Put your client on school mouse pads

Put your client on
school mouse pads

Great sales tool for stuff kids buy on the internet

Kathy Prentice

   College students in the U.S. spend $100 billion plus each year on purchases like CDs, jeans, computers and airline tickets. A third of them spend a chunk of those dollars shopping online.
   Now advertisers are vying for students’ attention in a previously sacrosanct environment—where they study.
   They are doing so by positioning their logos at students’ fingertips by placing them on mouse pads, which are then distributed to computer labs and classrooms.
   To find out how to get your client on campus mouse pads, read on.
   This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
   Ads placed on computer mouse pads in computer labs and classrooms.

Who
   Word of Mouse, headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

How it works
   Advertiser logos are printed on mouse pads, which are placed in computer labs and in classrooms on college campuses, in kindergarten through high school classrooms, and in public libraries.
   Word of Mouse calls the pads Desktop Billboards.
   Advertisements are primarily point-of-purchase for items that can be ordered via internet sites, though other categories also do well on mouse pad ads.
   “Companies want to brand and also to further a relationship with prospective customers by bringing them online,” says Word of Mouse president Bill Flagg. “In this environment that’s only a click away.”
   Service is turnkey, from production to verification.
   Creative usually includes the advertiser’s logo as well as a graphic and tag line, Flagg says.
   “It’s usually like a magazine ad, some kind of full-color image that resonates with students.”
   Mouse pads are usually 7 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches and can be cut into custom shapes.
   “We’ve done a lily pad shape for FrogMagic, a pizza shape for Papa John’s, and an oval for Monster.com that’s consistent with their logo,” Flagg says.
   Up to three different designs from the same advertiser can be distributed to each location.
   Advertisers can cherry-pick specific schools or demographics, Flagg says.
   Schools screen creative online and have the right to opt out of a specific campaign.
   Advertisers are primarily Fortune 500 companies, Flagg says.
   Product category exclusivity can be achieved by buying the entire inventory for a specific school or market.
   Mouse pad ads are generally used as part of a media mix but could stand alone, Flagg says.
   Word of Mouse computer labs are open 14 hours daily on average and have over 150 million user sessions each month.
   Faculty can also be targeted through mouse pad campaigns. For example, 5,000 BigChalk ad pads were distributed to elementary school teachers.

Markets
   Mouse pad ads are in all 50 states.
   Word of Mouse has contracts with 6,000-plus public and private academic institutions reaching two-thirds of all college students, Flagg says.
   Colleges consist of two- and four-year institutions, including Stanford, M.I.T. and the University of Michigan.
   Some 75 percent of ad mouse pads are placed on college campuses with the remainder placed in kindergarten through high schools. About 2 percent are placed in public libraries.
   The 1,700 two- and four-year colleges provide 395,000 desktops with 114 million user sessions per month.

Numbers

How measured

Online tracking is provided. “An advertiser can go online for production and shipping data, to find out when their pads are placed in schools. It’s up-to-the-minute, direct feedback,” Flagg says.
BPA International conducts bi-annual audits of Word of Mouse campaigns.
Lab cams are placed in selected sites.
Full campaign reporting is provided.

   The average student use per month in Word of Mouse computer labs and classrooms is 183 million.

Research
   Seventy-three percent of users visit the sites advertised on the mouse pads in their computer labs according to a Memolink.com survey of 5,000 students online.
   Computer labs are visited by 86 percent of students on a weekly basis. The student base is comprised of all students, including those who own their own computers. An in-lab survey determined that computer lab usage was up 30 percent for a variety of reasons, including convenience and advanced technology.
   Additionally, many dormitory students use the computer lab to get away from noisy distractions and to socialize with other students, according to Student Monitor 2000.
   The average computer lab session is 60 minutes per user.
   An independent study by Mazerov Research & Consulting on the efficacy of mouse-pad advertising versus conventional advertising media found that in comparison with college newspapers:

Word of Mouse generates 30 times more response per dollar.
Word of Mouse requires one-ninth the number of impressions to generate an equal number of responses.
Word of Mouse costs 10 cents to the dollar what a college newspaper costs to reach the same audience.

What product categories do well?
   Consumer goods as well as services do well, Flagg says.
   Specifically, CDs, records and tapes, books, textbooks, clothing and shoes, travel, entertainment, computer hardware and software, flowers, employment and recruitment.
   Tobacco, alcohol and other drug-related ads aren’t accepted, Flagg says.

Demographics
   Ninety-five percent of all U.S. college students access the internet on a weekly basis with an average of 20 hours online, reports Student Monitor 2000.
   U.S. college students spend over $100 billion annually, according to Greenfield Online.
      Additionally:

80 percent of students have credit cards
61 percent regularly visit entertainment sites
32 percent regularly visit shopping sites
18 percent regularly visit travel sites

Online purchases by students account for half a billion dollars a year with 31 percent of students shopping online. Product categories break down as follows, according to Student Monitor LLC:

42 percent of those shopping online buy CDs, records and tapes, spending an average of $28 each for a total of $19.3 million.
28 percent purchase books at $71 each for a total of $32.7 million annually.
21 percent buy clothing at $165 each, totaling $56.9 million.
20 percent buy airline tickets at $519 totaling $170.5 million.
17 percent buy concert tickets for $131 each and $36.6 million total.
13 percent purchase textbooks at $147 each and $31.2 million total.
12 percent buy computer equipment for $528, totaling $104 million.
11 percent buy software for $138, totaling $24.9 million.
7 percent buy flowers at $56, totaling $6.4 million.
5 percent buy computers at $1,228, totaling $100.9 million.
3 percent buy downloadable music at $21 for a total of $1 million.
2 percent buy footwear at $80 for a total of $2.6 million.
2 percent buy stocks and bonds. Total expenditures are not available for this category.

   Age and geographic targeting are available and can be selected school by school or by age of students attending a school (elementary, middle school, high school or college).

Making the buy
   Lead-time is two weeks from final design.
   Showings are generally 120 days and include holidays, weekends and vacations. Viewing periods begin on the first of each month.
   Pricing is strictly by quantity, Flagg says.
   The base rate per desktop for a 120-day showing is $6.84.
   For 1,500 to 4,999 units the rate per unit stays at the base rate.
   For 5,000 to 7,499 units the volume discount is 16 percent, resulting in a cost of $5.75 per unit.
   For 7,500 to 14,999 units the volume discount is 20 percent, with an effective rate of $5.48 per unit.
   For 15,000 to 29,999 units a 24 percent discount results in a $5.20 unit price.
   For 30,000 to 59,999 units a 28 percent discount results in a $4.92 unit price.
   For 60,000 or more units, a 32 percent discount results in a unit price of $4.65.
   A minimum buy is $10,000, with some exceptions, Flagg says.

Who’s already on mouse pads?
   AT&T, amazon.com, Princeton Review, CNN, Sports Illustrated, IRS, United Airlines, U.S. News Online, BMG Music Service, Columbia House, PowerBar, ESPN, monster.com, American Express, Microsoft, Pfizer, Merriam-Webster, CollegeClub.com, Power Students Network, General Magic, Moosejaw.com, FrogMagic, Memolink and VolunteerMatch.

What they’re saying
   “Technology has changed society so that people are on computers all day long. They all go to the lab, even when they have their own computers, to get information from the school and to get away from the busyness of the dorms. They run into the labs just to check their e-mail. While they’re sitting at the computer for an hour, we get an hour’s worth of advertising. Their eyes are focused on it.” – Kimberly Evanter, account executive for Cass Communications, headquartered in Evanston, which has placed Word of Mouse campaigns for online clients.

Web site info
   Word of Mouse at www.gomouse.com

Etc.
   Market research consisting of online surveys is also available. Turnaround time is less than two weeks from questionnaire to results.
   Tracking applets can be installed on sites to enable advertisers to track effectiveness of all advertising.
   Promotional distribution inside computer labs is available. For example, ESPN gave away 5,000 NCAA Basketball posters during March Madness.

-Kathy Prentice writes about out-of-home advertising for Media Life, penning her stories from the resort town of Traverse City, in the upper reaches of Michigan.

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