Marketers Can Turn Student Empowerment Into Purchases

The largest college class in history is more mobile, connected, and committed to social causes than any previous generation, according to Alloy Media + Marketing's seventh annual College Explorer survey.

The online questionnaire of 1,592 college students was conducted by Harris Interactive from April 11 to April 30.

These factors, converging at the right place and time, are giving today's college students an unprecedented sense of empowerment and potential in their personal, professional and political lives. And with $198 billion in spending power, this cohort of 13.3 million is a ripe target for marketers that can turn empowerment into purchasing power.

Alloy addressed the role of peer influencers in purchase decisions among college students. Here, college students gave themselves high marks in terms of their ability to influence purchase decisions by their friends. Fifty-seven percent said they played a role in the purchase of a computer or digital camera, and 66% in a cell phone or PDA purchase.

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Alloy Executive Vice President Samantha Skey remarked: "Peer power persists as a key indicator of college behavior." Thus, she said, capturing the attention of the right students "will offer a marketer not only the opportunity to attract that consumer's loyalty, but the following of a larger group."

That's especially valuable information for advertisers and marketers. On the tech front, mobile digital devices are exploding in popularity. Cell phones--already considered a necessity four years ago--are now a nearly universal phenomenon, with ownership rising from 79% to 93% of college students over that period. Meanwhile, 64% own a digital camera, with an additional 16% saying they intend to buy one in the next year.

Social networks continue to grow in importance, with 54% of college students visiting at least one social network over the course of a typical day. And they have changed the way students interact, Alloy reports--more students prefer social network sites to other means for staying in touch with friends. Twenty-seven percent prefer social networks, versus 23% for the phone and 11% for face-to-face.

The most marked increase is with MP3 players, however, with student ownership increasing from 17% in 2003 to 58% in 2007. The overall preference for mobile media is also evident in the decline of desktops and the rise of laptops, with 63% of students owning a laptop today versus 42% in 2005. This mobility is facilitated by the rollout of campus-wide WiFi systems at schools across the country. Finally, the social commitment of this age cohort seems to be increasing relative to just a few years ago. While Alloy's 2006 survey found that 33% of students said they purchase brands that are socially and environmentally responsible, that number increased to 37% in 2007.

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