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October 2018

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StudentUniverse ‘Aussie News Today’ Tour

StudentUniverse have long been targeting the student market, spreading awareness of their brand and offering. With a chance to win amazing return tickets to destinations across the globe, students simply loved the brand and StudentUniverse experienced amazing success at Freshers Fairs across the years.  

Something we always talk about here at BAM is keeping the message alive and the fact that students are for life not just for Freshers.

Whilst Freshers is the pinnacle time of year to target this savvy demographic, it is important to continue connecting with them throughout University and beyond.

After the success of StudentUniverse’s GetMeToOz campaign of 2017, they were keen to maintain engagement with a campaign targeting term 2 of the academic year 2017/18.

Their key objectives were:

  • To cause a big splash on campus, creating a buzz and familiarising students with the brand and what they have to offer
  • Data collection
  • To drive bookings through the discount codes distributed to students

With the objectives and locations set, we were ready to start putting the “AussieNewsToday” tour on the road. How did we make a splash on campus? Our specially recruited team of enthusiastic promotional staff drove a fully branded awe inspiring campervan to the designated locations across the UK.

The campervan certainly created a buzz on campus! Not content, our team also took with them a handball machine where students competed for the chance to win an amazing trip of a lifetime to Australia.

The on campus activity was supported by digital media through the Students’ Unions to create excitement for the tour arriving and to further enforce the brand message.

Taking full advantage and making the most of the campervan, we organised a host of PR days which involved the campervan visiting some of the UK’s most renowned landmarks. The campervan certainly got around and this created the media buzz we had hoped for.

This certainly was a fun campaign for us to work on and we love working with StudentUniverse. However the campaign was not without its challenges. Along the way we faced not only lecturer strikes but two snow storms! But at BAM we do not let anything stand in our way of delivering for our clients and the results of this epic campaign saw every objective being achieved and one very happy client!

We can’t wait to get started on the next adventure.

 
 
 
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BAM Agency in the Big Apple

Each year our busy Freshers season sees our team rack up a huge amount of miles on the road but this year we cranked it up a notch with a quick trip to the Big Apple to present at this years YMS NYC event.

BAM are long standing contributors to the YMS series of events. We are regulars at the renowned London based events and over recent years we have been adding a little British flavour to the sister events that take place in Berlin and New York. Once again we were very excited to be back in the Big Apple to share some of our unique insight and experience of the student market.

The two day event was hosted at the super cool Industry City venue in the heart of Brooklyn, providing a unique location and one that we have become accustomed to over recent years. In additions to the awesome venue there were some amazing speakers from some of the biggest youth brands from across the globe including Snapchat, Converse, Coca Cola, EA, Gymshark and ASOS and of course BAM.

Day 1 featured the student stream which provided a great opportunity to understand more about the US student sphere allowing us to recognise not only the similarities but also the differing factors that impact the student market. It provided us great insight and enhanced knowledge that we can inject into our current campaigns, in particular our UK wide Brand Ambassador programme for the New York Times.

Day 2 saw BAM’s Managing Director, Tim Bodenham present some of the latest research and insight on key brand wins in the student space and how brands are achieving success. Tim shared his experience of building brand love and loyalty drawing on examples from our recent successful campaigns alongside our latest research revealing what students value from the brands they love.

Never one to miss an opportunity to impart wisdom in a cultural exchange, Tim educated our American friends on what depicts a real Sausage roll, the likes of which none of them had ever seen. There is certainly a gap in the market for a British sausage roll in the US, and on the flip side Tim introduced to an amazing game, named Corn Hole. It turns out Tim was pretty good.


Up next the team are off to the Savage Marketing event in Berlin. We are already counting down to our next big adventure. Stay tuned!

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The power of words

After over 20 years of helping brands connect with students, there is still one area in which we still see the same mistakes being made… Language.

Everything from your responses on Social Media, to your choice of words on your Freshers Fair backdrop needs to resonate with the student consumer and more importantly needs to reflect your brand or business.

But we’re not just talking about nailing your tone of voice, that’s already a given! You also need to focus on the words themselves, so if you’re at a loss for words? It could be the case that your ads are too.

As a businesses with a student focus, you’re already competing with thousands of other advertisers for this audience’s eyes. Whether this is online, offline or every other targeting route you can think of!

This is why you have to make your message not just clear but crystal clear. Students aren’t mind readers, so don’t expect them to be. They shouldn’t have to read between the lines to discover what your brand, product or offering actually is. Saying this, don’t just state the obvious either. Don’t dumb it down but don’t be so elusive that they have no idea who you are, or what you do. You need to think of every route of written communication as the first handshake between your brand and your student consumer.

From every first encounter you need to make yourselves clear. Who are you? What do you have to offer? And why you and students are such a good match? You want to form connections with these students, so always keep in mind that if consumers are confused or fail to easily answer any of these questions, then a connection isn’t looking likely!

So when it comes to writing that ticks all the student boxes, follow these 4 simple tips:

1. Using bigger words won’t make you look or sound smarter
In fact, it can actually do the opposite. To sound smart, you’ve got to stop trying to sound smart. Great writing is often simple writing, a good idea delivered clearly and concisely. Why explain yourselves in 100 fancy words when you can do it in 10 simple ones?

2. Have something to say
If you’re struggling to describe who you are and what you do, this is going to show. When you have nothing to say, you often feel forced to write sentences that may sound meaningful, but in reality deliver nothing. You need to know how to summarise your business. Understanding how to do this will always make your writing much easier and quicker.

3. Make each word count and keep them active
Boring sentences bore people, it really is that simple. You need to put your audience first and yourself in the background. Focus on messages that speak to them and engages them from the very first sentence. Don’t waste space with words such as ‘very’ and ‘rather’. Use active words such as ‘you’, ‘need’ and ‘now’.

4. Keep it easy
It sounds easy because it is.  This is probably the most important tip of all. Wherever possible keep it easy. Easy to read, easy to digest, easy to engage with and easy to share. If you’re falling flat at any of these points, you’ll struggle stand a chance in the student market.

If you want to know more or want some advice from one of our industry experts, get in touch today!