Paulina Polec of youth marketing specialists BAM Agency explains why it’s not just the biggest brands than can benefit from reaching out to new students

With the new university year, and Freshers Fairs, just around the corner, global and local businesses alike are trying to get a slice of this lucrative time of year to market to students.

As our research has shown, students love a freebie and some will attend the fairs simply to get their hands on everything and anything they possibly can. They almost expect it.

So brands flock to the fairs, full to the brim with freebies for students. These can range from branded clothing to free food samples and everything in between. But which brand is more successful in the global vs local battle to be the students favourite?

The first year of University is a pivotal milestone in student’s lives. For the first time, they can start to make independent choices and they are open to trying new, unfamiliar products. It is a time where they try to stand on their own two feet and find their way in this new life, which makes it a key time for both local and global brands to target the youth market.

With students spending an average of £7.5billion annually on non-essential items, socialising and food, brands pull out all the stops to tempt students.

If students cannot get something for free, then they are certainly on the lookout for a discount. With student discount platforms such as Students Beans and Unidays growing their portfolio year on year, it has almost become an expectation that students should be eligible for a discount, simply because they are a student. The majority of global companies offer discounts and promotions for students. It’s a well-known fact that High-Street clothing brands such as Topshop and New Look for example, offer 10% discount to students.

Freshers is the pinnacle time for brands to expose themselves to thousands of students all in one place in a matter of hours, and global brands like Burger King and Domino’s are renowned for going all out to get noticed in this competitive arena. Big brands are not afraid to make a statement with everything from loud music, generous prizes and interactive activations, in their bid to stand out to the students.

With this in mind, is Freshers the place for smaller local brands to be seen?

Absolutely! Freshers is not just for the global brands. Our research has shown that students are more aware and conscious about “keeping it local”. The trend amongst students of organic eating is on the rise and students are much more aware of the economic benefits of supporting local businesses. Students want to see local brands, they want to see something different and they want to find out what’s new.

It has been proven time and time again that students are looking for places with independence and character. Many students will have moved away from the security of their family home into a new town or city. They are looking for home from home brands that can make them feel at ease in their new environment, so showcase your brand’s personality, show students what makes you unique.

Local brands should also remember that they do not need a bottomless budget to succeed at Freshers, they simply need to tap into the psyche of students, understand what they want and give it to them. If a simple wooden spoon can create demand from students, there is plenty of opportunity for local brands to connect with this youth market.

No matter how big or small your brand is, students are open to experiment with new brands and ready to reconnect with old brands. So big or small, there is a solution out there for you.

Paulina Polec is Sales Executive at BAM Agency, specialists in marketing to students. Clients include Greggs, Wagamama, Wilko, Domino’s, Burger King, Morrisons and Branston.

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Young people are far more vulnerable to being scammed than their grandparents, despite the archetypal image of a scam victim is someone who is elderly and isolated, according to new research.

The shock revelation that 18 to 24-year-olds are actually six times more vulnerable to being scammed than the 65+ age group comes from a survey conducted for prize sourcing and management agency Prizeology.

Publication of the research on young people and prize draw scams has been timed to coincide with Scams Awareness Month, a national Trading Standards campaign which runs throughout June.

Sarah Burns, Managing Director of Prizeology and a SCAMbassador for the National Trading Standards Scams Team, says “As we know, prize draw scams are very prevalent, particularly online, and because young people are expert at using social media we assume they’re expert at identifying prize draw scams on social media, but they’re not, and that’s concerning – for them and for the promotional marketing industry. Once they’ve been scammed, young people are going to be far less likely to engage with genuine prize promotions, so it’s in the industry’s interests to do all it can do raise awareness of prize draw scams.”

Young people appear to be supremely confident online, but that confidence seems to significantly increase their susceptibility to prize draw scams. The research found that over four-fifths of 18 to 24-year olds with experience of scams had given away, or knew someone who had given away, personal information which was then used to scam them. Just under a third had revealed, or knew someone who had revealed, their bank account details to scammers.

The research also identified that young people are not sufficiently discriminating about the provenance of the content they interact with online. Around one in six 18 to 24-year-olds were likely to enter a prize draw if it was shared by ‘anyone on social media’. They didn’t tend to read terms and conditions thoroughly, check promoters’ details or confirm that the creator of the content was verified. In fact, almost one in ten young people admitted they take no action to confirm whether a prize draw is genuine or not.

Prizeology has produced a short guide called ‘Scam Savvy: How Not To Fall For A Prize Draw Scam’. This is primarily aimed at young people and those who work with them, but is relevant to any age group. The guide and ‘Not So Savvy: Young People At Risk From Prize Draw Scams’, a detailed report on the research, can both be downloaded from the Prizeology website.

The Prizeology research was based on 2015 interviews conducted between 30 January and 2 February 2018 with a nationally representative UK audience using an online methodology. Respondents were a minimum of 18 years old and quotas were placed on age, gender and region to ensure an accurate representation of the UK public demographic. The research was carried out by Vitreous World.

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Generation Z accepts ads, but will ignore the ones that don’t deliver tangible value, says Vaughan Edmonds at global brand experience agency Sense.

It’s 10 April 2018, and a nervous Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, stands before the US Congress. It’s the turn of 84-year-old US senator and Republican high-tech task force chair Orrin Hatch to ask the questions.

Facebook is at the centre of a scandal after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a British data firm hired by President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, improperly gathered detailed data on 87 million users using the platform. Zuckerberg has just told Congress that he always intends to offer a free version of Facebook to users.

“Well if so,” Hatch replies, “how do you sustain a business model in which users don’t pay for your service?”

Zuckerberg blinks and pauses for a moment.

“Senator, we run ads.”

The exchange, along with others involving various elderly Senators, has become symbolic of the technological knowledge gap that exists in Western society. A video titled “Mark Zuckerberg explains the internet to old people” went viral in the days following Zuckerberg’s visit to Congress as members of the Millennial and Gen Z demographics revelled in the ignorance of their elders.

The attitudes of Gen Z towards technology and advertising are particularly fascinating. Also known as the iGen, Gen Z is the generation born from the late 1990s onwards which has never known a world without the internet.

Its oldest members have just turned 21 and have grown up alongside dominant tech companies like Facebook. They are used to a world where platforms are cheaper than ever before. Their favourite brands – Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat – offer their services for free. Where we used to buy a single CD for £9.99, they can now listen to any song ever recorded for nothing on Spotify. Only Netflix draws the line, offering an array of TV and film for as little as £7.49 a month.

For the free services, Gen Z knows the price it has to pay: ads. Just as Mark Zuckerberg said.

What gets really interesting is the attitude of Gen Z towards advertising in general, with 61% agreeing that posters and billboards help them become aware of new products and services¹. Gen Z is also 37% more likely to notice adverts on public transport² and 15% more likely to stop and interact at a promotional stand or event³. It seems as if the recent wave of cynicism towards brands has not been driven by the young, but by the generations that preceded them.

What does this mean for brands? Only time will tell. It remains to be seen whether this more accepting attitude to advertising is driven by youth or by a genuinely different outlook. However, it appears highly likely that Gen Z will take two traits from its youth into adulthood which could be highly significant for brands:

Shortening Attention Spans

According to most research, the attention span of Gen Z is lower than any other generation in history. In our digital age this makes perfect sense. There is so much vying for our attention and, in terms of things to occupy us, we are spoilt for choice. For brands, this has important implications. Firstly, to attract Gen Z, your marketing has to be interesting. Better still, if you really want to get this generation’s attention, your marketing should be useful. Gen Z is bombarded by hundreds of promotional messages every day. If a brand can offer something that is genuinely valuable it is far more likely to give you a precious piece of its attention.

Increased Levels of Activism

Gen Z is serious. Its members are driven to succeed, being 71% more likely to be willing to sacrifice free time to get ahead in their future careers⁴. They are also serious about social change with 76% of them happy to volunteer their time for good causes⁵. Gen Z members are activists. They strive to improve their own lives and the lives of people around them.

The last few years has seen the rise of purpose as a marketing tool, the mechanic brands use to demonstrate that they also care about improving people’s lives. Given the attitudes of Gen Z, it seems it is here to stay. To succeed with brand purpose, and to win the hearts of Millennials and Gen Z alike, the key is action. Brands must not just talk about their purpose, they must demonstrate their purpose through action in the real world. If they can make their purpose tangible, they will be able to win the hearts of Gen Z.

The world has changed a great deal in the lifetime of 84-year-old Senator Orrin Hatch. When Mark Zuckerberg was born, Hatch was in his early 50s and by the time Facebook had its millionth user he was 70. However, for the members of Gen Z, the world has been slightly more stable. They are digital natives, born and raised in the age of the internet. They are used to brands keeping their favourite digital past times free at the cost of adverts. Gen Z is quick thinking and serious. It has a different outlook to those who came before them and as its members mature into adulthood, brands will have a fantastic opportunity to become meaningful parts of their lives.

Source: ^1,2,3,4,5 YouGov (29^th April 2018)

Vaughan Edmonds is Planner at global brand experience agency Sense. Sense is a brand experience agency specialising in real world thinking and ideas. Sense manages experiential marketing campaigns from strategy to evaluation for clients including The Economist, Coca-Cola, Activision, Mars, Canon, Molson Coors, and Mattel.

Image credit: Elijah O’Donnell, Unsplash

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Soft drinks company Nichols plc. has launched a new ‘anti-advertising campaign’ for its Vimto brand, with a budget of £3m covering TV, social media (including a Snapchat lens) and digital, a partnership with student-focused viral content site Unilad, experiential sampling and what it says is an industry-first: personalised Video on Demand (VOD) and cinema.

The new ‘I See Vimto in You’ campaign, which launches during Love Island on June 4th, 2018 and runs throughout the summer, repositions the popular soft drinks brand with its target audience of 15-19 year olds. Nichols says the ad is engaging, disruptive and taps into the teen desire to be themselves in a world of constraints.

Its anti-advertising approach even goes as far as to suggest viewers should close their eyes rather than watch the advert. The new campaign also marks the end of brand representative, the Vimtoad, an animated character created by Aardman and introduced in 2014 to represent the product’s disruptive and anarchic element.

Emma Hunt, Head of Marketing at Nichols, says: “The approach is refreshingly different, just like Vimto. We want the ‘I See Vimto in You’ campaign to be a celebration of individuality and a catalyst for fun, encouraging teens to be themselves and take enjoyment from the everyday – like they do when they drink Vimto.”

Nichols says the campaign shouldhelp Vimto significantly increase its current sales value of £78m, claiming that the brand is in one in five households in the UK and continues to outperform the category, growing at +6.0% YOY.

Hunt adds: “The Vimtoad, who has starred in our campaigns over the past four years, has successfully helped us to deliver the message that Vimto is a multi-fruit soft drink. Under his watch, we’ve seen Vimto rise to its highest levels of brand awareness, but now it’s time to appeal to our core target audience in an innovative and contemporary way.”

The ‘I see Vimto in You’ national multi-media campaign will reach over three million teens across the country. This includes the Vimto brand’s return to TV, with the Love Island launch spot on June 4th. It will also break new ground with its unique personalised advertising across cinema and VOD, as well as experiential sampling, social influencer programme, the Snapchat lens and the partnership with Unilad.

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Peperami tapped into the season of love with a 2018 integrated Valentine’s marketing campaign, positioning its new Beef Animal, mascot for its Peperami Beef variant, as the ultimate dating guru to help love-struck people across the UK reach their romantic potential.

The first element of the campaign saw the launch of an experiential activation at Westfield Stratford City from February 9^th to 11^th. Consumers were able to meet the Beef Animal in person and get romantic advice from him in his very own pop-up Love Grotto. Consumers also had the chance to win a range of Valentine’s Day inspired gifts, including bespoke Beefy Bouquets – limited edition floral bouquets crafted around the hero Beef Peperami.

To increase awareness of the Love Grotto, advertorial placements in The Metro newspaper positioned the Peperami Beef Animal as the nation’s agony uncle, dishing out his dating tips to readers and encouraging them to meet him in person at Westfield.

All activations were amplified online and supported by boosted content, ensuring the target audience of 16 to 34 year old males was reached across multiple touchpoints.

Beef Animal ‘created’ his very own romantic Spotify playlist to put the nation in the mood for love on Valentine’s Day, and also featured in his very own music video. Designed with social share-ability in mind, the short video rolled out across all social and digital platforms.

To broaden the audience reach, Beef Animal was active on a popular dating app, allowing singletons to swipe right and ask him for some words of wisdom.

Pavan Chandra, Marketing Manager at Peperami, says: “The Peperami Beef variant has been a great success since it launched last year, and what better time to celebrate the nation’s love of Peperami than Valentine’s Day! This will be the first-time consumers will be meeting and engaging with the Beef Animal character, so we’re eager to see their reaction to the newest member of the Peperami family. Launching Beef, one of the most protein rich meat snacks in the chilled category, has resulted in the successful recruitment of more new shoppers – younger males – and we’re hopeful that this integrated marketing campaign will encourage even more millennials to enter the meat snacking category.”

The 360° campaign has full press office support, including a strategic influencer program, and will be amplified across the brand’s social channels.

The Peperami brand is owned by Jack Links, which (as LSI — Links Snacks Inc) was named as Brand Owner of the Year in the IPM Awards 2017, after collecting two Gold and two Silver trophies for its campaigns partnering its original Peperami mascot, the Animal, with the Angry Birds movie.

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Fanta is running an experiential Virtual Reality campaign called ‘Fanta: The 13th Floor’ to scare audiences just in time for Halloween, with consumers entering a physical lift that transforms into an immersive Halloween experience.

Fanta’s campaign – which was devised and produced by MediaCom’s content division MediaCom Beyond Advertising – uses the latest technology to deliver a 360° virtual reality experience.

Each ‘ride’ lasts for four minutes, where the user arrives at different floors of a building on the way to a Halloween party. Each floor then presents a different scenario: on one floor something comes forth from the shadows in an otherwise unassuming corridor, on another a shadowy figure transports from the realm of flickering TV screens to the confines of the lift.

4D elements add to the excitement, with a lifelike rumble emitting from the lift floor as the elevator stops at the various levels whilst a whoosh of air greets the user as the virtual doors open. It is the first time the drinks company has used an experiential activation of this magnitude to drive engagement.

Thorpe Park and Westfield shopping centre in Stratford will host three lifts each, aimed at 16-19 year olds to generate buzz and excitement for the orange soft drink Fanta during the Halloween period. The innovative campaign will run at Thorpe Park until November 1st and Westfield shopping centre until October 28th.

To drive further scale to the activation, the 360° video can also be viewed on www.fanta.co.uk13thfloor.

Mediacom will be promoting this through online video and paid social channels.

Rosalind Brown, Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Great Britain, says: “Halloween is the one time of year when we can all unleash our inner dark-side and embrace everything which is fun about the freakish and frightening. Our limited-edition Fanta cans and bottles, along with our exclusive Snapchat partnership, definitely help add a bit of drama and intrigue to the fright-night season. However for those brave enough, we have brought the fun of Halloween to life with our Virtual Reality experience which is now live at Thorpe Park and Westfield Stratford. For those who dare to enter it’s a shocking, fun filled ride to the 13th Floor!”

Mike Gibbons, Art Director at MediaCom Beyond Advertising, adds: “We love being able to draw from the different skillsets from within MBA, here utilising both the Original Content and Experiential teams, to create engaging campaigns. I recommend you track down some VR goggles, a pair of headphones and appreciate this immersive experience in all its glory.”

The media agency worked with video production company Kode Media and boutique VR Production agency TrojanVR, a joint venture that saw the two companies develop, shoot and deliver the 360° elements of the experiential campaign in an extremely short time frame.

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