College students will soon be heading to campus, and when they arrive they'll be greeted by several new ad media targeting this unique audience.

They're in the form of video ads in bookstores and in common areas around campus.

To find out how to get your client’s message in front of this elusive audience, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly. Next week Media Life will review a range of existing programs targeting college students.

Fast Facts

What
Ads delivered to college students via screens around campus and in student bookstores.

Who
For this article Media Life spoke with Ambient Planet in New York, Submedia’s The University Network (TUN) in New York, Campus Media Group of Minneapolis and SeeSaw Networks in San Francisco.

How it works
Video ads are placed in venues that students frequent. One new medium is digital floor mats that display ads in bookstores.

Digital floor mats have four sections, each with a screen. Fifteen-second spots rotate on each screen in two-minute loops. An advertiser can buy the entire two minutes or segments of the loop, says Ambient Planet sales manager Linda Bueno.

Creative can be video or still. “The quadrant design allows you to run a spot separately or have all four screens create one image,” Bueno says.

There’s an additional three minutes of university-related content for a total loop of five minutes. The mats are placed at bookstore entrances and exits.

Advertisers can cherry-pick a market, a campus or a store.

Advertisers are predominately national, but local advertisers also use the mats.

The mats can be bought with counter displays, floor displays, sampling and branded bags.

Another new program is sponsorship of concerts promoting social change that are broadcast on screens across campuses. Called BeFree, the program is available through Submedia’s TUN screens. Advertisers sponsor a series highlighting artists who focus on social change through their music. The screens are placed in recreation centers, student unions and other campus gathering places.

A mix of news and content from the college are also in the loop.

Each screen shows a customized mix. “Each screen has content relevant to that location," says TUN CEO Peter Corrigan. "So when there are multiple screens on a campus, they may even have different advertisers.”

Loops are 10 minutes, with 18 percent ads, 24 percent school content and 58 percent entertainment.

Other new campus programs include one from SeeSaw Networks called Life Pattern Marketing, which measures awareness, attention, impact and attitudes toward ads to determine where to place messages on college campuses.

“We’re looking at college students where they work, go to school and socialize,” says vice president marketing Rocky Gunderson. “It’s different than just saying you’re going to buy a college campus. We’re looking at where the target audience is going to be, whether it’s waiting in line for a cup of coffee or working out at the rec center, and how long they’re going to be there.”

Another new program, from Campus Media Group, works with advertisers to have their product placed in college bookstores. “We get the product on the shelf and then develop a comprehensive plan on campus to drive store traffic,” says director of marketing Jason Bakker.

Market
College media programs are available in every state.

Numbers
Digital floor mats are available in 295 independent college bookstores with an average weekly traffic of 4,500 students per store.

The University Network is on 280 screens that are on 185 campuses with weekly traffic averaging 9 million.

How it is measured
Ambient Planet uses third-party audits to determine measurement for wireless, digital mats.

Submedia’s TUN uses traffic data provided by the colleges to estimate impressions.

SeeSaw Networks uses third-party validated traffic studies to measure impressions.

Research
According to the National Retail Federation and Quirk’s Marketing Research Review data provided by Ambient Planet, the annual spending breakout for college students is as follows:
- Computers and electronics at $8.2 billion
- Clothing and accessories at $5.7 billion
- School supplies at $3 billion
- Shoes at $2 billion
- Videos and DVDs at $2.8 billion
- Music and CDs at $2.7 billion
- Reading material at $1 billion
- Movie tickets at $887 million
- Concert tickets at $791 million
- Cell phones at $294 million
- Soda at $3.1 billion
- Bottled juice at $1.5 billion and bottled water at $1.4 billion
- Coffee at $1 billion
- Chip snacks at $630 million
- Sports drinks at $429 million
- Candy bars at $328 million and nutritional bars at $329 million

A 2005 study by GfK NOP for TUN found that:
- Students see TUN displays an average 8.6 times weekly
- 67 percent recalled the advertised product unaided
- 35 percent reported they were more likely to purchase a product after seeing the ad
- 93 percent reported passing by the screens at least once daily

What product categories do well
Telecommunications, food and beverages, video gaming, apparel, finance, packaged goods, entertainment and computers are top categories.

Demographics
College students are evenly divided among men and women. According to a 2005 study by BIGresearch provided by Ambient Planet, 77 percent are 18 to 22 years old, 14 percent are 23-24, 5 percent are 25-29 and 2 percent are 30-34.

Making the buy
Ambient Planet: Lead time for digital floor mats is three to five days. Cost is contingent on number of schools.

Submedia’s TUN: Lead time is 60 days. Campaigns are a minimum two weeks, though most range from four to six weeks.

Campus Media Group: Lead time is four weeks for the bag insert program.

SeeSaw Networks sells ads on TUN screens and digital floor mats in addition to Life Pattern Marketing.

Who’s already on campus screens and in campus bookstores
The digital floor mat program is new. Recent TUN advertisers include Trojan, U.S. Navy, Obama ’08, Nintendo, Air Tran and American Airlines.

Web site info
Ambient Planet at http://www.ambient-planet.com
Submedia’s The University Network at http://www.theuniversitynetwork.net
Campus Media Group at http://www.campusmediagroup.com
SeeSaw Networks at http://www.seesawnetworks.com