Advertising in the ivory tower

 
Smaboo universities turn students into brand ambassadors. Their notebooks are covered with advertising. 
Advertising is no longer a taboo subject at German universities. Perimeter advertising in the auditorium, advertising pillars in front of the canteen, commercials during breaks or the orange and blue lecture hall named after a discount store are all part of life at universities. In times of financial scarcity, students are expected to endure a flood of advertising. In Switzerland, teaching and learning zones are still free of advertising because they are protected by strict restrictions. However, this could soon change. The company Smaboo, founded in November 2007, wants to advertise in Swiss lecture halls. The Zurich-based start-up has developed a form of advertising that cleverly circumvents the ban. The idea is simple: the back of a notebook is covered with a specially developed advertising film. The Smaboo medium does more than a simple poster. The student behind the device is both brand ambassador and salesperson. In Switzerland, 75 students were recruited for the project.
Such advertising concepts usually come from abroad and are copied by local marketers. In the case of Smaboo, it is the other way around. The idea came from the German Christoph Magnussen and the Swiss Adrian Locher. After studying together at the University of St. Gallen, they were inspired by the idea of "embedded branding". This marketing method attempts to make brands part of the everyday environment of a target group. A related variant of this idea is the widely known product placement. In the online sector, embedded branding has so far found its way into the placement of interactive brand logos in digital city maps or computer games.
Founders Magnussen and Locher were able to convince Germany's largest mobile phone company Debitel of their idea as their first customer. At the beginning of the year, around 300 students were out and about at German universities with their branded notebooks. According to Smaboo co-founder Christoph Magnussen, the response was very good. The tests show that the advertising model is well accepted by students. Thomas Bruker, brand manager at Debitel, is also convinced by the Smaboo concept. On the one hand, because the notebook branding is credible. Secondly, because the quality of contact is many times higher than with the usual measures in the student environment. Today, 900 students in Germany are already on the road as so-called brand promoters. In addition to Debitel, the online exchange platform Hitflip also advertises on students' computers.
The Tages-Anzeiger is the first customer in Switzerland to opt for a campaign with Smaboo. Dominique von Albertini, Head of Marketing at the Tages-Anzeiger, talks about a "test run" that the newspaper has launched. Since the beginning of March, around 20 students have been working as brand promoters at Zurich universities. The Smaboo campaign is one of many advertising measures currently being run by the Tages-Anzeiger at Swiss universities. Von Albertini: "We are always on the lookout for new ways to appeal to students. Advertising at Swiss universities is a tricky subject."
In Switzerland, Smaboo is marketed exclusively by Go! Uni Advertising. As the agency writes in a press release, a campaign costs 16,500 francs. Then 75 students stick the company's advertising on their laptops for two months and present it at the university, be it in lectures, in the library or in the canteen. The students do not go away empty-handed. They enjoy a small financial bonus. Incidentally, the founders of Smaboo do not want to limit themselves to notebooks as advertising space. Bags, jackets and cars are also to be covered with advertising. The experimental student body is certainly an ideal testing ground for this.
Christian Lüscher