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.
Showing posts with label student attitudes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student attitudes. Show all posts
20 December 2006
08 December 2006
Marketing that cuts through to students
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.
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.
Marketing through students' unions
These thoughts from various key players involved in students' union marketing originally appeared in the book Targeting Students: A Marketing Guide (2005).
The vast majority of student marketing takes place within the students' union environment. Here, those involved in students' union marketing talk about their experiences, opinions, approaches and advice when it comes to students and working with students' unions...
Steve Green, marketing director at the Student Media Group, writes:
The "elusive" student market, we like to call it, giving clients the impression that merely communicating with more than a few hundred students is a major achievement worthy of much praise, and of course a large fee.
But let's not be too self-critical. After all, there was a time when the student market was indeed elusive. Not elusive as in difficult to find (students are, after all, conveniently huddled together on the UK's campuses) but elusive as in difficult to reach. Everyone knew where students were hiding out, but only a select few knew how to communicate with them, and fewer still knew how to communicate with them effectively.
Since those dark times (the early 90s) the market has grown up, literally and figuratively. It's size now making it impossible to ignore for companies even vaguely interested in communicating with the UK's youth.
Communicating with students - the good old days
A couple of decades ago the only people who could help companies to communicate with the student market worked for NUS or for the local students' union. NUS and its commercial arm, NUSSL, did a sterling job setting up student marketing as we know it and, more importantly, getting the student market onto the agenda of the few companies that were interested - mostly the high street banks as well as specialists such as STA Travel.
NUS and NUSSL also managed to do something which hadn't been done before; negotiate collectively on behalf of large numbers of students' unions. This meant that local SUs got a better deal, and so were able to provide student essentials such as the night bus and, of course, cheap beer.At a local level, students' unions didn't have any marketing staff and certainly didn't have a marketing department of the kind found in most SUs today. Marketing was looked after by the student officer on sabbatical and perhaps one other. Due to the workload, it was all but impossible to speak to them at certain times of the year; in the run-up to freshers' fairs marketing staff became ghost-like figures, struggling to cope with the nightmare of organising a major event whilst juggling all the other week one activities. Even if you could get hold of someone in marketing, building a relationship was only helpful in the short term because, being sabbatical officers, they were only in the job for a year and then either went back to their studies or off to work.
These days the NUS and NUSSL still provide cheap beer at the SU bar as well as a whole host of other opportunities. At a local level, students' unions now have full-time staff to look after their marketing activities. It's been evolution rather than revolution but the rate of change is picking up and, if all goes according to plan, the next few years promise to be pretty exciting.
Today
There are over 130 students' unions (higher education), students' guilds and students' associations in the UK today, with over 300 staff in the combined SU marketing department. These days there's always someone about who knows what's going on. This is good news because having competent people on the ground is crucial to the development of SU marketing. As in other sectors, clients expect the product they buy to do exactly what it says on the tin.
With permanent staff in place, SUs now provide advertisers with previously unheard-of levels of expertise. They've also started competing on more equal terms with the handful of student marketing agencies promoting media in competition with their own. More SUs now have their own student magazine, which really does have the 'support of the Union' so often claimed by rivals. Many are developing their own promotions teams to compete directly with student brand managers. And of course these SU promotions teams really do have their 'finger on the pulse' and their 'ear to the ground'. In addition, they also have access to the wealth of SU media now on offer - and will be first in line when it comes to negotiating sector-exclusive packages for their clients.
National campaigns
It's not all roses of course and while students' unions do an excellent job promoting their services locally, they face an uphill struggle at a national level because marketing managers working for FTSE 100 companies (or account directors in the case of main agencies) generally want to book high volume media which gives them access to the student market UK-wide. This is where SU-friendly student marketing agencies come in - they act as a shop window for SU media, promoting and co-ordinating campaigns across the UK for clients looking for authorised access to the UK's campuses.
Working in partnership means that student marketing agencies and students' unions benefit from a two-pronged attack, with SUs covering the local market and SU-friendly agencies promoting student media nationally. It's a partnership where, in our experience, everyone wins: clients have a greater choice of national media; SUs are able to outsource the parts of their marketing activity they would otherwise struggle with; and student marketing agencies get to earn a fee for their work coordinating and managing national campaigns.
Student marketing agencies and the one-stop shopThe renewed interest shown by advertisers in the student market has sparked a revival in the student agency start-up business, with a number of new entrants appearing in the last couple of years. Some new agencies survive, primarily because, as recent graduates they, and their staff, can live for over a year on Pot Noodle. With low annual business expenses,start-up student marketing agencies generally sell their services on price, which is a good idea if prospective clients are likely to be tempted by a bargain.
In any case, new agencies (all of us at some stage) are almost always good news for the sector. They shake it up a bit and often develop products which add significant value, thereby improving the standing of student marketing as a whole. Inevitably, some new agencies are unlucky or just not very good, and this can lead to unfortunate setbacks in their development…such as going out of business. This used to be a problem for start-ups but nowadays, whether you're successful or not, help is now at hand in the guise of well-established agencies waiting on the sidelines to "annexe" you.
The one-stop shop
The recent trend towards consolidation in student marketing may not be surprising (everyone's doing it after all) but it is quite interesting. The rationale behind agencies joining forces to provide complementary services is pretty clear and by now we will all have heard the familiar sales pitch:
Clients are more likely to obtain objective 'media-neutral' advice if their agent has no vested interest in a particular media;
Due to the economies of scale which come from buying lots of anything, one-stop shop agencies should be able to provide campaigns for less;
Clients can usually choose to have media-specific contacts, or a single account manager, so managing student campaigns should be simpler;
Multi-media agencies are likely to be larger, better-established and therefore less likely to go out of business in the middle of a client's campaign;
Larger agencies provide access to lots of experienced staff, so clients should benefit from being advised by people who know what they're talking about.
Fantastic for clients then. Great for agencies and, potentially, great for students' unions too.
Some difficulties remain of course. If you're putting together a one-stop shop, either by buying other agencies, or by forming alliances, you need to pick your friends carefully. Unless your budget is limitless, if your hope is to offer potential clients all the main media options (so they never have to talk to your competitors) then there's not much point buying agencies which do the same thing. One student brand manager operation is likely to be enough. And it's probably not a good idea to partner up with agencies offering services which compete with those provided by your clients because that will annoy them. This narrows things down a bit. And if you want to buy (or work with) agencies with an established reputation, which make a profit and are therefore likely to stay in business, you've got about three to choose from. Luckily, for the megalomanically minded, there is another option.
C21 - the online media booking service
Just imagine what it would be like if you could buy all of the most effective media under one roof, for less money, and have your campaigns managed.
Universities and students' unions are currently working together to reach a position where they can offer companies more media options with national coverage, all professionally managed via a network of local, regional and head office staff. Of course, with over 20 different channels already available direct from over 100 students' unions, doing everything is a complicated proposition. Luckily, there's a simple solution in going online.
From our point of view, the best thing about the internet apart from email (which is very handy indeed) is the fact that it's possible to develop promotional tools for lots of different students' unions by copying and pasting all of the relevant media information into a single, easy-to-use framework. This framework is called the Online Media Booking Service and it will be available for everyone to use from March 2005. This is very exciting for everyone.
If you're a national advertiser, you get an online media guide which tells you absolutely everything about SU media - both locally and at a national level. So if you're sat in the head office of a high street bank and want to compare the coverage of the 20 or so student media options currently available, there's no need to phone around - the information's available on your desktop, in a nice graph, alongside a chart showing you "what happens when". Great for campaign planning.
Or if you're a local advertiser you can check what's available from the universities in your city via the university guide. Just select the university of your choice for information on media availability, pricing, lead times, copy format, package deals, basically everything you could possibly need. Download the relevant booking form(s) - sign and fax them back. Confirmation will be sent to your desktop. No messing about.
For the UK's students' unions the media booking service represents a sea change in media booking. SUs will be using the system to monitor the status of orders and bookings (local and national) online in real time. Since advertisers get a unique user ID, SUs can track sales activity and, over time, build up a picture of their clients' buying behaviour. There's also a reporting function which allows SUs to compare sales for different media channels, see what's been quoted against what's been booked and paid for, and adjust marketing activity accordingly. And as staff change knowledge is retained - it's a permanent feature on the server, backed up daily.
Student media development
The student market has been under-funded for years and would (obviously) benefit enormously from higher advertising spend, plus some inward investment from the City. Our objective at the Student Media Group is to help SUs kick-start the process by setting up a virtuous circle of investment and development; improve student media and advertisers will spend more, which will allow us to improve student media etc.
Tim Bodenham, managing director of BAM agency, writes:
Students on the whole are brand-loyal. During their stay at university they are bombarded with new experiences and opportunities. Many have left home for the first time and are getting used to possessing a disposable income. During their stay, they have an organisational body to advise and protect them. This is the students' union.
Students' unions have a direct marketing route to the UK student populous, be it via press, on site, students' union brand managers, SMS, web or any other media. Media that is not endorsed by the students' union rarely reaches its target audience. As this marketing sector grows more and more companies pop up promoting access to the student populous, the golden rule in promoting to students is to always examine the media distribution with the students' union.
Today's student marketing department is far more advanced than ten years ago. Today they communicate nationally on a daily basis, discussing new marketing opportunities and relevant media to their clients. This is helped with new communication tools, including the AMSU AMI intranet [a private communications tool where union staff talk to each other] and BAM's own chat board. If something is happening in this market, within hours all students' unions will have knowledge of it.
In the recent past it was very time consuming and tedious gathering data to organise a national or regional campaign with such a large number of contacts, media and deadlines. For this reason BAM launched an interactive web portal offering students' unions a platform to promote their media to a wide range of companies and help clients compile data instantly.
Face-to-face communications with students are becoming high on the list of priorities of companies who wish to raise awareness of their products with students. Universities can be vast areas and even the smallest hold numerous 'hangouts' for students. Students' unions are constantly organising events such as freshers fairs and balls which, through internal promotions, manage to draw students together in one location.
Students' unions are in constant communication with students at each university, and every student is very well aware of their own students communication media. By no means can anyone say that even through student union media, they will be promoting to every student, but through experience BAM have found that these media and events are part of regular accepted communications with students in each union.
Q&A with Steve Baker, chairman of the AMSU MI (Association of Managers of Students' Unions Marketing Initiative)
For brands that want to succeed in the student market, does the relationship with students' unions matter and, if so, why?
From a union's perspective this is obvious really. Each major university city will have an established students' union and these unions have strong relationships with their students. The unions will all have marketing departments that control the access of commercial companies. The point here is that whoever the brands arrange their marketing with, at some stage someone (either the agency or the company) WILL need to come through the union. If they do not, their marketing ideas or material WILL be removed from campuses all over the country. Either this, or the agency will try other, less effective, methods to reach students.
The unions have a well developed sense of what works in their particular environment. They have identified the best poster sites, the popular meeting places for leaflet distribution and the best attended nights or even the highest footflow days that would enable maximum brand exposure. To ignore this local knowledge is wasteful and sometimes offensive.
How has the union marketing set-up evolved since you first became involved in this area?
I started working in unions in 1999 and over this time there has been a dramatic increase in professionals working in union marketing departments. There has also been an increase in the number of publications and agencies that all claim to be 'the' route to students. Unions are more focused and professional.
What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
Methods and messages need to be simple. If the mechanic becomes overly complicated it becomes difficult to move it from city to city and each union/city will have differing setup.
Are students apathetic? No. They are just different from years gone by. The average student now has to work far more to get through their studies and therefore take the academic side of university life far more seriously because they are paying for it.
What are the biggest mistakes a brand can make communicating with students?
Using the wrong stereotypes. Over complication.
Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
Over the years we have tried new ideas to reach students as it is our job to find the best methods. The major mistake I believe is that you do not need to spend a huge amount of money to achieve good results. The best methods of communication are the established publications and events that are already happening in campuses all over the country. The change for us is to focus on the success of these established events rather than trying to re-invent the wheel every time someone wants to put a new campaign together.
When were you last a student? And how do you think students have changed since you graduated? What evidence do you base your conclusions on?
Students certainly went out more! Every night of the week. Now they limit their nights out and come out later.
Of all the stereotypes about students, which do you feel are most true? And which are wide of the mark?
They are not lazy and unwashed!
What are the frustrations of working in the student market?
Agencies that promise brands everything and never even speak with unions. And the misconception that it is notoriously difficult to reach the student market.
What is your opinion of student brand manager schemes?
A blatant exploitation of students! The student brand managers still have to come through the unions and can get themselves into serious trouble if they do not. They often get asked to do unreasonable amounts of work for very little pay, mostly for the promise that it will look good on their CV.
Who do you see as the key players in student marketing?
How important is NUS/NUSSL? What about student-specialist agencies?
I would suggest that if a brand has the resource available they should go direct to unions. They will save themselves a lot of money and get a far better return for what they spend. The proof of this can be found out by making a few short phone calls to established unions and asking a few pertinent questions of agencies and NUS/NUSSL.
I would also suggest that before ANY brand appoints an agency to do its student marketing they should call a few unions to see if we know about them. If not then it is likely that the message will not reach its target audience.
Q&A with Rob Gofton, sales and marketing manager, University of Plymouth Students' Unions
What are the differences between the youth market and the student market?
I think it is a mistake to even compare the youth market with students as they are very different, to do so would ignore a large percentage of students. The student market is made up from different demographic profiles that go beyond the youth market, such as mature or international students, and it is vital that when discussing the student market we don't forget them. As this blend of experiences and people come together it makes a market unique. It is more experimental, more questioning and more challenging of the information it is given than probably any other. It is these that make it different to every other market.
What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
You can reach the majority of students with the traditional ingredients of humour, sex or beer but this can also alienate many, so to come up with a key ingredient that covers all students is practically impossible. You need to take a step back, look at your product/service and ask who it is aimed at. From this develop your communications plan accordingly. You just have to accept that a successful communications plan for one student may not work for another. Only when you can understand the complexities of the market can you successfully reach it!
Are students apathetic?
I believe this is a common misconception! Students are no more or less apathetic than the general population. The majority of people (students or not) ask: does this affect me? Will I be rewarded in some way? Will it make a real difference? If they can answer yes to some or all of these questions then they will be moved into action. You could argue that student apathy is a reflection on our ability to communicate the answers to these questions.
What are the biggest mistakes you can make communicating with students?
Take it for granted that everyone will understand your message. Universities are microcosms of the population, they just happen to be brought together in a smaller environment. Segmenting and targeting need just as much attention as the 'real' world but most companies forget this. Just because students choose the same university or course as another doesn't make them the same, all it does is bring a concentrated group together.
In your opinion, what are the top student brands? And why do they succeed?
The best student brands are also some of the best brands outside the student market. Those include: Virgin; Orange; Motorola; Barclays; The Guardian. Why? Because they market themselves brilliantly in different segments of the general population and this transfers itself, with some careful promotions, to the student market.
They mass market to students in the knowledge that they have a product or service to match individual student needs and back this up with heavy promotion on a local level. Of course there are always niche companies that aim for the 'traditional' student, but they will never be bigger than those that cross several segments of the student market. Either way, these brands succeed because they have identified their key segments, know how to reach them and in the easiest way.
Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
Mass marketing to students works to a certain level however to communicate with a greater percentage to students you have to use a variety of methods. Students are transitional people, with many at different stages of their life cycle. If you don't recognise this and try to treat them all the same you will not be effective in communicating with them. It is very easy to label all students the same and maybe we want to do it because if we can it will make our jobs easier. Demographic work on segmentation and targeting is vital, our advantage is that we can help companies reach concentrated student segments easier, but they and we still have to get the messages right.
What is your opinion of student brand manager schemes?
We deal with student brand managers in exactly the same way as any company agent so there are no cost benefits. Also, if they believe employing a student gains them a unique access to students then they are misguided. Others regard this as a way to exploit students, my opinion is that with my experience and access to the student market, if I can't find a better, more effective way to spend a company's marketing budget than a brand manager then I shouldn't be here!
My difficulty is to convey this to those companies who employ student brand managers.
What notable developments will we see in the student market in the next five years?
The most important development will be how fees affect universities and student intakes. We'll potentially see more 'local' students (who can save on accommodation costs) and international or mature students numbers may increase. Additionally, I can see more universities working closer with their unions to develop a combined marketing strategy to attract students. Technology such as email, internet and SMS will become the standard forms of communication.
What general advice would you offer businesses new to the market?
Talk to the union marketing manager, each university has its own characteristics in terms of students segments, media opportunities, campus layout, accommodation etc. Only someone who works with students on a permanent basis can understand these and the best way to communicate with them.
Q&A with Doug Anderson, Sales & Marketing Co-ordinator, Bournemouth University Students' Union
What are the differences between the youth market and the student market?
I would say that the youth market is a much bigger area for gimmicks, although the age of the pauper student is well and truly over for the average student, any disposable income seems still to be spent on beer, socialising and clothing.
What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
Originality without a doubt. Students' unions are generally places where there is a huge amount of ambient noise, which means that messages from advertisers and even the union itself can get lost easily and therefore it is important that ideas are original and stand out. Also it is never good to be overly patronising to students as they seem to react pretty badly to it.
Are students apathetic?
Yes, very apathetic in the matters that they see as not affecting them. But we have had more votes this week on a referendum to ban smoking than we have ever had for one of our elections. This shows how some students do not see union politics or indeed politics at large as relevant.
Three words to describe today's student?Image-conscious; pretentious; media-savvy
What are the biggest mistakes you can make communicating with students?Being boring or overly patronising. Also it's never good to be out of touch as trends change so quickly. This is also important for us in unions, we need to know how to communicate and in terms of entertainments, for example, it is important not to get the wrong bands or DJs to play as it will seriously lower your reputation.
In your opinion, what are the top student brands? And why do they succeed?STA Travel have cornered the student travel market even though they aren't cheaper than other agencies. This is due to a dedicated marketing plan that focuses on local unions.
Criminal Clothing. Okay these guys are our clients, but they are constantly evolving and changing their clothing subtly and innovatively as well as making themselves exclusive enough to make it seem cool, but available so that most students can find and afford their clothes.
Asda, not for any marketing genius or planning just because they offer very cheap food to students as well as cheap DVDs, CDs not to mention cheap TVs and other electronics. It's a one stop shop for kitting out a student house cheaply.
Barclays, easy credit card from a bank that has many outlets on campus. They thought about it earlier than most other banks and now have a strangle-hold on campus.Endsleigh Insurance, not surprisingly considering they are part owned by NUS. They appear to offer cheap house insurance for students and again have many outlets on campuses.
Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
I think I have learnt that trying to balance the moral mind of working for a union in terms of not taking certain companies to advertise is hard to manage when you also have pressure to make money for the union to survive in a commercial manner. There is nothing more frustrating than being told your target is higher than last year but you can't take ads from three more companies than you could take ads from last year.
Of all the stereotypes about students, which do you feel are most true?
That they enjoy getting hammered more than anything else: this is without a doubt the truth, having seen the state of them when I DJ.
And which are wide of the mark?
That they don't care about anything. Most students are decent human beings that are in a whole new place and have little or no experience of looking after themselves so things happen. This does not mean that they are anti-social or that they don't care it just means that they are learning.
What are the frustrations of working in the student market?
Local companies not realising that £100 for example is peanuts compared to the money they could make if only 5% of the students look at the promotion and act on it.
What notable developments will we see in the student market in the next five years?
More money as even though fees are going up they don't have to pay any of them while they are at uni so that adds an extra £1000 in disposable income per year. Expect more car drivers, more money spent on clothing and stereos. I think Apple will become a huge player in the student market in the next few years: their marketing is genius and their product is trendy and works well. They also produce student-relevant products.
What general advice would you offer businesses new to the market?
Don't do something that has been done to death. Be innovative and expect to win trust and loyalty - it doesn't just appear. You have to be flexible with students and it is always a good idea to offer a discount.
Owen Parry, Sales and Sponsorship Coordinator, Newcastle University Students' Union
What are the differences between the youth market and the student market?
There is no difference between students and 'normal' people. Our research shows that students do identify themselves as a minority social group however, and campaigns with references to stereotypes can work (as long as they are not degrading).
What are the key ingredients for successful communication with students?
Common sense, relevance and timing.
Are students apathetic?
This is a leading question, a generalisation and a misnomer. If anything, students have become more driven as the broadening of opportunities in tertiary education has increased competition in the graduate employment market. Students are more mature as consumers, and are more discerning customers of the student union experience.
Three words to describe today's student?
AWARE OF MARKETING
In your opinion, what are the top student brands?
Newcastle University May 2004, O2, The Times and The Guardian
Describe your learning while working in the student market. What mistakes have you made, what successes have you had, what conclusions have you drawn, how have your ideas changed?
Students will consciously engage with campaigns that resonate with their values, and reject those that don't. They are highly cynical about marketing, but do not necessarily avoid or shun it.
Of all the stereotypes about students, which do you feel are most true?
In general, students see students as DRINKERS (24%) who are POOR (17%) and LAZY (15%). The stereotypical view of students as young and on the cutting edge of popular culture holds more truth than any other views. Students object to being branded as lazy or wacky.
And which are wide of the mark?
Lazy, wacky and in Newcastle, dirty.
What are the frustrations of working in the student market?
Students' unions are intrinsically left-wing. A marketing department is intrinsically right-wing. This combination can be a source of tension and misunderstandings. In the early developmental stages of a fledgling union marketing department, a large majority of the work involves the department marketing itself to the union.
What is your opinion of student brand manager schemes?
We do not support brand manager schemes that exploit students. It is of great concern to us that many of these programmes contravene minimum wage laws. We encourage all SBMs to work co-operatively with the students' union so that we can customise their campaign to the audience at our university.
We do not encourage guerrilla marketing on campus. Guerilla marketing persuades students to break their own accommodation and campus rules and, in some cases, civil laws. I personally feel that deliberately subverting the marketing services offered by students' unions is unfair. Revenues from media sales help pay for financial, welfare and social support services that protect the consumer.
What notable developments will we see in the student market in the next five years?
The biggest change happening in Newcastle is the rapid increase in intake of international students. Both the students' union and the university will have to adapt to provide the same level of support to these people as is currently offered to home students. Our December study identified anguish in many Muslim students, who are often forced to choose between worship and lectures every Friday.
What general advice would you offer businesses new to the market?
Give us a call.
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.
23 November 2006
Research links and pdfs
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.
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.
18 November 2006
Soundbites: wise words from student experts
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
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
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
