UW-Madison students are often nationally recognized for their academics and innovation, and when they walk off that Kohl Center stage with their diplomas, companies will be lining up to start getting a piece of these graduates' fat pay checks.
But companies are not sitting around waiting for graduation. They are trying to set consumer brand preferences while students are still walking around campus. Instead of using more traditional techniques, advertisers are turning to new trends to catch students' eyes.
According to a December 2005 Mintel International Group Limited report, the younger generation of consumers born between 1982 and 1995, known as the Echo Boom generation or Gen Y, nearly matches the size of the Baby Boomer generation. Advertisers still seek this generation despite its average lower income because Gen Y will soon possess the buying power of its elder generation. However, Gen Y can be more resistant to mainstream sources of information, according to the report. This has led advertisers into new territory over the past few years, whether it is parodying other pop culture devices, devoting an entire episode of ""Aqua Teen Hunger Force"" to Boost Mobile Phones or trying to start new trends all together.
UW-Madison assistant professor of journalism and mass communication Dominique Brossard said that advertisers are turning to micro-targeting which targets specific college students who would care about the products.
""It's a very subtle type of marketing,"" Brossard said.
Brossard, who teaches a strategic communications class, was contacted by Moosejaw, an outdoor clothing apparel company. The class focused on Moosejaw campaigns last semester. Brossard said that Moosejaw's CEO came to the classes and brought free stuff to the students, who then began wearing it. One of Moosejaw's goals, according to Brossard, is to become the ""hip Northface.""
""Traditional advertising wouldn't work to do that,"" Brossard said. ""To be hip, you shouldn't be perceived as being heavily advertised.""
Brossard added that when the students started wearing Moosejaw clothing, they also started to talk about it and encourage their friends to try the apparel. This marketing through word-of-mouth is one form of a trend called viral marketing.
Viral marketing also is connected with sending funny advertisements to friends, Brossard explained. Comical advertisements may make their way onto a popular website such as www.YouTube.com where everyday people actually do the job of advertisers by sending these amusing ads out into their social networks. In addition, online social networks are an easy way to get access to student e-mails, which was demonstrated by the Ruckus.com and Facebook incident reported in The Daily Cardinal Tuesday.
Humorous ads, even in a traditional form, still tend to work on college students. Recently the UW Division of Information Technology released an ad insert in the Isthmus and The Onion that parodied Facebook while advertising computer products. DoIT thinks the reaction to the ad has been positive.
""One way we can judge how popular an insert has been is to see how many are lying on the ground near the newsstands,"" Mary Evansen, senior marketing specialist at DoIT, said. ""We've seen very few this time.""
Brossard said the ad works because of the humor, and because it parodies something that is mainstream and no longer considered hip.
Students may enjoy funny ads, but will they make them buy a product? UW-Madison senior Adam Erdman received and sent customized phone advertisements for the summer movie ""Snakes on and Plane"" and also enjoys the humorous Miller Lite ""Man Law"" commercials.
""I think that new forms of advertising are more memorable than conservative ads,"" Erdman said. ""But you're not going to buy something like beer because of a commercial.""
While Erdman may not think that ads have much effect on his buying habits, Brossard said they might still be effective due to a concept known in communication as the ""third person effect.""
""People never think that media has an effect on them,"" Brossard said. ""On the other hand ... you're more likely to buy that product in the long run than if you never heard of it.""
Brossard said some of the newer marketing trends have not been as successful, at least not in the long run. Video games are heavily marketed to college-aged males. Product placement is starting to show up in games but can cause annoyance. Online ads, such as those on the side of a mainstream site like Facebook, no longer catch people's attention.
Even with missed marks like these, the advertising machine rages on. When a student tosses that graduation cap come May, companies not only hope to get their money, but have a brand-loyal consumer already made.
