Kirsty Pritchard, Assistant Director at BAM Student Marketing explores the benefits of Freshers’ Fairs and how to effectively engage students.

For any brand with students as a key demographic, Freshers’ Fairs are a must attend event. Whether you’re a local brand attending one or two fairs or a national brand executing a nationwide tour, Freshers’ is the place to be seen. In these first 100 days students are on a journey of new identity and beginnings, which means that Freshers’ Fairs are the very best place to start a relationship.

In an ever changing market, keeping ahead of changes in trends and behaviours is pivotal. Our research has shown that students attend Freshers’ Fairs to find out more about their new city or environment, experience new brands, products and services. At this moment in time they are also open to new ideas and trying new things. They are making purchasing choices for the first time in their lives and so this is a prime opportunity for brands to connect and engage with students that could potentially become a lifetime customer.

However Freshers’ Fairs are a crowded place, full to the brim of brands vying for the attention of students. Therefore it is pivotal for brands to stand out from the crowd and create a lasting impression. Brand activation must be fun, attractive and engaging to break through the noise.

Brands that create an immersive, fun and memorable experience, create a much closer bond and connect more effectively with students. The experience of a perfectly formed experiential marketing campaign will inspire and ultimately build loyalty, so brands can expect to make a ‘friend for life’.

It is also important for brands not to forget the all important freebies. Year after year our research shows that Freebies are one of the main incentives for students to attend a fair. This needn’t be expensive. Students really do latch onto the most random of items. We have seen the wooden spoon top the poll for a favourite freebie. You really don’t need to go all out on your merchandise, you just need to get into the psyche of the audience and give them something they want and need. Brands that provide original freebies tend to be favoured and remembered, by students.

When planning your Freshers’ campaign do not overlook the importance of devoting the time and effort required to recruit the perfect promotional staff for your campaign and your brand. After all promotional staff are the face of your brand, they are on the front-line interacting with potential or existing customers.

This could be the first time someone has heard of your brand and we all know how important first impressions are, they can affect their perception of your brand for life. Promotional staff are a pivotal piece of any experiential campaign puzzle and they really are the difference between a good campaign and a great campaign. Engaging, professional staff will create a lasting impression on new or existing customers, not only enhancing the reputation of your brand but improving the success of your campaign. Our surveys have shown that 24 % of students were not aware of big name brands but over half of these would go on to purchase having interacted with them at the freshers fair.

With hundreds of Freshers’ Fairs happening across the UK and ROI in literally a matter of weeks, it really is an amazing opportunity for brands to make their mark in the student market. After the first 3 months of university life, students start to settle down into their new surroundings, the choices and decisions they made during their first few months have started to take form and stick. We see year on year brand loyalty forming during the Freshers period and lasting into life after study, so the fairs are a must for any brand!

Ben Bestford, Director at BAM Student Marketing said “Freshers’ Fairs are a fantastic way to engage with students who are making choices for the first time. Whether you are a startup, local business or global brand, everyone plays a part at these events. If you get it right, this could be a customer for life but don’t make the mistake thinking Freshers’ Fairs are the only time you should advertise to students. Continue to engage across multiple platforms throughout the academic year and more importantly, offer value for money.”

BAM Student Marketing is a niche, values driven agency. BAM have the experience and expertise to deliver full-service youth marketing campaigns from concept creation through to campaign evaluation, and everything in-between. Whether dipping into one element or the whole package, their clients benefit from their 20 years’ experience and unparalleled insight into the youth market.

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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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VOXI, which positions itself as the UK’s first dedicated youth mobile phone offering, has launched a student ambassador programme to establish brand awareness among the UK’s university communities.

Kicking off on September 25^th, 2017, at Manchester Metropolitan University and running across the length and breadth of the UK until the end of October, the programme, devised and delivered by specialist student engagement agency Seed, builds awareness and drives sales through a range of activities, experiential as well as digital.

Bringing to life VOXI’s ‘Endless Possibilities’ proposition, which is based on the brand’s endless social data offer, the first term’s activity focuses on the VOXI Pick Me Up Truck. The Truck will offer freshers free barista-style coffees served in cups with attached VOXI SIMs, which can be unlocked to unleash endless possibilities. The coffees will be personalised to feature stencils of each student’s favourite emoji.

The second term sees the launch of the VOXI Shorts platform, a digital hub that allows students to film what the brand’s proposition of ‘Endless Possibilities’ means to them. The platform’s content will be amplified through a voting system that ensures contender films are pushed out via entrants’ peer-to peer-networks.

Prizes include creative bursaries of up to £5,000 and a chance to spend a day with one of VOXI’s 60 creators, who make up a community of young artists, filmmakers and designers from across the UK.

These high-impact VOXI activities are supported by a year-round student ambassador programme: always-on campus promoters will spearhead exclusive referrals designed to drive excitement and conversion across major UK universities.

In addition to devising VOXI’s student ambassador programme, Seed has also been tasked with establishing a similar programme for staff aged 25 and under within Vodafone.

Daniel Lambrou, Head of VOXI, said: “We created VOXI, a transparent new mobile service that gives our audience a platform to connect to the things that matter to them, whatever they’re into. Seed has created a unique ambassador programme that will bring VOXI to life on campus and engage with students in an authentic way.”

Seed’s Founder and CEO, Celia Forshew, added: “As a completely new brand, we needed to establish awareness quickly but authentically. Fortunately, VOXI’s brand and proposition is spot-on for this market and the team at VOXI have really allowed us to design the perfect programme for helping them reach their ambitions.”

Seed specialises in engaging students with brands in the UK and across most major territories. It works with major brands including Spotify, Budweiser, Nike, Amazon and ASOS to create authentic campaigns and experiences that a student audience will connect with and has a network of influential students as brand ambassadors in almost every University in the UK.

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