Seems that everyone is talking about how to target college students these days. No doubt it is a challenging demographic for those of us who have been around a while. And since these digital natives tend to be early adopters of technology and like socializing via the internet, it seems only logical to us 'old guys' that the best way of reaching this target demographic is through the internet, right?
As Katie Lindahl pointed out earlier this week, Gen Y folks are "tired of fifty-year olds standing in front of a group of us and telling us what we want." Ouch! Fortunately, Katie and I had already been thinking about this.
Last month, finals for the Advanced Media Planning class at Ball State University were held in the ExactTarget office. Their final was to present a detailed media plan to help launch an online brand specifically targeted to college students. A real ExactTarget client provided very detailed specifics about what the brand was, it's intent, current challenges, and a budget to help drive awareness. The final presentation was made to ExactTarget executives, executives from the client, and the students' professor. (Much more intimidating than any final I took in college!)
Setting the Stage
Students provided their assessment of the target demographic. On one hand, they were providing statistics from research they found describing the college student target. On the other, they ARE the demographic being described. In essence, this acted as a selection criterion of it's own. The stats they cited seemed legitimate to them, and so, I give the stats they selected some extra credence.
Here are some of the stats they provided:
Top 10 websites among college students in 2008:
Last, the students reiterated that this target is not terribly receptive to online advertising. The keys to grabbing their attention: relevance, providing useful information, entertainment, and exclusivity. (Does this really sound unique to college students? Hmmm.)
Breaking through the Clutter
Until this point, most of us in the room were simply taking in information, but when it came time to hear how these students would develop media plans, those of us in the audience leaned forward on the edge of our chairs. I, for one, was impressed. Here are a few of the things I heard:
College newspapers? Really? Doesn’t this fly in the face of everything we have heard about this demographic? Maybe it does, but the more I pressed, the more I was convinced. Here are some of the reasons provided:
Thanks again to the 2 presentation teams. If it were up to me, you would all get A’s. (Hope you all did!)
As Katie Lindahl pointed out earlier this week, Gen Y folks are "tired of fifty-year olds standing in front of a group of us and telling us what we want." Ouch! Fortunately, Katie and I had already been thinking about this.
Last month, finals for the Advanced Media Planning class at Ball State University were held in the ExactTarget office. Their final was to present a detailed media plan to help launch an online brand specifically targeted to college students. A real ExactTarget client provided very detailed specifics about what the brand was, it's intent, current challenges, and a budget to help drive awareness. The final presentation was made to ExactTarget executives, executives from the client, and the students' professor. (Much more intimidating than any final I took in college!)
Setting the Stage
Students provided their assessment of the target demographic. On one hand, they were providing statistics from research they found describing the college student target. On the other, they ARE the demographic being described. In essence, this acted as a selection criterion of it's own. The stats they cited seemed legitimate to them, and so, I give the stats they selected some extra credence.
Here are some of the stats they provided:
- 98% use mobile devices
- 70% own a laptop
- Multi-tasking between media is common
- High Social Media Interaction
- Heavy convenience oriented media usage
- Early adopters of new technology
- Emphasis on personalized technology and media
- Growing preference for web connected technology
- Spends a lot of time socializing via internet
Top 10 websites among college students in 2008:
- Yahoo!
- MySpace
- YouTube
- LiveJournal
- ESPN
- eBay
- Amazon
- CNN
Last, the students reiterated that this target is not terribly receptive to online advertising. The keys to grabbing their attention: relevance, providing useful information, entertainment, and exclusivity. (Does this really sound unique to college students? Hmmm.)
Breaking through the Clutter
Until this point, most of us in the room were simply taking in information, but when it came time to hear how these students would develop media plans, those of us in the audience leaned forward on the edge of our chairs. I, for one, was impressed. Here are a few of the things I heard:
- “College students want to be taken seriously as consumers and future employees, out with the hip looking graphics and logos, in with creative that recognizes their intelligence and value.”
- “Unless you sell beer or swimwear, don’t advertise at Spring Break, we are on vacation”
- “Have a good website where college students can go to learn more about you. Have a Facebook page so they can check you out. But don’t expect these things to be a draw, you still need to get them there by driving brand awareness!”
- “College newspapers are an effective and cost efficient way to reach our target market.”
College newspapers? Really? Doesn’t this fly in the face of everything we have heard about this demographic? Maybe it does, but the more I pressed, the more I was convinced. Here are some of the reasons provided:- 71% of undergraduates read their campus newspaper at least once per month. This is higher at larger and higher end universities.
- Browsing the newspaper is a common way of passing time between classes.
- Students are encouraged to read campus newspapers, while accessing Facebook in class is not acceptable.
- Where to place an ad? Next to the crossword or soduku. Students spend a lot of time looking at those pages.
- $20-$60 CPM for very targeted audiences
- Target specific campuses that 1) have large student bodies, and 2) are influential. Students even highlighted specific campuses to target such as Texas, Illinois, Michigan, NYU, UCLA and my alma mater – Berkeley (Go Bears!) If they pick up on it, your brand is likely to become known across the target demographic at large.
Thanks again to the 2 presentation teams. If it were up to me, you would all get A’s. (Hope you all did!)
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