When advertising to university students, namely to second year and up (this includes first year students going into second year and does not completely exclude first year students) the student paper is an invaluable asset.  All universities and colleges have at least one student newspaper.  Some have more than one and some are read more than others.  Some are printed weekly and some even daily, however it is always advantageous to advertise in them as it is an initiative that is targeted directly and solely to the students.  These papers are typically run by the student council as well as written and edited by students.  The draw to them is simple; being only 16-24 pages on average, it gives the student a condensed version of what they need to know about life on campus and in the world outside of it.  Students generally do not have the luxury of time to sit down and read a full-length paper.

Ann Street Case Study

The University of Western’s student paper is The Gazette.  It is published 4 times weekly and considered the number one source of student readership amongst Western students.  The marketing initiative for Ann Street (Varsity Commons) was as follows.  As with anything purchased, bulk is less expensive.  With the amount of advertising Varsity Commons was doing with the paper, it was given the lowest price schedule possible.  What this allowed for was the constant ability to change advertisement size and placement as we were guaranteed a price based on a minimum purchase of agate lines of advertising. 

The marketing initiative consisted of:

• One quarter page advertisement with guaranteed placement in the first half of the paper which started in January. 
• One small plaque advertisement was placed in the marketplace section of the paper which appeared at the back
• One classified ad was placed in advertising “roommate availability”.

All of these ran until the property reached its occupancy limit.  The quarter page ad was changed twice during this period.  The change was a graphic one to avoid habituation to the ad by the reader.  During this time the effectiveness of the ads was monitored by the rental agent and changes made accordingly.