replies. "We'd created a brand new identity, what we called the ‘wallpaper identity’. It avoided lots of words - the icons illustrated our messages. We felt that we created the right balance between 'quite cool' but not 'too cool', while still managing to convey a promotional message."

The final stage of the campaign was communicating the Big Red House competition. 20 competitors were picked following an earlier part of thepromotion where students had to say why they deserved to win a year in the house. Although there could only be ten winners, houses were secured with landlords in 20 university towns in order that the accommodation would be ready once the winners were announced.

"The finalists were posted on the web and they had to campaign to win one of ten Big Red Houses. We gave them a campaign pack,including Che Guevara-style t-shirts. They got points for good campaigning. The response was amazing. Lots of them got on local radiopromoting the campaign. One was going to go topless in the Sun, but thankfully she changed her mind. When it came to the time for students to vote we registered over 1/4 million votes for all the candidates. That was more votes than in the first week of Big Brother."

Keys to ten houses were handed over to ten winning students and their grateful friends, all of whom no doubt helped generate an average of 12,500 votes per candidate. And their good fortune did not end at that point. "They are still being lavished with gifts," reveals Pearson. "They all got a widescreen TV when they entered the house. They get sent lottery tickets on aregular basis - it would be fantastic if one of them won the lottery! - and they get days out, cases of food etc. They're pretty famous on their campuses."

Clearly the Big Red House campaign is an example of a clever idea perfectly executed. But what in Liquid's approach made this campaign work for students? "I think I speak for all agencies when I say we all think we're young and dynamic and that we know students. But we're not students any more so we have to be careful. It's really important to keep in touch with what's going on. You can roll out a total clanger and once you've done it wrong you'll never get the chance again. You've got to get it right first time.

"First of all you have to do something that interests them. If it doesn't, that is a big mistake to start with. Make sure there's a benefit for them. Another mistake is to do something that's already been done to death. Don't do something too complicated. Don’t do something too promotional. And don't dosomething obviously aimed at students. You can't tell them what they want. You can understand what they want, offer it and then hope they take it."

In its first student year (2001/2) Liquid's campaign moved Virgin Mobile from fifth to third on the list of most recognised mobile brands - quite an achievement for one year's promotion work. In July Liquid found out they have been nominated for a European ISP award.

Copyright Reach Students

PR and the student market

2006-11-18T22:03:00.000Z

Q&A with Adam Buss, PR Manager at NUS Ents
This article was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

Why is PR important in thestudent market?
"PR is important in the student market, from both sides: for the brands and for student media.
"For the brands it is an essential and cost effective way of communicating their ideals to a highly receptive audience. For student media, PR can generate much needed editorial and prize collateral, adding value to a sometimes overlooked media format."

What kind of success has NUS Ents achieved in this area?
"NUS Ents have run successful PR campaigns for a number of brands, including Topman, Miss Selfridge, HMV, Nickolodeon, Air France, Tiger Beer and Sony PlayStation.

"Amongst our most successful campaigns are those run on behalf of Topman and Miss Selfridge. Both brands have seen a year on year increase in the number of student sales. Both campaigns reached well over 1 million students in the 2002/3 academic year.

"NUS Ents PR campaigns use a range of tools to ensure maximum coverage including competitions, celebrity interviews, exclusive editorial and tickets to major national and local events."

What key moves can a brand make to get students 'on side'?
"Students are very savvy when it comes to assessing brand objectives. It's no longer appropriate to simply bombard students with imagery and soundbites in order to convey a message. It is essential to create innovative campaigns that encompass the essence of the brand and its strengths in a fresh and exciting way.

"The student market is bombarded by brands, and messages can be confused when not managed in the correct way. Simple things such as talking to the right people on campus can make a massive difference. NUS Ents always ensure that the correct people are targeted, this could be anyone from the communications sabbatical, the ents manager or the marketing co-ordinator.

"It's also essential to take note of the diversity within the student market and the individual unions in terms of both attitude and facilities. One particular campaign strand may be perfect for one union but ineffective to another."

Who has good PR in the student market and how have they achieved it?
"Topman have excellent PR within the student market due to their innovative campaigns, links to charity and continued presence on campus. NUS Ents have designed and managed PR campaigns for Topman for three years and by adding value to publications through voucher competitions, fashion shoots, exclusive store evenings and their continued support to the ‘Everyman’ male testicular cancer campaign.

"Topman realize that their presence needs to be continual due to the ever changing nature of the student market."

What are the biggest mistakes you can make in your student market relations?
"Ignoring the diversity of the student market and undervaluing the power of student media.
"For many students their student publication will be the only publication they read, and more importantly TRUST, on a regular basis. Student media reaches around 75 per cent of the total HE student market of nearly 2 million. Student media has also come a long way from its early roots as double- sided paper sheets.

"Many student unions have an integrated student media policy combining a publication, website, radio station and in some cases a TV station. Good examples of this include Bournemouth University’s ‘Nerve’ media and Exeter’s ‘Ex’ media formats.

How influential is student media? And what about students' unions?
"Student media and their parent unions are both massively important in shaping trends and purchasing patterns.

"The student market is regarded as being up to 18 months ahead of the general youth market, and as such can be an excellent barometer for any brand. Student media is increasingly professional and is being read more and more by both current, former and prospective students as well as many in the wider community (where it is distributed off campus).

"Students' unions form one of the core pillars of student life and as such can be a massive influence into shaping the experience of students whilst at university.

Can any business achieve good PR with students?
"Any business that has not been banned by NUS or individual unions on ethical grounds can achieve good PR results. It may be more difficult for some, however, as long as the correct advice on accessing student media is given then any forward-thinking business can achieve results.

"Again it is essential to take advice on individual unions and their policies and always to look at interesting ways of providing something extra for publications.

Do brands have common misconceptions about students and the student market?
"Many do not realise the importance of student media, and often overlook student PR as an effective tool in enhancing brand awareness and image. Once the reach and professionalism of student media is explained to brands the majority quickly understand the importance of engaging them on a creative level.

"Many brands have been previously misinformed on how best to access the student market and see students as an easy target for mass promotion. This is why all of NUS Ents' campaigns are created bespoke."

Copyright Reach Students

Student marketing in Europe

2006-11-18T21:55:00.000Z

Guest article by Kirsten Williamson, Managing Director, Petrus Communications
This article was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

L'Auberge Espagnol, Cedric Klapisch's recent film, was enthusiastically acclaimed by students across Europe last summer, highlighting aninteresting phenomena. There now exists a generation of students who consider themselves to be in part European, with as many similarities as there are differences between them and their fellow students from other European countries.

This presents an opportunity, but also many headaches, for UK marketers with student-oriented brands, products or services. The European student market is a good source of potential customers (several million), withsimilar lifestyle and spending habits to their UK counterparts, but the market is so vast and diverse - despite the similarities the students recognise in each other - that it is hard to know where to start.

Following the current trend in marketing toidentify and target 'micro groups' of potential customers, segmentation can be the key to establishing an effective relationship with students in mainland Europe and to building a successful marketing campaign that doesn't simply involve handing control to a 'network' of ad agencies and watching the budget disappear faster than you can say Erasmus.

For this approach to be effective, the segment needs to meet three criteria:

There needs to be enough members in the segment to make them economically viable as a target

The members of any segment need to be clearly identifiable as part of that segment

Tools must exist (or we must create them) which allow communication with the segment members

The size and nature of the potential market'Over 2.5 million students with a spending power of 20 billion euros1, for whom two thirds of their favourite brands as students remain with them as adults.'[2]

Does this sound familiar? This description would not be out of place for the UK student market, but in fact relates to France, and the research goes on to suggest that 50 per cent of household spending is influenced by student preferences.

In Germany there are also approximately2.5 million students3, followed by Italy with2 million and Spain with 1.7 million. And whereas the Northern European countries have much smaller student populations (Netherlands 500,000, Sweden 300,000, Norway, Finland and Denmark approximately 200,000 each), reflecting the size of the national population, the structure of the education system still allows for cost effective targeting. For example, students in Norway are divided into just four keyuniversities and six university colleges - quite different from the 600+ universities, grande ecoles and institutes in France.

It is also worth identifying what is meant by 'European' and 'student'. The three main country groupings I would consider to be covered by the title 'Europe' are the European Union, The European Economic Area, and the Accession Countries (Cyprus, Czech Reublic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). We could also consider Romania, Bulgaria and Russia, however these countries hold their own challenges in terms of the economic situation and the structure of university and student support, and would require a different approach again. Students can generally be classed into the 18 to 24 age group, however graduation age extends to 29 in some countries.

Having spent time on campuses in almost every mainland European country, I notice that student spending habits seem to cover very similar themes regardless of nationality. Travel and related services, music and the equipment on which to play or record it, video games, books and materials, computers and internet access, clothes and trainers, socialising - although this happens very differently depending on the local culture - and the all important mobile phone.
It is dangerous to generalise about the different education systems in Europe, however there are a number of features which can be identified and which affect the practical aspects of running a successful campaign:

Work placements are usual, with some students spending up to half of their degree time away from campus

Foreign travel is encouraged and a foreign work or study exchange is compulsory in many institutions

The size of the institution varies greatly, even within the same country, from just three or four hundred students up to 40 or 50 thousand

Linked to this is the degree of specialisation at the institution - for example, one French institution is dedicated to studying durable development, economic and aid policies in Africa, Asia and Latin America (with implications on the likely travel destinations of this group) while another with just 700 students focuses entirely on chemistry and the chemical engineering industry. Online learning opportunities are developing for many different ages and subject groups, affecting the amount of time spent online, and the nature of the sites consulted
The lack of a national/local students’ union structure, comparable to that of the UK, means the buildings to target, and the kind of organisations available to work with, varies again within just one country as well as between countries. Linked to this is the abundance of independent student societies covering many sport, cultural, social and humanitarian activities.

And also related is the range of different contact points which will be needed on campus in order to be able to carry out local marketing, as without a central students' union structure fulfilling the role carried out by the NUS and NUSSL in the UK, each institution has its own way of co-ordinating student organisations and campus activity.

Identifying different segments
Selecting the target group clearly depends on the nature of the product, but also the distribution method (sales on campus, sales from non-student-specific outlets, own point of sale, online or by subscription) and whether the company or brand has already established a good market presence.The most obvious criteria by which to select the target group is geographical. If a product already has distribution network in certain countries then this could be a good base for launching a student campaign in that country specifically. However, if a product can be sold online, or is in fact a website, a segment of the student population across Europe could provide the target. Poland is a good example of where city based rather than country based targeting makes more geographical sense, with many of the more affluent students living and studying in Warsaw. A marketing campaign in Poland could start in just two or three key cities, covering up to four large institutions in each to be effective.

Another effective form of segmenting would be to identify certain factual or lifestyle characteristics, to establish the profile shared by the target group across several countries. This could be include one or some of a range of clearly definable critera,such as:

Subject of study (particularly with so many clearly defined specialist technical and business institutions)

Quality of institution

Gender - women in engineering being a particularly hot topic at the moment

International travellers - for example, the group of students getting ready for their Erasmus placement could be of great interest to an online travel insurer or telephone card company for example

Students going onto a work placement

Alumni

Students starting their university life

International Students

Sporting societies

Other hobbies or interests

Business groups

Pro-active, opinion leaders eg Those involved in organising the student activities for their campus

The categories identified above all have their own organisations, publications, websites, events, mailing lists and campus support staff, allowing them to be reached as a separate entity from the rest of the student population.

How to target the chosen segment? Consider the following:
Stna klat without gniyas a drow! Did you know that when stna touch each other with their eannetna, it is one way they klat or etacinummoc?

Can you see what this message means? After a couple of minutes you will identify the key and decipher the phrase - 'Ants talk without saying a word! Did you know that when ants touch each other with their antennae, it is one way they talkor communicate?'

Now compare your experience with that of a student in a poster and flyer filled entrance hall. The student market is already so busy that, as in the UK, marketing communication needs to be clear and interesting, without requiring a great deal of effort from the student to understand the basic message. This means the language of your marketing materials is important (as well as the concept behind the campaign!). The law in some countries insists that materials are translated and the attitude of local students towards English language materials needs to be considered. Many French students automatically delete English language emails, assuming them to be marketing and junk mail. This is not to say that English should not be used at all - it is very trendy at the moment in a number of European countries to include English words in spoken or written communication, but the balance has to be right.

Understanding the attitude of the target group is - as in the UK - also important and market research can be illuminating. While the buying habits of students may be similar, their motivations can differ greatly. Understanding this enables us to build a profile of a certain target group that can be used to identify similar students in other countries.

The tools available to reach the chosen segment can certainly be compared to what is available in the UK. The key issue is implementation, as the structure of the institutions varies greatly, as well as the timing and day to day activities involved in student life. It may take time to identify the best channel to use. There are 7000 student associations in France alone, and at least eight structured pan-European organisations, of which only AIESEC seems to be visibly active in the UK. National and local students' unions do exist in many forms and the lack of a students' union structure comparable to that of the UK presents an opportunity. The variety of different student associations and activities is greater in Europe and there are more than enough opportunities to identify and communicate via a group or event which is relevant to the brand.

For example:
A national sailing (golf or other sporting) competition - as held in France each year - is a great brand building and sampling opportunity

Working with university staff to create a case study on your brand or product

Sampling at target institutions and relevant events

The most simple (in principle!): effective distribution of posters and flyers

Targeted email shots (via an institution or student group)

Creating a sponsored newsletter for the target group allowing them to connect in a way which they hadn't previously

Creating a national competition - the inter-university competitiveness is a motivating factor for participation

There is no lack of creative opportunities available to communicate the message. I strongly feel that the practical aspect of reaching the target group requires more focus and effort. There are probably only two weeks in the calendar year when the whole of Europe's student population is on campus and not sitting exams (without taking into account those students who will be away on work placements). Similarly, there are only two to three weeks during the calendar year during which all students are on holiday. Working with campus brand managers - or whatever title is currently in favour - offers clear benefits in terms of getting the practical aspects of the campaign right and allows for a much better quality of contact with the target group. I don't recruit brand managers to be a tool in themselves, but work with students on campus who, in my experience, are effective when their role is to stimulate ideas, ensure good local implementation and gather feedback, rather than being a walking brand or selling the product themselves.

When a product or service is relevant to the student market in Europe, a successful approach needs then to incorporate three things: the target must be identified and understood; an interesting, clear message must be created; the practical aspects of implementation must be got right.

The increased importance within the EU of encouraging movement and access across Europe, as well as the development of more regional priorities and spending programmes, means that soon, particularly with European enlargement, institutions in mainland Europe will be competing for UK students just as UK institutions compete for their students. The current 5.5 per cent of students in the UK coming from Europe is set to increase. It is worth getting out to students in Europe, as soon the UK will simply become part of this market and the products students choose will be those whose brands have been built strongly across the continent.

References
1 : Observatoire de la Vie Etudiante 2002
2 : Secodip : étude Consojunior 1999
3 : Eurydice 2002

Copyright Reach Students

Creative communication with students

2006-11-18T21:35:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell
This article was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

"I went into student marketing," remembers Emily Dubberley, who founded the Student Press Association, "after I received a press release from a well-known drinks brand. It began 'Hey kids! There's a cool new drink on the streets'. I thought: someone got paid to write that? I can do student marketing better."

There are a number of streetwise words and phrases guaranteed to cause guffaws in a student media editor's office. 'Streetwise' is one of them. So is 'on the streets', which appeared in Dubberley's press release, and others include 'funky', 'cool' and, worst of all, 'digs'. Letting one of those slip can leave you looking like grandma at a Tatu gig.

Avoiding a few dated words isn't enough if you want to succeed communicating with students. There are no shortcuts or simple guides tocreating effective communications for the student market. You need to invest time getting into the student mindset.

Students are bombarded with information every day. The messages that have an impact are those that connect with what's in their head at that time."The best creative," says youth-market designer Patrick Lee, "is produced by those who really understand students. They're not necessarily students themselves, but they are people who read the same magazines as them, use the same websites, watch the same TV, know the bands they listen to and notice what makes them laugh…and what they hate.

"It's clear to me," says Lee, "that there are a lot of creative agencies out there who don't spend any time trying to keep up with students but, instead, just wing it. You spot them all the time. They're usually the ones who produce stuff involving kebabs and traffic cones. It's so lazy." Any credible organisation with a stake in the student market should be keeping track of student interests. It's not expensive - as some might think - and it doesn't necessarily mean employing theservices of some down-with-the-kids youth consultant.

Sharon Lougher, editor of the Time Out Student Guide, stays in close touch with what students think. As a result, the Student Guide is usually the most popular freebie given out in London universities' freshers' bags each year. Lougher meets up with students regularly to find out what's on their minds. It doesn't cost her more than the drinks bill. "We have a group of students," says Lougher, "that are affiliated to the marketing department. We hold monthly meetings with them to gather their feedback about what the student section of the community like and dislike, what works, what doesn't, what brands are seeping into theirconsciousness and why, and what issues are keeping them occupied or frustrated at uni.

"As you can imagine - it's immensely helpful for the Student Guide, as I can get feedback from them about the issues that they and their peers are concerned with, such as college mergers,voting in college elections, tuition fees etc. This is where a lot of the ideas come from." What for Lougher are informal, qualitative research meetings, are probably 'focus groups' to others. They're great for new ideas and getting up-to-speed on student issues, which change every year, but according to web maestro Mike Slocombe they should not be a big influence on creative output.

Slocombe, who runs activist website Urban75 and has designed for the likes of Virgin and Channel 4, believes focus groups are often used ineffectively. "They are all very well for some things, like testing the ergonomics of a product, but they're hopeless when it comes to making a creative decision. There is no point asking students, 'which colour do you prefer, red or blue?' because each one will have a their own personal preference." Instead, Slocombe advises businesses to concentrate on appointing quality talent to see through the creative process: "It's better to spend your energies simply creating something that is good!"But Slocombe has more of a problem with thosecreatives that attempt to treat students as ahomogenous group. Unlike gardeners or scientists or beekeepers, says Slocombe, students do not have identifiable interests. Yes, there are a few shared characteristics to do with their situation: many are away from home for the first time; by default they are intelligent; they are mainly young.

But when it comes to lifestyle interests the territory gets rocky. "Students are individuals," says Slocombe, "they are all different in so many ways. Art students are different to Engineering students. Some students think Nike trainers are great, others think they should be boycotted. Every college and university attracts different types of students."

Pursuit of the 'regular' student frequently trips up new businesses in the student market. 2002's high profile failure of the internet venture between ITM Communications and the National Union of Students was due, in part, to ITM's misunderstanding of the student audience. The company spent three years trying to create a website to appeal to the 3 million-strong student community, loading it with everything from recipes to music reviews and travel journalism. With funky orange styling and aniTV-ready platform the intention was for nusonline to be a one-stop shop for every student need. But students hated being clumsily lumped together in this way.

Since ITM went into administration last year NUS has reverted to running a website about the organisation's core interests - campaigns, welfare advice and discounts. It's now the most successful UK student website on the net, attracting large numbers of union officers and active students interested in the work of the movement. While it is every marketer’s instinct to segment young people into targetable tribes, research by the ROAR consortium confirms it's folly to do so nowadays. "Despite the popular belief that today's youth can be pigeonholed by theirchoices in fashion, music and pastimes," said a recent ROAR report, "[research] shows quite the contrary. Unlike previous generations thatfollowed a certain lifestyle (eg Mods or Rockers) as a way of identifying with their peer group, today's youth live in a pick'n'mix society where anything goes."

If stereotyping must take place, Emily Dubberley says creatives should look at the very basicconcerns of this tricky audience. "With students, there are certain things that work on a universal level. They are sex, beer and humour. If you can produce something with those three elements in you're onto a winner."

Mike Slocombe agrees: "A lot of the stereotypes about students are rubbish, and they should be avoided, but there are certain things most young people enjoy - like drinking - that of course can be used."

If creatives are able to recognise the issues,situations and emotions that unite all students, and apply them to a strong idea, successful communication can happen.

According to ROAR, two out of three of today's15-24-year-olds are motivated by the notion of creativity. They appreciate originality. Organisations that understand students and impress them through original thinking will succeed.

Lazy creatives beware: your work is under closer scrutiny than you thought.

Online communication with students

2006-11-18T21:28:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell
This article was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

Students, it is often claimed, are hard to reach. Dispersed across the UK at over 600 institutions, each with their own timetable, they regularly change address and are not practically targetable through any piece of old media. They've had marketers gasping for breath for years. It's easy to see why the new media revolution has attracted many new businesses to the student market.

The arrival of the internet, email and mobile phones has brought a tantalising opportunity to make direct contact with the student community. The fact that all UK students have free internet access, that many are early adopters of new technologies, and that communication resources are the lifeblood of the highly sociableaway-from-home young adult, have all helped make the new media proposition irresistible.

In the wake of the dot com boom period and with the benefit of several years practical experience, the statistics and trends that people projected on students and new media have been adjusted. But they are still impressive. According to NUSSL, 79 per cent of students use the internet, most of them every day. Marketing company Campus Marketing believe that 100% of students have an email address, while VirginStudent claim that two thirds of students own their own computer. Tom Edge, New Media Manager at the National Union of Students, updates the situation for 2003/4: "In the USA, 98 per cent of college students surf the internet weekly. 91 per cent are online at least three times per week. In the UK we're fast approaching those levels of usage. Students are online for consistently long periods, for both work and pleasure, and are willing to be entertained while they surf.

"Email is proven to be a primary method ofcommunication for students - especially with friends and family elsewhere in the country. Given therelationship between email and the net, effective campaigns online can find their message quickly spreading when there's user approval. So the student audience is there and waiting."

Of course businesses always had the opportunity to reach students through on-campus promotions,student media, sponsorship etc. But the costs involved have been prohibitive to many. The major attraction of new media is that it can be very economical. "It's cheap to get a good online campaign underway," says Edge, "relative to TV and radio spots. Even a full site and game build, with hosting, will come in way under the budget for a cheap localised TV spot - and a good campaign may bring millions of users to not just notice, butinteract with your brand. The potential benefits are sky-high even with low cost products, so long as the creative element works."

Ah, the creative element; creative executions have delivered the successes and failures of many a student-orientated business. So how can marketers make sure online ventures work for this tricky demographic?

"Ignoring banner ads and rich media promotions, there are a lot of websites out there today vying for a surfer's attention," says Edge. "A company willing to invest in promoting their message online should thoroughly survey the competition and attempt to find a new, innovative hook for their site. When it comes to viral emails, student web users are very often experienced and jaded - another low-end Flash game won't catch their imagination unless it has a serious creative hook behind it. The idea of the game must be at least as amusing as the pleasure of the game play. People only forward emails which have amused them enough to want to spread the joy - everything else gets binned."

"So being innovative is key, even if you're just putting a sharp new spin on an old idea. Poor quality, hackneyed ideas are probably the greatest obstacles to an online promotional campaign's success - getting it built and hosted professionally is a comparatively small worry."
One of the best-known creators of effective online campaigns aimed at young people is Skive, a London-based new media agency. Skive are a dab hand with 'viral' games - those that get passed around by email to friends and spread like an infection. These games are particularly effective with students - a NetValue survey in 2002 found that they account for a third of the UK's 3 million regular online games players.

Skive's clients have included Adidas, Sony Playstation and Wrigleys. MD Sean Singleton thinks their recipe for success with students is pretty simple: "We try to inject humour into our work because it's really effective online. We think that young people tend to laugh at the same things. Being a student is about going out, enjoying yourself, being a bit cynical and laughing at the world. That's the approach we have at Skive.

"The problem we have to overcome is finding that place where the brand is comfortable with thecreative and the student can laugh at it. What works best with viral campaigns, for example, is the extreme stuff. But brands don't always want to be associated with that.

"That said, we would always encourage risk-taking. I don't think many campaigns are worth doing unless they involve risk."

Equally successful at student-orientated online communication is Mike Slocombe, who runs activist website Urban75. Slocombe's not-for-profit website is his passion, but such is its success with intelligent young people, he is often offeredcommissions by brands eager to make use of his impressive e-communication skills. Slocombe has produced work for Virgin Radio, Xfm and Youthnet. "I love daft, nonsense stuff on the web," he says. "I don't like to see it used bycompanies as some kind of expanded corporate brochure, and I think a lot of students probably feel the same.

"Good practice is always inviting the student to feed back on what they're experiencing. Bad practice is thinking you can create anenvironment that young people will flock into and inhabit, but creating it so it entirely suit your own needs. You can't set up a chat room, for example, and ban swearing. It won't get used."

What has to be remembered before any online communication with students is attempted is that this group are habitual new media users. "Students close down pop-ups without noticing their content," says Tom Edge. "They can detect a spam mail from a dozen clicks away and won't, generally, be generous enough to see a page through if it doesn't entertain - there are too many options out there. It is easy to get it wrong, but those who get it right may well enjoy aglobal spread of their message that would be hard to achieve in any other medium."

Indeed, as online head at NUS, Edge has experienced first hand what happens when businesses don't think intelligently aboutintelligent audiences: "nusonline had its origins in the gold rush days of internet VCs throwing money at anyone with a laptop and a Hoxton Fin haircut. The resulting site - a partnership between ITM Communications and NUS - tried to be all things to all students, reviewing films and games, covering NUS news, storing documents used bystudents' union officers, and selling products via paid ad spots. It was a poorly executed mish-mash."

Famously within the student movement, after three years of foisting an ill-conceived product on students, ITM ran out of money. They went into administration, leaving NUS out of pocket but with the freedom to create a site that worked for itsaudience. "The site has undergone a crucial revamp. We've stripped it down and focused on NUS core concerns: campaigning, giving advice to students and building on the NUS card's status as the primary discount card used by the student market. We changed the site's construction and cut theunder-performing peripherals such asentertainment reviews.

"We've concentrated on developing a new media strategy to serve nusonline's varied audiences, rather than treating it as a get-rich-quick side project. Having said that, we do still use the site for revenue streams, selling limited commercial solus mails as well as placing limited banner ads on the site. We also attract sponsorship for our monthly update emails to our 750,000 registered members."

Edge outlines the benefits new media has for NUS and the student movement: "It saves us money - our mailing costs have been slashed as we now tend to place documents online and use email tocommunicate with key members. The commercial value of our brand is difficult to assessaccurately, but certainly a better site has increased our credibility within our membership, helping to preserve our status within the student market."

This year will undoubtedly be a critical one for the big websites that, like the old nusonline, continue to address themselves to the fictional 'generic' higher ed student. They lose a third of their target audience every year because ofgraduations, and they will find new customers less forgiving than in the earlier days. Viral game creators will have to find formats beyond the multiple-choice quiz and the platform game, if they are to keep students entertained. And copywriters are going to have to get a muchbetter sense of student thinking if they are to avoid delete buttons getting the better of text messages and emails.

All the evidence shows: the student audience is online and waiting. The question is, who is smart enough to reach them?

Using student media

2006-11-18T21:23:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell
This article was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

The UK's network of student magazines, newspapers, websites and radio stations has been well utilised by the top student brands. So why don't more student marketers spend their budgets in student media?

"The most effective way to reach students is through the student press. Full stop." So says John Handelaar, former editor of London Student and co-founder of the Student Broadcast Network, the national student radio station.

If he's right, then why don't more organisations invest in student media advertising? Flick through any of the country's top student papers and you'll find the advertising of a few big consumer brand names. In there will also be some renowned graduate recruiters, and plenty of local ads. But, on the evidence of that paper, you wouldn't think that the student market isoverwhelmed with businesses keen to get the attention of students.

There are several issues that put businesses off using local student media. Some brands arenervous about placing their image in apublication run by amateur journalists. A few media buyers worry about the fact student media circulation figures are not audited, while others would prefer to find a media that reaches a large mass of students rather than isolated groups of them. There's also the fact that a nationwide student media campaign is time-consuming to co-ordinate.

However, it's telling that most of the big brand names that appear on the pages and airwaves of local student media are also the names that have achieved most success in the student market. The Guardian, NatWest, Barclaycard, STA Travel and Accenture all heavily support student media and they are well-regarded by students. So, before any student market business dismisses this advertising option, they should take a serious look at the issues that put them off. Some are easy to come to terms with; others are simply false perceptions.

Newcomers to student media advertising are often surprised to discover how professional the set up is. While there are still plenty of chaotic newspaper offices in students' unions, stacked up with back issues, mouldy coffee cups and promotional freebies, there are organised marketing offices attached to many of the top publications. Unions in Bristol, Manchester, London, Oxford, Leeds, Liverpool and Cardiff are just a few that employ marketing staff to sell ad space, organise promotions and bring business into unions. The publication editor may have creative license, but on commercial matters he or she is often advised by experienced union marketers who know how to satisfy clients.

"Advertisers usually think I'm a student," says Joanna Bird, Advertising and Marketing Co-ordinator at Bristol Uni. "They think that I'm not going to be professional. They're surprised when I send them terms and conditions to sign."

This preconception is also picked up on by Justine Andrews, who left Associated Newspapers to work on one the UK's biggeststudent papers, Manchester's Student Direct: "Clients are often quite pleasantly surprised when they realise I'm not a numptie. It's a shock at first, but soon they're happy because they realise they can talk to me in 'the language' andI will understand."

Andrews doesn't treat her work in student media sales with any less professionalism than she did at Associated Newspapers, despite not having to wear a smart dress. "My biggest mistake was coming to work in a suit! Having worked in the corporate world, it's what I was used to. And I frightened the life out of my clients. There is a perception that you'll be a young, trendy type. If you rock up to a meeting in a pin striped suit and you look just like them they think: what can they possibly tell me about the student market? So I dumped the suit pretty quickly.

"There is the adage 'dress for success', but it's relative to the area you're working in. I've found that clients are more comfortable with me if I look like I know, understand and am part of the student market. It doesn't make any difference to the service I give. My aim is to run Student Direct just as I ran my section at the Mail on Sunday."

Andrews, Bird and other big union marketers are part of a drive within student media, led by the AMSU Marketing Initiative (AMSU is the Association for Students' Union Managers), to raise awareness about the benefits of using student media, while also promoting better practice among their peers. It goes to show that the UK network of student newspapers, websites and radio stations takes itself seriously.

It's true that a nationwide student media campaign is hard work to organise. There are well over a hundred student publications and radio stations. Not all of them are staffed full time - which means a lot of time on the phone, leaving and chasing messages. Plus, each university has its owncalendar - even outside of holiday periods there are times, such as before exam weeks, when thecorridors go quiet. "Every union is different," says Joanna Bird. "At Bristol the third term is extremely quiet. We're not a campus-based university. We find clients schedule us in on a national campaign, but they don't realise we're all different and theircampaign isn't going to work here duringcertain periods."

There are specialised buying agencies that exist to take care of these problems. They usually have a good rapport with student media staff and they know the unique intricacies of each university. A decent outfit should only charge a commission to book media and not inflate the rate card. Those businesses who can't afford a national,agency-delivered campaign can pick out aselection of the best media and deal direct with publication or radio sales staff. They may not reach the wider student community, "But," says Justine Andrews, "you have to balance it up: you're not getting any wastage. This is a niche market, and if your brand is seeking that niche I think any investment in student media is money well spent."

Andrews would be happy if more businesses approached her direct about reaching students: "If a brand rang me up and said what theywanted to do and said their budget, I'd be over the moon. I'd make sure they got the best bang for their buck considering everything we have to offer: sponsorship, on-campus activities, radio, newspaper, sampling, data capture, SMS, email. I'd tailor something especially for them, and of course it would fit with our union set-up and not upset anyone in Manchester. I've had a few clients work in consultation and it's great. It works much better for everybody."

This 'let's work together attitude' is indicative; student media offers all sorts of opportunities that businesses can't find elsewhere. Student radio, for example, has proved a more effective medium for the alternative music industry than mainstream radio. Dolly Clew, a music plugger for EMI-Virgin who spends most of her days talking to student media, explains: "Something like the Student Broadcast Network can be fantastic. It's a great place to break a band because its ears are open, unlike the mainstream stations. At SBN they listen to their market and, because they act as a channel for all the student stations in the country, they have amazing results finding the bands thatstudents have picked up on and Radio One hasinitially missed or not 'got'. The students were there first with so many bands - Gomez, Air, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I could go on. SBN should be encouraged."

Student media generally is more open-minded and receptive. It can afford to be because, unlike mainstream media, it is not tightly focussed on profit. "All unions are non-profit making," says Joanna Bird. "I don't work on commission, I don't get bonuses. I'm on a salary. All the rates that I put together are proportional to costs. We're not here to make a profit." Justine Andrews agrees that this is the reason businesses get better value from student media: "Unions aren't like the corporate world, we're not as hard nosed. Were not so focussed on getting the money, we're interested in making things work for students and clients."

Lack of audience data is another issue that may put off advertisers. But James Melley, Student Liaison Officer at SBN, doesn't believe much should be made of it: "We have a company called Ipsos-RSL conduct surveys for us. Elements of these statistics have gained RAJAR approval. Having said that, numerous small ILR [Independent Local Radio]stations cope quite happily without joining RAJAR."

Local student radio stations can't offer listener figures, but a good way of weeding out the effective from the ineffective is to find out how long a station has been established. Stations older than five years have normally lasted so long because they are popular on campus. Those that come and go or change names each year should be treated with caution.

The same rule can be applied to student newspapers: London Student, Student Direct, Leeds Student, Cambridge's Varsity, Bristol's Epigram, Bath's Impact, to name a few, are all well established and well read. They also all give out comprehensive and accurate information about their readers. Enquirers to lesser known student papers should ask how many copies of the paper are printed, rather than what circulation the title has. Circulation figures are estimates and can be exaggerated.

Used with a bit of careful planning, student media can deliver excellent results.

Being a top student brand

2006-11-18T21:12:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell
This article was a chapter in The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

The UK's top student brands 2003/4
In the course of researching this Handbook, a wide range of student marketing personnel were asked to name their 'top' student brands. These were the names that cropped up most often, in order of popularity:
1 Orange
2 The Guardian
3 STA Travel
4 Pot Noodle
5 Playstation
6 Student Barclaycard
7 Scream
8 Nat West
9 Adidas
10 Red Bull

Look down the list of top student brands (right) and, initially, it's hard to find a common thread to link their success. A mobile communications company, a newspaper, a travel firm, a snack product, a gaming machine. Two finance sector brands have made it into the list, but the obvious connections end there. A pub chain, a sportswear manufacturer and a soft drink only add to the eclectic nature of the mix.

However, once you start investigating themarketing philosophies of these top names it becomes easier to unite them. There are three tangible themes that bring the student brands together. They are investment (financial and emotional), long term strategy and acuteunderstanding of audience. These are all themes that, given time, can be applied by any ambitious brand owner eager to succeed in the studentmarket. But businesses should bear in mind that the very best student brands often have their own unique and developed ethos, and it is sometimes one that defies the science of marketing.

Sheraz Dar, Senior Acquisition Manager at Orange, provides an insight into his company's approach: "What we try and do is give something to students without there being any catch involved. We don't approach them wanting to sell them something, we want to create a relationship so that next time they decide to buy a phone they will have empathy with our brand and think of Orange.

"We put on music events with artists who students can relate to. We will have examples of ourtechnology on display at the events for students to find out about, but we won't have sales staff there trying to sign up new customers. The students have come out for a good time and we want to help them enjoy themselves; they won't change their mobile on the night - it doesn't work like that - but they should go away feeling positive about the brand.
"We don't want to put on an event that studentsreally look forward to and then spoil it for them by selling."

Orange talks to students, no strings attached. When the student is ready to buy, Orange ensures the products they need are there. "You do have to back up your marketing with a product that studentsactually want," says Dar. "It's not all about creating awareness and empathy, it's also about making sure you offer the right product and services. Today the phone is more than something for making calls on. Many people don't wear a watch because they have the time on their phone. Mobile phones are fortexting, for sending pictures, for getting information. New services are joining the list all the time. Students readily adopt and want to engage with these services, so long as they find them useful. We deliver products that students want."

Over at The Guardian, the marketing ethos is grounded in the newspaper's liberal agenda. Marc Sands, Marketing Director, explains: "In my view it would be a disappointing and scary world if everybody only read either the Telegraph or the Mail. The Guardian has a remit about reach and influence, we're about ensuring a more progressive, liberal perspective isconveyed to as wide an audience as possible.

"Newspapers clearly have a role in shaping opinion. The point at which a person leaves home and goes to college is a period when they are at their most influential and influenceable. It's a time when they make decisions that are key, some of which stick with them for many, many years. So there is a window when people are making massive decisions. Students are anaudience to whom our message shouldbe receptive.

"From an ideological perspective, it's crucial that the student audience is open to the message of the Guardian, even if they choose not to adopt it."

Meanwhile at STA Travel, PR manager Louise Clark summarises the leading student travel agent's approach very simply: "We're youngat heart."

Trawling through student websites, newspapers and magazines it's hard to ignore STA Travel. "We are one of the biggest investors in student media," says Louise Clark. Indeed, it often seems that wherever there is a student-orientatedpublication, event or promotion there is an STA presence. "We'll be at 150 freshers fairs this year. We'll be running Student Travel Week again - that's a solely student-focussed promotion that we promote heavily through student media. And I will beoffering some more press trips - I took six student media editors to Brussels recently. I should get six articles out of that."

Few marketers would think to take a group ofstudent journalists on a European jolly. Although things are changing, they too often expect to satisfy student media with the scrappiest of scraps. The only exception is in music plugging where it is common for student journalists to be offered one-to-one interviews with high-profile acts and receive advance CDs at the same time as the regular music hacks. STA's enlightened take on student market PR - essentially treating student media withrespect - brings them rewards.

The company employs two staff to look after relationships with student media. The staff deal directly with editors and union marketing managers every day and ensure at least one press release is sent to them every week. This direct contact is appreciated by student media, as is - obviously - the large amount of money being driven into the union. An investment in student media is also a donation. It pays for more pages, better resources and training courses. The majority of student media is union run, meaning they are non-profit-making.

Long-term strategy"If you're looking for a quick win," says Sheraz Dar, "it may not work. Brands that are popular with students have normally had a dialogue with them for some time."

It is a peculiar phenomenon. If any market could provide a quick win, the student market should be it. After all, almost a third of its customer base is replenished every year with fresh imports. In the space of three years the entire student audience has changed. But no, brands that have taken a short-term approach to student marketing have consistently suffered, while those that invest year-on-year have reaped the benefits.

There are two explanations. Firstly, whilestudents move on, the marketing produced for them leaves a legacy. University and students' union personnel - who don't necessarily move on so quickly - are still on campus remembering, for example, the Orange Student Tour or the STA stand at freshers fair. The profile of those brands remains high among the people who run services for students. When Orange turns up to do an event, staff welcome them back. When STA arrives at freshers fairs, new students have been briefed by those who were there last year that the stall is not to be missed. The brands are familiar and everyone on campus is comfortable with them.

Secondly, brands that have operated in the student market for a long time have learnt lessons. They have got their marketing down to a fine art. Thesuccess of Orange, The Guardian and STA has no doubt come from many years of evaluation. This is certainly the case for The Guardian and STA who, between them, have over 50 years experience marketing to students. Nat West, also on the list of top student brands, has been targeting students seriously since the 1970s.

"Students prefer to discover things for themselves," reveals Sheraz Dar. "Be it TV programmes, be it bands, be it the first time they choose a mobile phone, if you try too hard to overtly target them they will look at you and think 'You are overtly targeting me'. They won't like that - they'll look for a brand that's cooler.

"Students are very sharp, very marketing savvy. There's a fine line between engaging with them and appearing to try too hard."

At STA they have used their knowledge of the changing student demographic to shape the direction of their business. "We're doing packages now," says Louise Clark, "which is revolutionary. We're also offering Global Clubber - trips to the clubbing capitals with discounted entry to the famous clubs. We have to think more widely. Students are so savvy, they've got so much choice. The research we've done shows that students take one independent and one package a year, plus a city break. We have to provide for all their travel needs."

The Guardian's Marc Sands explains the main reason today's students are different: "By the time a student is half way through their second year they're starting to think about what they might do when they finish. It's a fundamental change. When higher education was funded by the state you had time to luxuriate in your student life and get severely into the subject you were studying. If you're being asked to pay such a lot more for education, I think it radically alters why you choose to go to university and what you do when you're there.

"That's changed the Guardian's approach. The Guardian has been a recruitment and jobs paper for some time. But now we push that very hard to undergraduates: we're the place to find your job."

All three top student brands have worked very closely with students. Orange mainly through intelligent field marketing, The Guardian through its well-organised student brand manager programme, and STA through direct, daily contact with student media. They have invested time and money and as a result they have tuned into the campus zeitgeist and earned student respect. With that market advantage they have been able to deliver products with confidence.
In short, the top student brands have worked hard for their success.

Students and the student market

2006-11-18T20:45:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell
This article formed the introduction to The Reach Students Handbook (2003)

Every year the student demographic changes slightly. Every year something happens in the student market that affects the way communications take place. The changes are incremental, but significant enough that if you studied at them over a five year period you would clearly see the differences.

Five years ago, when tuition fees were just starting to impact, the student populous was a much broader mix. Today, the defining characteristic of the student mass is that, almost exclusively, it is middle-class. Only 17 per cent of students, according to the latest Student Living Report, are from C2DE backgrounds. And those working class students are statistically more likely to drop out. It is hard to survive three years of the modern student lifestyle without expendable credit.

Five years ago the internet and email were around, but not the essential part of student life they are today. Now only 1 per cent of UK college and university students don't use the internet. A third use it every day, while over half use it three to five times a week. Email is the most popular use of the web, but also popular are online games: students make up 28 per cent of the gaming community.

And five years ago no-one would have guessed that the following quote, taken from a recent article in The Guardian, was an assessment of today's typical student: "Uniquely flashy, conditioned to expect a lifestyle of cocktails, designer clothes anden-suite travel."

Above, just three examples of notable changes. The pages that follow document other ways students are changing. They will interest, and in some cases surprise, anyone who has not considered the student situation for some time.

The most striking message of all is that students are not the sloppy-living, penny-scrimping, banner-waving revolutionaries they once were. One contributor within describes them as the new generation of Gordon Geckos (the materialistic Michael Douglas character of Eighties film Wall Street).

How, in a short space of time, has the student stereotype gone from 'low budget layabout' to 'high-flying, big-spending trend-setter'?

The abolition of grants in the late Nineties created a huge demand for borrowing. And while there is demand, there are always those who will meet it - the financial sector has tripped over itself to lend money to students. Today a student can borrow a lot of money, and from a variety of sources: banks, credit card providers, store cards, student loans and, of course, mum and dad. They have a 'live today, pay tomorrow' attitude and make the most oftheir opportunity to borrow. When there were grants, and students from a broader range of backgrounds, there was a sense of solidarity and community among those at university. Now, every student has to find entrepreneurial ways to get themselves through. Whether it involves selling body parts, lapdancing, becoming a human billboard (all reported in the media in the last year) or just finding a new pitch to give parents when they need another cheque, students are cutting their way through the jungle alone. There is an 'everyone for themselves' mentality.

But those who like to romanticise students will be assured to hear some characteristics endure. Students haven't changed in all respects. They are still rebellious, innovative, idealistic, reactive, smart, subversive, experimental and adventurous. They are a vibrant, creative and challenging audience.

It should be pointed out that, although there are over five million students in the UK, the primary focus of this book are the 1.8 million in higher education. This is where the current demand for insight and information is centred. However, it is likely that the next few years will see an increase in commercial interest in the further education sector, particularly among organisations that regard their contact with students as an investment for the future rather than a revenue source today.

Looking at the more immediate future for the student market, this year promises to be typically full of change. In marketing particularly there are some interesting developments afoot.
Student brand manager schemes, a subject that divides opinion in the student marketing community, face a challenge. Students' unions, always eager to channel commercial interest through their union set-up, have become frustrated with unsanctioned marketing on what they regard as their territory. A proposal has been put forward by one agency to create a union-run student brand manager network across the UK. If that is accepted by the unions, those firms independently offering bespoke schemes may find the atmosphere on campuses significantly more hostile this year. The popularity of these schemes is such that it is hard to find a student-orientated brand that doesn't have onenowadays. It will be fascinating to observe.

Definitely rolling out this year, in a less isolated way than previous forms, is plasma-screen television. Over 40 unions will be running oneparticular firm's system in their bars, receiving content delivered by broadband and using a screen that can be divided and manipulated to offer various advertising formats. It has taken the people behind this project over four years to sell their idea to the student market. Media buyers, always keen to find new ways to target the student audience, will be keeping an eye on how this develops.

And there are other bubbling (and some simmering) activities to be monitored. SMS marketing is growing, with many agencies keen to promote their offering. One new start-up is dedicated entirely to this medium. Those working in field marketing and graduate recruitment are promising campaigns that will break boundaries. And this will surely be a critical year for the heavily invested-in websites aimed at the 'homogenous' student.

There's lots happening. This handbook promises to come back next year with a review of it all, plus some more stats, some fresh thinking and further ways to reach students.

Copyright Reach Students

Student statistics and profile

2006-11-17T16:24:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell

Students have been chased and feted since the mid-Nineties when they emerged as having real commercial value. In the UK in 2005 students contribute over £13 billion to the economy, according to NUSSL (NUS Services Ltd).

Although there are nearly five million students in all (including part-timers), it's the 1.8 million in higher education that are of significant fiscal interest. These are students mainly aged 18-24 (90%), mainly living away from home (87%) and mainly from ABC1 backgrounds (70%).

While the scrapping of grants and introduction of tuition fees in 1997 may have cut student income and forced many to get part-time jobs (47%), the chance to borrow relatively large sums of cash changed the old scenario. Once a student scrimped and improvised to make a grant cheque last until the summer; nowadays there is no budget - they can borrow almost as much as they decide they need.

A typical student today will claim their full entitlement of the Government-endorsed Student Loan before considering overdrafts, credit cards, personal loans and university hardship funds. And many will also receive regular cash installments from their parents. On average they exceed their total income by £4,000 a year and finish university with over £10,000 of debt.

A recent Guardian Weekend feature examined how student attitudes have changed. It portrayed students as materialistic, status-conscious and highly careerist. And it reported a widespread change of attitude towards debt.

Debt is now seen as inevitable and, since state funding disappeared, its stigma has dissolved. The catalysts that create larger debt are high expectations of post-graduation earnings (on average they expect a starting salary of £25,000) and the ongoing parental mantra: 'student years - best of your life'.

Today's student lives now and pays later.

But those who like to romanticise will be inspired by some enduring student characteristics, those related with social rather than financial circumstance. Students haven't changed in all respects. They are still rebellious, innovative, idealistic, reactive, smart, subversive, experimental and adventurous. They are a vibrant, creative and challenging audience.

Modern marketing theory values early exposure to ideas and options. Students, who are making all sorts of choices for the first time in their lives, represent an attentive, unadulterated target for information. Many of the decisions they make will stick with them through their lives. It's not just pound signs that attract businesses to the student market - and it's not just businesses that are interested in students. Whether it is environmentalists selling the idea of green electricity, government agencies promoting healthy eating or newspapers seeking new readers, students are a good audience. They are open-minded.

Contrary to widespread opinion, students are not a hard audience to find. They ostensibly live on campus - even those that don't sleep there will spend most of their time in and around the university grounds, drinking, eating, studying, taking part in activities, working, washing clothes, on the internet etc (all students have free access to the web; 20% have bought online in the last six months). At the metropolitan universities of Leeds and Manchester there may be less attachment to campus, but at others like Warwick and Keele there is no need to leave it. And few do.

When students leave campus it is usually to seek entertainment (29% of student spending) or to travel (71% travel at least once a year). They watch more films than most other groups (92% go to the cinema at least once a month) see more bands (79% go to a gig at least once a month) and spend more time in clubs (46% go clubbing at least once a week). Hardship counsellors at universities regularly receive loan requests from students who admit spending over £100 a week on entertainment.

Copyright Reach Students

The seven myths of student marketing

2006-11-17T16:03:00.000Z

Article by Luke Mitchell

Just some of the myths about students and the student market...

Myth1: A few marketing companies have the student market sewn up
If you are a marketer new to the student market you may have researched some of the specialists. Whatever you've heard or read about 'unrivalled access', 'unique relationships' and 'credible connections', the truth is no one organisation has good links to the entire student community, whether they market through universities, students' unions, media, brand managers or any other means. No-one can offer you the attention of all five million* students in the UK.
*Figure includes FE students and part-timers

Myth 2: Students are hard to reach
Only if you follow the wrong path. In physical terms students are very easy to reach. They visit their place of study every day (generally), they socialise in packs and in regular venues, they consume more media than most, are online checking messages and networking every day and their exact whereabouts is often timetabled. Those who get a poor response from their marketing are usually communicating in the wrong way.

Myth 3: Students are gullible
While it is true many of the consumer choices students make will stick with them throughout their lives, students aren't gullible. Aware that some regard them as vulnerable, they are actually more suspicious, sensitive and aware than most.

Myth 4: Students love wacky stuff
What's wacky? Interpretations vary, and what a marketing executive finds wacky a student may not. The stereotype of students experimenting with conventions - traffic cones etc - will always have an element of truth, but student behaviour is becoming increasingly conventional. With a price tag of £10,000+ on your average degree today, students take themselves more seriously.

Myth 5: Students love funky stuff
Some companies get it into their heads that to appeal to students they need to make themselves seem 'funky'. Why? When it comes to buying insurance or choosing a bank, a student doesn't care about 'too kool for skool' image. They want an insurance company who will pay up and a bank that will keep extending the overdraft. Those who funk up their image in order to appeal to students are in danger of being seen like middle-aged men who cruise nightclubs and drive open-top sports cars. Naff. Students appreciate good design, language that speaks to them and original ideas.

Myth 6: Student brand manager schemes bring instant success
Everyone wants a student brand manager scheme nowadays, having heard the results they have brought for brands such as Red Bull and The Guardian. But for every successful scheme there are literally dozens of failures. Mass enthusiasm for the schemes from brands has been their downfall: too many students are now working for brands, too many schemes are upsetting university marketing stakeholders (who object to unlicensed marketing on their premises) and too many brands have bought into the concept without seriously considering whether it suited their objectives.The Guardian recently ditched its scheme, feeling that the idea had run its course. There are still opportunities, but there is a need for a fresh approach and an re-think about the methods used by SBMs.

Myth 7: You can afford a bad reputation in the student market - the audience moves on
Nobody can quite explain why, in a market where the consumer is 'replaced' every three years, reputations last so long.The likes of Nestle, Jarvis, News International and Stagecoach have found out that reputations earned some time ago do not go away. Similarly, research conducted recently by Reach Students shows the UK's top brands among students are those that have been investing in student marketing and good PR for years: Endsleigh, NatWest, The Guardian, Orange and STA Travel to name a few.

Copyright Reach Students