Here on the blog, I often spend a lot of time discussing YMC’s use of digital tools for marketing brands to a Gen-Y crowd. Because I’m fascinated by emerging trends in interactive marketing, I’m always chiming in with my opinion about the success (and failure) of recent digital campaigns. Gen-Y lives and breathes digital, so I make it a point to be right there with them — even if that means tweeting like there’s no tomorrow. (As I’ve said a few thousand times now, if you’re one of the Tweeting Millions, you can connect with me there; I’m @paul_himmelfarb.)
But YMC’s first love is experiential marketing — physical, on-the-ground events that get students engaged with brands in an authentic way. We’ve just wrapped up the Spring Break season, and we’ve compiled a video that documents the work we’ve done with ROCKSTAR Energy Drink on the beaches and nightclubs of the world’s best spring break spots. This is our second year working with ROCKSTAR, and we saw some really great numbers this season: per-destination impressions increased by a pretty dramatic 312%. In total, ROCKSTAR generated an estimated 1.3 million impressions, and got about 60,000 cans-in-hands from the Spring Break portion of the annual program. This all was designed to run in tandem with the on-campus campaign that I mentioned in the post last week.
But the numbers alone don’t do justice to the campaign — this campaign was all about creating the ROCKSTAR atmosphere, about bringing the brand to life. And whether it was at the beach, a night club, a pool-side bar or a concert, we did just that. Check out the video below and see the campaign in all its energy-drink-fueled glory.
Before we begin in earnest, a brief apology to you, dear YMC reader: You’ve probably noticed that as the Spring Break marketing season has ramped up, the number of blog posts has dropped — precipitously. This is a consequence of being (a) ridiculously busy and (b) having a job that involves weekly trips to Cancun and Panama City Beach. Take it from me: it’s almost impossible to blog with a margarita in one hand. But with another Spring Break season coming to a close (click here for a summary of the brands we created campaigns for this season), I promise to redouble my blogging efforts. Hold on to your hats, YMC readership — things are about to get sassy in the blogosphere.
Now, on to the business at hand: this past week, the ever-awesome YPulse published a survey that examined the top 12 ways “young people” around the world relieve stress. There weren’t really any shockers here, but it’s certainly worth taking a look at. As you might imagine, music — which is involved in some fashion in just about every moment of a Gen-Y-ers life — is front and center. The study is most interesting when it notes the stress-relieving habits of Gen-Y-ers around the world; if you were ever curious about how the youth in Sweden respond to stress, this post is for you. Check out the top three stress releavers below, and click here to read the rest of the post at YPulse.
1. Music Rules. The number one way young people cope with stress is to listen to music — 65% of all youth globally do this.
2. The Sun Always Shines On TV. In at number two, 48% of kids watch TV to relieve stress. 60% of youth globally lie down to watch TV. But….don’t watch CNN. MTV’s research proves the more news kids watch, the more stressed they become.
3. Talk To Me. Third is talking to friends (not face to face). The explosion in the new tools available to connect to friends has seemingly come at just the right time for a generation seeking moral support. That said, it is existing friends that provide the most support, rather than strangers, the only nation likely to turn to help from online strangers in significant numbers are the Chinese.
And, yes, I’m finally on Twitter: YPulse also recently published a list of Youth Marketers you need to be following on Twitter. Now, seriously, I’ve been meaning to dive into the world of Twitter for quite a while now. I’ve been chomping at the bit, I swear, to get in there and just tweet like there’s no tomorrow. Thus far, however, I’ve left Twitter and its minute-by-minute, 140-character updates to our younger employees who seem to be unable to go for more than a few minutes without touching a keyboard of some kind. But after being told for the 12,000th time that I should be on Twitter, and after checking out the legitimately fascinating conversations taking place on Twitter regarding marketing, it became obvious that I could be a hold out no longer. So, without further delay, make your way to www.twitter.com/paul_himmelfarb and “follow” me quickly! I need some friends so that I don’t look like such a newb.
(Also check out our good friend @carol_phillips who writes the always-worth-reading Millennial Marketing. She was mentioned in YPulse’s best-of-Twitter list and definitely deserves it!)
Those of you that don’t already subscribe are going to want to sprint to your nearest retailer of fine periodicals and purchase the latest copy of Event Marketer Magazine. In addition to its regular mix of cogent analysis, industry news and silky-smooth photography, there’s an outstanding profile of three of our Spring Break campaigns (which are rolling out as we speak).
That’s right, we’re kind of a big deal. The press can’t get enough of us.
The article, entitled “Playing It Safe,” highlights three of our largest Spring Break brands — MTV, Rockstar and Fuze — and notes that those brands see experiential marketing in tried-and-true Spring Break hotspots as the surest way to connect with Gen-Y. Especially when marketing budgets are lean. The moral of the story is simple: for youth-targeted brands, Spring Break is a nearly unmatched opportunity. Not only does it provide a chance to market to millions — literally millions — of college students, but those that travel to Spring Break destinations tend to be influencers on campus. You’re not just reaching college students — you’re reaching the college students that set the tone for youth culture in general.
To read the article in it’s entirety, either swing by your local newsstand, or go to Event Marketer Magazine online to get the details on our campaigns for Rockstar and Fuze. To whet your appetite, here’s an excerpt:
Branching out from its niche on the West Coast, ROCKSTAR now has college brand ambassadors in 75 schools nationwide. The ambassadors are actual students (keeping the peer-to-peer buzz authentic) that ROCKSTAR, via Youth Marketing Connection’s brand ambassador program, selects to spread the word about the brand on campus. ROCKSTAR brand ambassadors in key colleges and universities receive 20 cases of the product each month as well as premiums to distribute to fellow students at parties, study breaks and other campus activities.
Brand ambassadors post ROCKSTAR content and photos on a Facebook page to get the word out virally. When spring break comes around, ROCKSTAR makes sure its top performing brand ambassadors get the rock star treatment in time-tested locales like Cancun and Acapulco.
“You have to look at spring break as one aspect for a brand in terms of collegiate marketing,” says Frank Guernesey, vp-marketing at ROCKSTAR. “It’s generally a highlight for most students in the course of their year, and it seems to me that the numbers really aren’t that far off than they have been in the past, making Cancun and Acapulco still relevant.”
Part of the rock star experience includes express check-in at the hotel and VIP express entrance to the best bars and clubs for the brand ambassador plus one guest. (At spring break, where lines are long to get into coveted clubs, this perk is priceless.) The brand ambassador and their guests are directed to a ROCKSTAR VIP area with private waiter service. They also have special access to A-list performers. ROCKSTAR culminates its VIP treatment with an exclusive dinner.
During the day, ROCKSTAR hangs out at the pool and beach with the crowds. It has a branded stage on which it runs contests daily and sends out waiters to give out the product chilled in branded mini coolers. The goal is to have its brand ambassadors and their guests get back to campus and tell their network of friends all about ROCKSTAR. Last year, the brand distributed 250,000 cans of product on campuses and at Spring Break, and gained 40,000 Facebook friends.
It’s a gray, drizzly, and uneventful Thursday here in Washington, DC, which makes it an ideal day to engage in our country’s most celebrated pastime. No, no, I don’t mean baseball. I’m referring to the one true spectator sport, the ultimate diversion, the full-time hobby that has captivated Americans for the last half century: Television. If your weather is anything like ours, today is precisely the kind of day for which this magnificent time-vampire was invented.
But it’s not just the weather (or your empty social calendar) that should drive you to the tube this evening — there’s actually something worth watching! The Travel Channel is unveiling an hour-long special on this year’s Spring Break experience, and it promises to be be genuinely, genuinely awesome. How can we be so sure? As it happens, the fine folks at The Travel Channel spent a lot of time in two Spring Break haunts that we at YMC know extremely well: Cancun and Panama City Beach. If you watch carefully tonight, you just might catch a glimpse of us — or at the very least, you’ll likely spot Rockstar, T-Mobile or one of our other Spring Break brands.
So, gather ’round the TV at 11 pm EST, fire up The Travel Channel, and bask in the warm blue glow of Ultimate Spring Break. (If you’re — somehow — still not convinced, here’s a little teaser, just for you guys, to give you a taste of what The Travel Channel has to offer.) Tonight should be a good night.
O sunshine, sunshine! Wherefore art thou sunshine?
As you’ve likely noticed if you live anywhere near the East Coast of these fine United States, winter is in full swing. Matter of fact, Boston — YMC’s home base — has already endured 45 inches of snow. And it’s still getting dark before five o’clock. And, oh yeah, it’s cold. So to say that Spring Break can’t get here any faster would be a colossal understatement.
And now that the countdown is officially on, what do we have to look forward this Spring Break as the realities of our ‘new economy’ set in? It may sound surprising, but it’s not all that different than it was in year’s past. In fact, as the exclusive marketing partner of leading Spring Break tour provider StudentCity.com, we have the inside scoop on how Spring Break 2009 is shaping up. So we’re sharing it with you.
First of all, Spring Break is still on. Students are still packing their bags and heading south for sunny escapes. And as of this posting, the top five travel destinations include three international and two domestic hotspots. According to StudentCity, the most popular destinations for American college students in 2009 are:
(1) Panama City Beach, FL (2) Cancun, MX (3) Acapulco, MX (4) South Padre Island, TX (5) Freeport Bahamas Cruise
Overall, you can see the top five destinations for all American college students in 2009 has remained largely unchanged. By region, though, some interesting trends have emerged over the years. Specifically we’ve noticed that the Mississippi River has become something of a Spring Break territory marker, with schools in the East skewing one way, and those in the West skewing another. Here’s how it tends to break down:
Most popular international destination for students in the North and East: Cancun, MX
Most popular domestic destination for students in the North and East: Panama City Beach, FL
Most popular international destination for students in the South and West: Acapulco, MX for students traveling by air and Mazatlan for students traveling via land
Most popular domestic destination for students in the South and West:: South Padre Island, TX
Another trend we’ve noticed over the years is a peculiar one: our northernmost neighbors in Alaska tend to stay within U.S. borders and head to Big Texas for Spring Break. While another trend is not surprising at all: our island neighbors in Hawaii tend to stay put altogether. Must be that paradise thing or something…
What’s clear is that wallet woes haven’t put the kibosh on students’ dreams of sun, fun and co-eds. In fact, what we’re seeing instead is a smarter Spring Breaker this year. Students have taken advantage of early booking discounts, trying to save where it’s easier to do so. Plans are being altered, with domestic travel on the rise. The throwback roadtrip is back in vogue – even more so now that the price of gas has leveled off. And students are planning to ‘piggy back’ in hotel rooms, as they try to save their money for what they perceive as much more important – nightlife, food and fun. And sunscreen. Lots and lots of sunscreen.
