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?
Showing posts with label Adidas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adidas. Show all posts
18 November 2006
Being a top student brand
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.
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.
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