Paul Watson
Brands that are looking to boost their name among student culture need to recruit brand ambassadors.
It’s the best way to get hold of the younger generation and helps to increase numbers of lifelong loyalty to your products or services.
How does it work?
Students are always on the lookout to earn more money, and brands give them a direct and flexible way to become financially independent.
The most successful companies tailor their product for students to then share – such as making dishwashing easier, teaching how to cook great healthy meals, or even handing out ways to make nights out easier or safer.
If this hasn’t convinced you already, we’ve listed four great brands here that have soared using student ambassador schemes.
Adidas
Stepping away from the likes of Facebook and Instagram, Adidas tapped into student life successfully using ‘dark social’.
Despite its slightly worrying name, dark social simply involves links passed through messaging apps, secure browsing, and email.
According to Anvil Media, around 75% of online brand referrals come from dark social in the UK.
To take advantage of this, Adidas launched Tango Squads, which connects young football fans aged 16 to 19 together.
The company shares new products there before anywhere else, giving the group the chance to share with friends and build hype around the release.
Lululemon
As another popular activewear brand, Lululemon skipped over the big-name ambassadors and headed straight towards young athletes and yoga instructors who were active in the community and had connections with other young people.
The ambassadors are given free clothing and merchandise, and the chance to teach fitness classes at brand events.
In turn, the individuals offer product feedback to Lululemon and share gifted products on social media.
Serengetee
Serengetee sells t-shirts from fabrics around the world and donates 13% of its sale profits to a variety of charitable foundations.
The brand mostly attracts campus students in America who want to give something back to the world.
Serengetee recruited 150 ‘campus representatives’ a few years back in colleges all over the country who shared pictures wearing the special shirts and offered unique discount codes using social media.
In turn, ambassadors would win prizes through a point-based system.
The original 150 students created so much success for the brand that the team has grown to approximately 2500.
Lucozade
Lucozade launched its first student ambassador scheme in 2016 to boost sales of its brand new zero-sugar drink.
Recruited students were placed at ‘brand stations’ in universities across the UK to offer samples of the drink to others around campus.
Tasters were also invited to join in with a ‘Hit Zero’ game to win prizes.
The tastings were designed to create a buzz around the product that made young people want to go out and buy it.
More than 100,000 samples were handed out across 66 stations, and 330 people won from the game.
The scheme brought in great sales numbers for the brand too.
How to find student ambassadors
There’s a few services out there that can make it much easier for your brand to find passionate student ambassadors.
Try the Youth Marketing Agency , Raptor London – the team has worked with big-name brands you can trust such as Deliveroo, Pot Noodle and WKD.
Raptor gets their student ambassadors, promoters and societies in 40 cities across the UK and Ireland out there to shout about your brand.
