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?
Showing posts with label NUS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NUS. Show all posts
08 December 2006
19 November 2006
Student politics v marketing
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.
18 November 2006
PR and the student market
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
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
Creative communication with students
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.
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
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?
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?
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