Media Life, October 12, 2004
By Kathy Prentice

There are 32.5 million teenagers in the U.S., and industry studies show that they influence family shopping decisions, have their own income and are developing brand preferences. Advertisers targeting teens now have access to high school newspapers via one-stop national buys. To find out how to get your client’s message into the hands of teens at school and beyond, read on. This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts
What
Print ads and inserts placed in high school newspapers.

Who
Two of the major players in the relatively new field of advertising in high school publications are: Campus Media Group, headquartered in St. Paul, and 360 Youth, an Alloy company headquartered in New York City.

How it works
Messages tend to be promotional in nature, with a built-in method of response, says 360 Youth president, Derek White.
Full, half, quarter and eighth size ads are available through 360 Youth, as well as custom sizes.

Campus Media Group (CMG) offers full-page ads, with the majority appearing on the back page of the paper.

Free-standing inserts are also offered and range from samples to posters, flyers, coupons, calendars, postcards, magazines and catalogs as well as custom publications.

“Inserts to do with specific messaging, like a percentage off a cell phone or a movie ticket or a pizza, tend to work very well, as they do for any type of newspaper advertising,” White says.

An insert can be one page, both sides or multiple pages, says CMG president Thomas Borgerding. “The pro side of using an insert is there is more flexibility with the creative. You can get true colors while with newsprint the quality of the image drops. But the advantage of a print ad right in the newspaper is it can be integrated into the content better and physically it can’t fall out. It’s part of that newspaper versus something separate that can be thrown away.”

Ads placed by CMG or 360 Youth are from national and regional advertisers. Local ads that traditionally appear in high school newspapers and are sold by student staff can continue to be sold concurrently.

“It’s very similar to college newspapers in that in those cases where students have drummed up advertising from the local community, we fold those in,” White says.
“In some cases we can take a national ad and localize it,” he says. “Say with cell phones you could point out the nearby vendors.”

Many high schools have existing product exclusivity rights with advertisers, most often soft drink companies, which could carry over to the newspaper. “Some bigger districts too have deals,” White says.

Creative is usually provided by the advertiser. Full pages run 10 inches by 16 inches. Copy may be geared specifically to the high school audience and may also reflect seasonal products.

“For example, AT&T Wireless used pictures of a prom in the background of their ad,” Borgerding says.

Seasonal aspects include products that are tied into holidays as well as periods when students will spend in special categories, like spring break. Other upticks include graduation and college application season.

High school newspapers publish anytime from weekly to annually, with most on a monthly or every-other-month schedule.

“In high schools we’ve seen newspapers as short as four pages and as long as 16,” Borgerding says. Additionally, the copy is very specifically geared to the audience.

A limited number of advertisers in high school publications creates greater visibility than is available in mainstream publications.

“In high schools you’re not dealing with the massive amount of news and ads that you have with other papers. In college publications the mass drops way down, and it’s another step down with high school newspapers. They’re pretty concise publications,” White says.

School systems retain veto power over ad content.

Markets
Campus Media Group is in 1,500 publications in 49 states. 360 Youth’s program is available in more than 2,000 schools and in 50 states.

Numbers

• The total size of the teen market, ages 12 through 19, is 32.4 million, according to American Demographics Forecast. The projected size of the teen market in 2006 is 34.6 million.
• Average circulation is approximately 1,000 copies but ranges from 200 to 5,000 per school, according to Campus Media Group.
• The 360 Youth network reaches 6.1 million students, faculty and staff at 4,311 high schools with a mix of 49 percent male and 51 percent female students.

How measured
Student enrollment as well as number of papers distributed are used to measure impressions.
 
“We order a lot more papers to hit that target number,” White says. Evidence of calls to action like coupon redemption and web site hits are also used.

Research

• The annual amount families spent on teens is $100 billion, according to 2003's American Demographics Forecast.
• That figure will rise to $128.5 billion by 2006.
• Teens 13-19 spend $94.7 billion per year, or $3,309 per person, according to ClickZ, April 5, 2004.
• Teens 16-17 have nearly $4,500 in discretionary income, according to MRI, Yankelovich and Teen Research Unlimited, 2003.
• Parents supply 37 percent of teens’ income and the remainder is generated by jobs, according to ClickZ, April 5, 2004.
• Collectively, teens and preteens will spend $884 million of their own money on back-to-school this year, according to Center for Media Research, August 3, 2004.
• Approximately 15 percent of youth spending is done online, according to a June 2003 Harris study, with boys spending more than girls.
• Projections for online spending by teens is $2.6 billion in 2004, $3.6 billion in 2005 and $4.8 billion in 2006.
• Seventy-one percent of teens say newspapers are relevant to their lives, according to USA Weekend, April 9, 2004.
• According to a 1999 College/High School Monitor Research Series study, 93 percent of high school students read their school newspaper.

What product categories do well
The U.S. Army and National Guard are leading advertisers, followed by pre-loaded or pre-paid cell phones, electronics outlets, retail, consumer products and personal care products, White says.

Movies, pizza, clothing, sports equipment, video games, colleges, computer hardware and software as well as automobiles are on teenagers’ shopping lists.

Products that would not be accepted include anything targeted for audiences 18 and older including R-rated movies, tobacco, alcohol and gambling.

Some schools may prefer advertising that emphasizes a healthy lifestyle. For instance, focusing on salad choices from a fast food company instead of burgers and fries.

Demographics
A broad demographic profile of teens includes:

• Teens who live with both parents make up 68 percent of all teens, according to American Demographics Forecast, 2003.
• Kids 10-15 who are enrolled in school is 98 percent of that age group, according to American Demographics Forecast, 2003.
• Teens who work while attending school make up 27 percent, also according to American Demographics Forecast.
• Eight out of 10 teens read magazines, including both teen-targeted and general market titles, according to MRI, Yankelovich, and Teen Research Unlimited, 2003.
• Groups can be targeted geographically using zip codes, city and state designations, and DMAs, White says. Demographic targeting is achieved by using enrollment numbers, gender and ethnicity. School type – public, private or parochial – is also used to target.
• Demographic information is also available on specific schools, Borgerding says.

Making the buy
Campus Media Group: Lead time is two weeks to one month, depending on the number of publications. “You can get in on even shorter notice when there’s an opening because buys are a full page,” Borgerding says.

• Each full-page black and white ad is $300 net per publication. One-color full page runs $425 per publication. Inserts are priced at $300 per publication.
• Service is turnkey. CMG works in partnership with J&S Printing, which prints the newspapers for the 1,500 high schools in their network.

360 Youth: Lead-time is two weeks to a month in advance to synchronize distribution among papers with different publishing schedules, White says.

• Advertisers can come in any time during the school year. Buys tend to be broad, either national or regional. “Bigger brands are interested in all kids, not just specific kids,” White says.
• Pricing varies by paper, ad size, frequency and other factors, including color and graphics services and number of markets and papers. Volume can buy discounts.
• Ads can be black and white, two-color or four-color.
• Service is turnkey, from development of a media plan to graphics production, implementation and proof of performance.

Who’s already in high school newspapers
Campus Media Group launched last spring with AT&T Wireless.

What they’re saying
 “High school has become the decision-making time in a young person’s life. It used to be college, they would go off and leave mom and dad. But there have been changes in our culture and buying decisions, spending power, influence on parents has really changed. Decisions are starting to happen younger. Cars as well as clothes. So it’s important to reach that high school market.” – Thomas Borgerding, president of St. Paul-based Campus Media Group