College marketing is already in full swing as students return to campuses. While distributing free products and targeting sorority and fraternity rush weeks are still popular, brands are trying to balance growing ambassador programs, do more experiential marketing and expand into delivery channels.

Interest in college campus marketing was reignited in 2021 when #BamaRush started trending on TikTok—women going through the University of Alabama’s rush program were posting their many outfits for all the events, naming clothing, jewelry and shoe brands.

Brands now jump at the chance to partner with sororities. Functional soda brand Poppi kicked off its first ambassador program by getting products and custom merch into sorority recruitment videos.

Rival Olipop waded into college marketing this year, offering students a chance to be the first to try the brand’s new Ridge Rush flavor by entering to win a case to share with friends. While the brand did not target sororities, “we were hopeful that some of them would end up in the hands of women posting their (outfit of the day) rush videos,” said Steven Vigilante, director of strategic partnerships at Olipop.

Other brands have updated their college marketing playbooks outside of rush week, and some, including Uber and grooming brand Every Man Jack, are freshmen at the college marketing game. All of them are eager to reach some of their core customers at a time when they are building brand loyalty. 

“We know we resonate with this audience,” said Ashley Hall, senior director of integrated marketing at Every Man Jack, which started an ambassador program and hosted its first pop-up at the University of Miami this month. “Spending is on the rise with Gen Z and college is an impressionable time when many of them are making their own purchases for the first time.” 

Read on for six approaches brands are taking to reach college students this fall.

Also read: 20 brands catching Gen Z’s attention right now

Giveaways

Free products are an easy way for brands to get into the hands of possible consumers. Soda brand Olipop entered the college marketing space for the first time this month with a giveaway of its new Ridge Rush flavor (a nod to Mtn Dew). Olipop did a photoshoot, made a few videos for social media and shared a link where students with a .edu address could enter to win free cans of the soda.

The sweepstakes, which ran from Aug. 1 to Aug. 15, had thousands of entries with the brand selecting winners every day, Vigilante said.

The giveaway was a low lift for a brand that does not have a field marketing team. The brand is already thinking about choosing a dozen or so student organizations and randomly sending them cases of Olipop throughout the year as a “surprise and delight,” Vigilante said.

Ambassador programs

College ambassador programs have long been an easy way to connect with younger fans. But they have evolved beyond using students to pass out free samples, according to Windsor Western, co-founder and president of Her Campus Media, which works with brands on college campus marketing. 

“Brand ambassador programs used to be about free stuff—think Red Bull giving out free cans,” she said. “But now it’s about creating communities and experiences on campus. Brands are looking for consumer advocates because Gen Z does not want to hear from brands directly.”

She adds that thoughtful swag and merch have also become more valued.

“The usual brand T-shirt is seen as wasteful or trash by Gen Z,” Western said. “But premium merch like bucket hats, custom Stanley cups or belt bags get used more often.”

Read more: Inside TikTok’s underconsumption trend

Ambassador programs can also serve as focus groups for consumer feedback. Every Man Jack kicked off an ambassador program across a handful of college campuses and has been using them for brand research.

“In the first month we ask them how they discovered our brand, or where they heard about us,” said Hall. “We also ask what other products they are using, what they want to see from us. They even tell us where we should show up on campus.”

Other brands have been growing their ambassador teams. Beverage brand Celsius’ ambassador program, Celsius University, started in 2022 with 18 paid creators. It now has over 200 reps on 76 college campuses who promote its beverages.

“We have a lot of interest in the program, and our biggest challenge is not being able to bring them all on because we want to scale strategically,” said Kyle Watson, Celsius’ global chief marketing officer. “We want our internal team to have bandwidth to help them and sustain it.”

The ambassadors have helped grow brand awareness despite beverage contracts on campuses, Waston said. Most schools have a contract to sell Coke or Pepsi products, meaning other beverage brands cannot sell there.

“Selling is near impossible if you are not under one of those umbrellas, so that is a challenge,” said Watson. “One tactic is to go off campus, be around where kids are, like student housing.”

Celsius also has several NIL deals, and Watson said it would like to do more with both NIL and Celsius University going forward.

“I think there are more ways to align across both programs,” she said. “There are a lot of things that athletes could do to mentor student ambassadors.”

Olipop’s Vigilante said that an ambassador program is a longer-term brand goal, citing the need for internal personnel to help sustain and grow a program. “You can’t dip a toe in,” he said. “It needs to be managed and we would need to build out that team internally.”

Poppi also tripled the size of its internal college ambassador team in the last three months after receiving over 2,500 student ambassador applications this month, according to Allison Ellsworth, Poppi’s co-founder and chief brand officer.

Scholarships

With the soaring costs of college, scholarships seem to be an underused but powerful way to serve customers. Every Man Jack started a scholarship program as a way to highlight the brand’s mission to inspire men to take care of themselves and the world around them. The brand has traditionally been outdoor-focused, so it wanted to find something relevant to the student body, according to Hall.

Every Man Jack asks entrants to submit a short-form video or short essay explaining how they inspire others to take care of themselves. The brand is giving away five $5,000 scholarships and 50 other winners will receive a year’s supply of Every Man Jack products.

“The parents were very excited about it,” said Hall. 

Skincare brand CeraVe has offered a scholarship for nursing students since 2022. This year, it gave out $75,000 worth of scholarships to 15 winners.

“Nurses have been a pillar of our brand, and we know how high burnout can be in this profession and that was even more visible during and after the pandemic,” said Jasteena Gill, CeraVe’s VP of marketing. “So we wanted to support nurses from the start with a scholarship.”

Delivery and easy access

Brands have also started to invest more in convenience and delivery channels to be available to crunched-for-time college students.

“There is a lot of evolution around how consumers are shopping and shifts to delivery,” said Celsius’ Watson. “We want to be part of those delivery and convenience opportunities.”

Uber entered the college space with a pop-up bodega-inspired shop—the One Shop—to drive awareness and signups for Uber One for Students. The program offers the same discounts as Uber One, including $0 delivery fees, up to 10% off orders and 5% off groceries—but for half the price. (Uber One usually costs $9.99 a month.)

The One Shop, only open to Uber One Student members, includes free products from Starbucks, Taco Bell, Domino’s, Wendy’s and other brands. The Shop will stop at 13 campuses, starting with the University of Miami on Aug. 21.

“We set out to show the nearly 19 million college students in the U.S. how getting a late-night study snack or ride across campus can be more affordable than ever,” said Danielle Sheridan, Uber’s head of global membership, via email.

Experiential marketing and pop-ups

Like Uber, other brands have used pop-ups as a way to increase brand awareness and drive sampling. 

Every Man Jack had a pop-up for two days at the University of Miami to highlight its shower products and deodorants, while giving away branded shower caddies and pickleball sets. Hall said the brand was only on one campus this year to test out college marketing, but she was happy with the turnout, saying that Every Man Jack connected with more than just male consumers.

“Being on campus during move-in week was very successful because students stopped by with families, so we were getting in front of dads and brothers as well,” Hall said. “We also got to meet our female consumers who like a more masculine scent or believe men’s deodorant works better.”

Ikea is returning to college campuses for its second year with a bus tour making 30 stops at universities throughout the country. The furniture retailer wants to renew its focus on college students as a way to potentially attract customers for life.

“College marketing is important because we are a brand that is with people throughout their lives,” said Shideh Hashemi, chief marketing officer of Ikea U.S. “Maybe that journey with us starts on campus, but then continues when they graduate.”

The custom buses have been turned into walkable showrooms to show off dorm-focused Ikea products. The pop-ups will also be giving away plants and visitors have the chance to customize an Ikea Fratka bag—the brand’s iconic blue plastic bag.

CeraVe is having college creators come to its “Cleanse like a Derm” tour events to show off the pop-up’s games, in-person dermatologists and full-sized product giveaways.

“It’s not a dedicated college tour, but it lets us leverage those college ambassadors,” said Gill.

Ikea, CeraVe, Every Man Jack and Uber declined to share the costs for their experiential events. Western said that costs can vary depending on the intensity of the event.

“Something grassroots and DIY could be done by a savvy marketing team with campus connections for a few thousand dollars,” she said. “Something elaborate could cost upwards of several hundreds of thousands of dollars. It just depends—is the on-campus pop-up a rowboat or is it a cruise ship?”

NIL deals

Since becoming available in 2021, name, image and likeness deals with college athletes have also been ways for brands to connect with college students. For CeraVe, in particular, using such deals helped the brand connect with male consumers.

“Athletes break down that stigma that skincare can be intimidating,” said Gill. “We have seen great interactions with male consumers around NIL deals.”

And NIL deals show no sign of slowing. The market is projected to grow by more than 40% this year, hitting $1.67 billion, according to an annual report by Opendorse, which facilitates and tracks NIL deals. The NIL market was valued at approximately $917 million in its first year and is projected to reach $2.55 billion by 2025.

Up-and-coming creators

The rise of user-generated content has bubbled up college creators who are looking to hone their creator and marketing skills or parlay them into jobs post-graduation. Her Campus’ Western noted that ambassador programs can give brands a chance to find new creators or potential employees. Her Campus trains brand ambassadors about how to talk about their ambassador experience on a resume or in a job interview. 

Finding those creators can also help brands reach other college students as well as high school students, said Chris Motyl and Zach Cole, talent managers at influencer marketing agency Whalar, which works with college creators. 

“For many college creators, content creation is something they can capitalize on while in school, but maybe they are working towards another career,” Motyl said. “If they keep up content creation after college, that can be a great way to bring along brands. Like if they work with a brand on a dorm-room haul, maybe they later do a first-apartment haul.”

“It’s helpful for high school kids to see these college kids,” Cole said. “They get a more real sense of what college is like and get introduced to brands.”