Irish Marketing Journal
Vol 31 No 7 September 2005
Carry on Campus
Students are one of the most
sought-after consumer groups, the marketing adage being that if you catch them
early, you keep them for life. But they’re a canny bunch and marketers need to
be careful. Yvonne Gordon reports.
In a few weeks time, advertising and marketing activity directed towards third level students will reach a frenzy in college campuses nationwide. Banks, mobile phone companies and FMCGs are currently planning marketing campaigns and promotions to compete for their share of the lucrative student consumer market.
There are around 134,000 full-time third level students in Ireland, with another 340,000 at second level. Students have always been one of the most sought after target markets by brands willing to ‘invest now’ in return for future brand loyalty. The strategy was to hook students in with freebies and hope that they’d remain loyal for life. Yet today’s student is assertive, media-savvy and up-to-date with the latest mobile and internet technology. They have more choice, are more cynical and are harder to impress.
Another change is that a lot of third level students have enough disposable income to be a valuable - and financially aware - consumer already. Financial institutions have been adapting their marketing accordingly. In the past, students often opened bank accounts for the freebies - now they focus on the accounts themselves.
To reflect this, Ulster Bank last year launched a ‘no gimmicks’ campaign to recruit student customers. The bank’s message was "some banks would try anything to attract students, we simply believe in better banking". Focus groups conducted by Ulster Bank showed that students were interested in what a bank had to offer rather than freebies, and that they were becoming far more financially savvy. The bank says this year’s campaign will be the same due to last year’s success.
Bank of Ireland’s campaign last year also recognised that students are more street-smart but cynical about commercial institutions and its approach was ‘straight-talking’ and ‘frank’. This year, the campaign will run along similar lines, going into cinema and for the first time, online.
Hot Press magazine visits college campuses every September, talking to students and giving out free copies. The magazine is traditionally associated with students, with 80% of its readership aged under 35. Marketing manager Jane O’Brien says that she has observed over the last few years that students get so much for free now, they don’t get as excited about free samples. As a result, Hot Press has introduced other promotions like iPod competitions and cash giveaways.
However for many brands, free samples are still a popular way to build a relationship with students. The consumer brand website for students, Studentcents.ie, which offers free samples, competitions and promotions, is going into its third year and has about 30,000 members.
Founder Sharon Barnes says the site is being re-launched this year so it can offer advertisers more sophisticated options to reach particular groups of students. "It’s a low cost and effective way to reach students," she says. "Students are really important as a test and long-term consumer target. Half of them are living away from home for the first time. It’s their first time addressing shopping and budget issues. It’s the time to grab them," she says. "They love sampling new brands."
Student Cents will also distribute 45,000 fresher packs, containing free samples and offers, to colleges nationwide this year. Earlier this year, the first ‘exam stress-buster and summer pack’ went out to students after Easter at exam time. "It’s a very interesting time to reach students," says Barnes. "It’s very fallow in terms of marketing activity on campus. It’s also a feel-good item, there are lots of summer and holiday offers. It also gave them a sugar and coffee boost."
Barnes says they get a lot of feedback from the website, and she has noticed that today’s students are quite brand conscious. "If they’ve a choice they will go for a luxury product," she says. "It’s a generation thing, they’ve grown up with brands, they have more choice, more disposable income." There is also growing ethical awareness.
Fair-trade coffee and tea brands have been successful on the website and there is fair-trade chocolate in fresher packs.
A brand that has been working with Studentcents.ie for the past two years is jeans company Wrangler which takes a page on the site and also runs competitions. "It give us the opportunity to talk about what the season has in store and put up photos of different jeans," says Patrick O’Sullivan, marketing co-ordinator of VF Northern Europe, parent company of Wrangler and Lee.
O’Sullivan says that because students have more disposable income in the last few years, Wrangler is putting more of its marketing budget towards them. He also says that compared to four or five years ago, there are a lot more ways to target students - through student websites and promotions on campus as well as traditional press supplements and yearbooks.
Pádraig Staunton of Campus.ie noticed the need for an online means to target students a few years ago and so set up the information and services website for third level students, which is now going into its sixth year, with 71,000 members.
One of Campus.ie’s key features is that information is customised to each of 42 colleges. For example, if a student from Limerick logs in, college news, sport and cinema times will be local to Limerick. Another key feature on the site is MyLocker, which gives students an 25mb email account, and a separate 20mb file store - a personal hard drive accessible from anywhere on internet, ideal for students going home at weekends to work on a project. Campus.ie also does on campus promotions, information and product sampling for clients.
Staunton used to work in student marketing at Guinness and says that over the years, two main things have changed in student marketing - the environment and the consumer. The environment has changed because there is more responsibility in consumer marketing in general. For example drinks companies, who used to sponsor college societies heavily, have pulled out.
Also, the consumer has changed - particularly in spending. "Students could have as much disposable income as a graduate coming out of college now," says Staunton. "They have part time jobs, their parents provide more money, summer jobs they get are worth more to them. They are getting loans easier, larger loans and credit cards. It’s a mirror of what’s happening outside but when you don’t have same outgoings as others, such as a- mortgage, you’ve lots of disposable income."
Staunton says it’s more important get to students early, especially with anything that will involve a relationship over time, such as phones or banks. He says that companies should change their message for the student market, recognising that students have a different lifestyle when in college. "You have to treat them differently," he says. "Brands should also to target them, go to where they are at." Staunton advises his clients to customise their messsage and use the right channels. "It’s all about customising your message to the marketplace," he says.
Jane O'Brien of Hot Press says that students are a community of people marketed at ‘to the extreme’ over the last few years and that as a result, advertisers need to be very clever - and be aware that students are savvy to advertisers.
Hot Press is also online with Hotpress.com, which has about 25,000 subscribers, 28% of whom are students. O’Brien says that there are so many ways to target students now – from websites and texts to e-zine newsletters, that advertisers have to find something they use the most, and then find a balance with that. She says that texting can be very intrusive, and students can also be wary of signing up to mailing lists.
A company that knows how to tailor marketing messages to students is student travel company USIT, which specialises in working holiday programmes abroad, such as J1 visas, for third level students and foreign language courses and summer camps for 2nd level.
USIT has changed its marketing over the years to take advantage of new technology and to keep up to date. Marketing manager Lisa O’Regan says that email marketing is crucial for USIT going forward because their target market is so internet savvy. "Everyone has access to email," she says. "What’s hard is that they all have about five email addresses. The challenge is to get the best address". She says that USIT does not use SMS as much, however they might use it as a way of communicating with customers who are away on a particular programme, for example to prompt them to read their email for important updates.
USIT’s customers are 70-80% students and the under 26s. They also offer products to the over 26s, however they found that the student brand was so strong, the message that they offered products to other ages was not getting across. So in June of this year, the company launched a new brand, Utravel, offering everything from holidays to volunteer programmes, to all ages.
O’Regan says that USIT changes its marketing message and creative each year. "You need to keep changing. There’s so much competition out there, to get noticed your message has to be good, clear and strong," says O’Regan. "You have to move along with students, you need to talk honestly."
Someone who knows how to talk honestly to students is 23 year old Fiona Murray, who graduated from Waterford Institute of Technology with a BA in languages and marketing in May 2004 and now works in the marketing department of volunteer travel company I-to-I, looking after student marketing.
Part of Murray’s job is get out and meet students face to face at careers fairs in colleges, getting their feedback and giving them options. Fiona has noticed that a new trend is students going further afield for holidays – destinations such as Thailand, Australia and New Zealand are popular. I-to-I also sends graduates to places such as China and Korea as TEFL teachers.
I-to-I advertises in college newspapers and on careers websites. Ads for volunteer projects are often tailored to what the person is studying – for example health jobs for student nurses. The company will be going into secondary schools this year – marketing group trips to transition years.
Murray believes her recent experience of being a student is a bonus for the job. "I enjoy doing it, I know how they feel, I was in their position last year," she says. "I can relate to them because I was a student."
© Yvonne Gordon 2005
