I remember being at Current TV and brainstorming around how to set up a campus rep program to get the word out. It seemed like a no-brainer, but I now realize there's actually a lot of thinking and planning needed to launch an effective program. I think Current ended up working with Mr. Youth's RepNation if I'm not mistaken. As a part of Mr. Youth's founding sponsorship of the first ever Ypulse College Mashup, we offered them the opportunity to do a short Q&A for the blog, giving them some more publicity and hopefully giving you a bit of insight into how they approach what they do.

Ypulse: What do you consider to be key when thinking about reaching college students?

Mr. Youth The best tactic for delivering a powerful message to students is being localized and relevant. Approaching the college student audience as a monolithic one will result in noise that won't resonate on campus. Secondly, your campaign must create news: the barometer for the excitement you create should be the media. If they don't care about it, a college student consumer won't either.

YP: How do today's college students differ in their media consumption habits? What should any brand trying to reach this demographic have in their media plan?

MY: College students consume media on their schedule in ways conducive to their lifestyle. Traditional media remains at the forefront of daily media consumption, but rising adoption of new technologies (TiVo, iPods, Satellite Radio) no longer make traditional media effective on its own. A strong promotional campaign seeded with a big idea is the best way to approach the college market. If this strategy is in place, the choice of mediums becomes almost secondary.

YP: What makes a college rep program successful vs. not successful?

MY: A college rep program is successful when measurable campaign metrics are set and able to be accurately measured throughout. This puts accountability on the reps and the agency and allows the client to truly gauge the success of these programs. Secondly, solid campus rep initiatives embrace multiple mediums, including guerilla marketing, social media, interactive promotion, and PR.

Photo by Patricia Hudak (from L to R): Matt Britton/Mr. Youth, Alli Decker/Ypulse Books, and me at the Ypulse College Mashup opening reception.

Posted by anastasia at 1:15 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As you can read on my Facebook status (btw my husband thinks I'm such a geek for updating that), I'm still "decompressing" from last week's Ypulse College Mashup. We just put all of the photos up on Flickr (still finishing up captions). We also have a couple of presentations from the event:

SurveyU's opening slides
SurveyU's interstitial stats
CollegeWeek Live's overview
Ricky van Veen's keynote

As part of our sponsorship package, we offer the opportunity for the sponsor to be interviewed on Ypulse. What follows is my interview with Neil Costa, the VP of biz dev at CollegeWeekLive -- they create a virtual college fair for high school students. If you really want to look at how tech has transformed the lives of teens, just look at the college application process. Gone are the days of applying to a mere five schools (safety, reach and a couple in between). Gone are the days of typing your app. and using lots of liquid paper. There are virtual tours, online resources for test prep and financial aid, oh and Facebook as a way to get the real deal on student life.

Ypulse: In a few sentences, explain why CollegeWeekLive is needed...

Neil Costa: CollegeWeekLive has a different benefit for each of the constituencies we serve:

1. From the student perspective, CollegeWeekLive makes it easier to research schools and make a "connection" with the admissions teams.

2. From the perspective of colleges, CollegeWeekLive is a source for generating additional applications from across the country who may never have considered their college.

3. From the perspective of marketers, it is an opportunity to reach a highly targeted audience who are in the process of planning for college and all the supplemental decisions which go along with that big move.

YP: Technology has changed the college process in so many ways -- from test prep to the online common application. What do you think has been the most profound change in this process?

NC: We believe the most profound change in the college process is access to information. This of course has been made available through technological growth in the past 10 years. Students are able to access more and more information online and manage more and more of the process through online channels. CollegeWeekLive is a great example of this trend. At CollegeWeekLive, students are able to access information but they are also able to interact directly with administration officers and current students. This helps to breakdown geographic barriers and demystify more schools than they previously had available to them.

YP: What are today's college bound teens the most stressed about when it comes to college?

NC: They are stressed about not only getting into school, but getting into the "right" school. Many feel an added pressure from their parents and schools to get into a high caliber institution. College prep starts as early as elementary school with students being "groomed" toward getting into "the right college". That being said, college bound teens are more stressed than ever before, in fact studies show that the numbers of students who feel overwhelmed and stressed have doubled since 1985 (NYU Child Study Center (2005). Consider that more Americans are going to college than ever before and there are more first generation college students are going to college than ever before. CollegeWeekLive hopes to break down some of the stress by letting students communicate in a way they prefer -- online. Also, students can interact with admissions officials in a "1-to-1," private fashion without having the pressure of discussing their GPA and SAT scores in front of their peers at a crowded, physical college fair.

YP: What are some of the more innovative and interesting ways you have seen some schools leverage technology to reach this new generation of college students?

NC: We have seen colleges & universities just start to innovate using technology in their recruitment process. To be honest, the innovative schools are way ahead by having their own chats, hosting students blogs, providing great virtual tours and now jumping in and participating in CollegeWeekLive. There is really a long way to go for many colleges to catch up and modernize their sites and tools available to prospective students. We here more and more about "stealth applicants" -- those whose first contact with the college is the application -- and college websites & resources will need to be great for the students who decide to take this unique approach.

YP: At the same time, with everything becoming more automated, are some colleges are working harder to offer a more "human" touch?

NC: The Human touch is a huge part of this process and one that should not be overlooked. We see colleges who are hesitant drop physical events to adopt technology and automation because of a fear of losing that human touch. All the while, they know using the Internet is part of the college search process and it is here to stay. The colleges that learn how to leverage technology while incorporating the human touch are the ones that will rise to the top. This is why services like CollegeWeekLive are so important. They can leverage technology like video chat where they can interact with students using progressive technology while still being able look have a human element.

YP: Anything else you think Ypulse readers should know about?

NC: Live online events offer users and marketers a new option on the Internet and our users spent 68 minutes on the site over the two day event so we think we are on to something pretty cool. We also offer all of our video content on-demand. We are fortunate to have some great traction in this space and offer brands this new, interesting type of online advertising option.

Posted by anastasia at 10:55 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Ypulse College Mashup research sponsor Survey U just completed a batch of research on college students that they will be presenting this Friday. One of the series of questions they asked students was about what they look for in advertising -- they asked them to rank which of the following characteristics were "extremely important" to "not important at all" with a couple of rankings in between. Here's what they found in the order of what's most important...

Be truthful
60 percent said extremely important
30 percent said somewhat important
7 percent said important nor unimportant
2 percent said not very important
2 percent said not important at all

Show the functionality
41 percent said extremely important
43 percent said somewhat important
11 percent said important nor unimportant
3 percent said not very important
2 percent said not important at all

Show me the value
38 percent said extremely important
43 percent said somewhat important
13 percent said important nor unimportant
3 percent said not very important
3 percent said not important at all

Be current
30 percent said extremely important
49 percent said somewhat important
14 percent said important nor unimportant
4 percent said not very important
3 percent said not important at all

Be funny
32 percent said extremely important
46 percent said somewhat important
16 percent said important nor unimportant
3 percent said not very important
3 percent said not important at all

Speak to me in my own language
35 percent said extremely important
38 percent said somewhat important
19 percent said important nor unimportant
5 percent said not very important
4 percent said not important at all

Be cutting edge
20 percent said extremely important
43 percent said somewhat important
26 percent said important nor unimportant
6 percent said not very important
5 percent said not important at all

Be stylish
15 percent said extremely important
42 percent said somewhat important
27 percent said important nor unimportant
10 percent said not very important
6 percent said not important at all

Exude cool
8 percent said extremely important
26 percent said somewhat important
42 percent said important nor unimportant
15 percent said not very important
8 percent said not important at all

Posted by anastasia at 7:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

For anyone still trying to decide whether to come to next week's Ypulse College Mashup, here's one more reason to attend (besides the kick-ass speakers and high quality networking with other folks trying to reach college students) -- if you attend, you will have a chance to win a free SXSW Interactive Pass valued at $400. Why should you be excited about this? Not only will you get to see the Ypulse teen panel and Core Conversation at SXSW and come party with us at Cafe Mundi, you get full access to this amazing speaker lineup.

Register today!

Posted by anastasia at 9:26 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We're heading into the final days before the latest Ypulse conference happening January 31-February 1 in Santa Monica, CA. I'm incredibly excited about our program -- if you're trying to reach college students, you should not miss this event. Other conferences may have "college tracks," but none promise this type of day-long immersion with some of the most knowledgeable people in this field. You can register online here. And on that note, we have added a final speaker, Mike Marriner, one of the founders of "Roadtrip Nation," the series following young people who hit the road after graduation in an attempt to learn from inspirational leaders who forged their own paths. More about Mike:

Post-graduation, feeling sheltered and underexposed to the world around him, Mike hit the road (with friends Brian McAllister and Nathan Gebhard) in an unsound 1985 Green RV to interview people who defined their own roads in life including the founder of Starbucks, Lobstermen, artists, the founder of Barnes and Noble, CEO of National Geographic Ventures, the scientist who decoded the human genome, CEO of Dell Computers, truck drivers, filmmakers, social activists, and many others. Contrary to what they had learned in school or from growing up in California, they learned that people can build lives in line with their passions and individuality.

That trip inspired them to create Roadtrip Nation, a grassroots organization that mobilizes students to hit the road, interview leaders from all walks of life, and explore the world for themselves. Footage from these trips are shared with individuals everywhere through the Roadtrip Nation Series on PBS, books, various broadcast partnerships, and online at www.roadtripnation.com.

Also, due to financial constraints on our end, our friends at Gorilla Soapbox will not be recording this event for us. So if you aren't there in person, you won't find it online. They will be posting video from the Tween Mashup soon...

The Ypulse College Mashup would not be happening without our sponsors -- a big thanks to our founding sponsor, Mr. Youth, our sponsor CollegeWeekLive, our research sponsor SurveyU and our exhibitors CafeScribe, Imagine Marketing Agency and our newest exhibitor, Nokia NSeries. Thanks also to our friends at Cynopsis, Youth Market Alerts, EMF, and New Music Tip Sheet for helping to get the word out.

Posted by anastasia at 9:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)