With university year beginning this month, the banks in particular are keen to target this group of young consumers in the hope that they will remain loyal customers long after their studies have become a distant, beer-soaked memory.
Santander, has been rolling out its higher education investment programme in the UK through its Abbey brand.
The bank is rolling out a national social-media campaign to reach students during the critical September sign-up period. Instead of using the traditional broadcast approach, the bank has employed agency Altogether Digital to set up an Abbey Student Account fan page on Facebook.
Throughout this month, a prize draw on the page is paying out a prize of £50 every hour on the hour - a cash giveaway totalling £36,000. More than 3400 students have already become fans of Abbey Student Account; they also have the chance to win Scalextric sets.
Louise Hinton, senior marketing manager of Abbey Banking, says that, despite the range of student deals available, the adspend on marketing to students in the sector as a whole has actually fallen from more than £2m spent in 2007 to less than £1m last year.
However, Hinton says Abbey has ‘come back to the market this year with a big focus' in an attempt to raise awareness of its student accounts.
Hinton says that, while students prefer to open accounts in-store, they do their research online, making the social-media activity an effective marketing route. Abbey has also been opening additional branches on university campuses.
NatWest's higher education package for this year focuses heavily on the 16- to 25-year-old railcard, worth £130 over five years, for which students can apply online. The bank is also pushing extra benefits, such as £100 off ASUS laptops, and half-price pay-as-you-go mobile broadband on 3. NatWest has more than 50 campus branches around the UK, a greater number than any other bank.
Online student activity is helping brands to reach students more cost-effectively, prompting the launch of sites like Studentbeans.com, which pulls together ‘hot offers' like cinema tickets and gym memberships with regional discounts, blogs, videos and games. Apple, Lloyds TSB and TalkMobile are currently running ads on the site.
is taking a brand-led approach to targeting young people by booking space in students' union bars for ad featuring the barman character from its ‘Popular deals for popular people' campaign. The mobile-phone retailer is pushing cashback offers and telling students they will have ‘more beer money' if they buy from its stores.
Russell Braterman, Phones4U marketing director says that it is difficult for brands to stand out from the noise of student fresher deals. ‘Students get inundated with goody bags and brands at freshers' fairs,' he says. ‘Most of them will already have at least one mobile phone already so we are doing the promotions for brand loyalty and a good-will message.'