Kathy Prentice, www.medialifemagazine.com - March 13, 2006

Touting their beaches, bikinis and beverages for spring break, advertisers are turning to college newspapers to deliver their messages.
In addition to being niche publications, college newspapers are increasing their readership even as general-interest newspapers are losing circulation.
To find out how to get your client’s message in front of an elusive young adult audience, read on. This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts
What
Advertising in publications that target college students.

How it works
Print ads are placed in college newspapers. Additionally, freestanding inserts and special editions are also vehicles for reaching students through their campus newspapers.

“Special editions can be for, say, incoming freshmen with ads hyped around that window of opportunity for signing students up for services, and for influencing brand choices and purchases,” says Alloy Marketing senior vice president Samantha Skey.

“Another way to advertise is with inserts,” says Campus Media Group director of marketing Jason Bakker. “It works well for fast food clients and for other coupon-related promotions. Inserts can also be CDs.”

The agencies placing ads can all connect with the same base of universities and colleges, including public and private, large and small, urban and rural.

Ads can also be placed in print magazines that are published for college students. Current Magazine, through Y2M, is a student-run national newsmagazine focusing on politics and entertainment. GradPak Magazine, also through Y2M, targets recent seniors and recent graduates.

Diversity Magazine Network, through Alloy Marketing, includes publications targeting minorities going into health careers, engineering and business.

Advertisers usually provide creative. Print ads can be full color or black and white and can run full-page, half-page, quarter- or eighth-page or as a two-page center spread. Creative can usually be rotated during the course of a campaign.

Y2M focuses on placing ads in online versions of college publications

“The content is the same or similar online as it is in print,” says Y2M vice president Dina Pradel. “But you also can provide content you might not have room for in print editions: podcasts, multi-media presentations and blogs.”

Headline news, weather and campus events can be updated frequently. Other online elements include personalized registration for features like horoscopes.

Creative for online ads should be rotated frequently, Pradel says. “The art can be interactive. There’s the ability to use animation, to register for a sweepstakes, or to link to a product and purchase it. Samsung wanted to own every single front page in our network 24/7 and they do a great job of changing creative. They’re a constant presence but there’s always something new to offer.”

Campus newspapers are typically distributed free to students.

Markets
Available on college campuses in all 50 states.

Numbers
There are 16 million students attending the 4,000 two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities in the U.S. An estimated 600 college newspapers publish an online edition. Y2M’s network of 450 reaches 5 million students.

How it is measured
Measurement is based on circulation. Additionally, web site hits and promotion redemptions can be used.

Research
According to Eric Weil of New Jersey-based Student Monitor, 78 percent of college students read one out of the last five issues of their campus paper, while 38 percent read an online edition. Students spend an average of 19 minutes reading an issue.

College students’ spending power is nearly $200 billion annually, according to the Alloy College Explorer study, which is conducted by Harris Interactive.

College students spend $25.7 billion each year on school supplies, including $7.5 billion on electronics, $8.8 billion on textbooks, $3.2 billion on clothing and accessories, $2.6 billion on dorm or apartment furnishings, $2.1 billion on schools supplies and $1.5 billion on shoes, according to a 2004 National Retail Foundation study provided by Campus Media Group.

Eighty percent of recent college graduates use the internet to shop, up from 21 percent in 2004, according to a 2005 eGrad Research Study provided by Y2M.

What product categories do well
Recruiters, both military and civilian, are top advertisers. Also frequent ad categories: entertainment, electronics, retail, wireless, automobiles, cosmetics, credit cards, fast food, insurance, student loan services, banking and music.

Swimwear and other clothing retailers frequently use college publications for spring break. Newspapers typically don’t accept ads for alcohol, tobacco or gambling, Bakker says. The exception would be a responsible drinking campaign.

Demographics
The general demographic is 18- to 24-year-old students. Schools can be targeted by zip code, ethnic makeup, student body size and academic majors, the paper's publishing frequency (daily, weekly, monthly), whether it’s two years or four, and whether public or private.

“There are all different ways to slice and dice it: private, public, junior, community or commuter colleges,” Skey says. "Some advertisers only want campuses with over 10,000 students. Some want more than 20 percent accounting majors.”

Making the buy
Lead times vary by schools’ publishing cycles. Online publications usually have a quicker turnaround on ads than their print counterparts. Campaigns generally range from a semester to a year.

“The typical buy is the top 200 to 500 schools by enrollment,” Skey says. “The top markets are the largest universities.”

Who’s already in college publications
Dell, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Warner Brothers, Jack In The Box, Saks and Toyota are recent advertisers.

What they’re saying
“The post-high school customer is not easy to find. The 12- to 21-year-olds are dropping off the radar, but we know they’re out there and have needs, and we try to reach them with appropriate messages.” – Dirk Stallman of Milwaukee-based Carson Pirie Scott & Co., who placed display ads in campus newspapers for Saks through CMG.