Who is on campus?
In today’s rapidly changing and increasingly digital landscape, businesses often struggle to choose the marketing tactics that will help them achieve their desired results. Companies trying to reach younger audiences may be tempted to abandon traditional advertising tactics in favor of an entirely virtual approach. However, when done correctly, campus advertising remains a highly effective way to reach and engage teenagers and young adults.
Campus advertising reaches a vast, diverse, and economically powerful consumer group.
How big is the college student market?
College students comprise a significant portion of the young adult population in the United States. According to EducationData.org:
- Undergraduate college enrollment totals 17.5 million students nationwide.
- 4.3 million graduate students are enrolled in American colleges.
- 12.8 million of American 18- to 24-year-olds are enrolled in college or graduate school.
- 37.8% of American males aged 18 to 24 years are enrolled in college or graduate school.
- 46.7% of American females aged 18 to 24 years are enrolled in college or graduate school.
Who does campus advertising reach?
Campus ads reach a widely varied audience in terms of both gender and race.
- 55.5% of undergraduate and graduate students are women.
- 55.2% of college students are Caucasian.
- 19.5% of the student population is Hispanic or Latino.
- 9.6% of college students are Black or African American.
- 7% of college students are Asian, and 3% are Pacific Islander.
- 3.9% of students are multiracial or of two or more races.
While most college students are between the ages of 18 and 24, campus advertising also reaches their parents, professors, coaches, and other influencers. Advertising on campus is also an excellent way for businesses to reach a variety of niche audiences, including Hispanic college students, multicultural college students, African American college students, low HHI college students, students at HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities), and major-specific audiences, like STEM and tech-related majors.
Discover what the campus marketplace looks like in 2025.
Impacting Gen Z (and their influencers)
92.0% of college students are under the age of 24, and therefore belong to Generation Z. While understanding how best to reach this group is of paramount importance for effective campus marketing, advertisers also need to get through to parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and others who are influential in the lives of young adults.
Companies advertising on campus must have an up-to-date understanding of smartphone, social media, and internet use by demographic.
Social Media Habits of College Students by Platform: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Learn how the social media habits of college students vary by age.
See 8 ways to overcome common roadblocks when advertising to students.
Affecting niche audiences (how and why)
Why advertise to Hispanic college students?
The importance of advertising to Hispanic college students cannot be overstated. Almost 20% of the post-secondary student population is Hispanic or Latino, and this is a rapidly growing demographic. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that the number of Hispanic consumers in this country will grow from 50 million to 133 million by 2050. As a whole, the American Hispanic community has an annual purchasing power of over $1.5 trillion, and this continues to increase rapidly. When you advertise to Hispanic college students, not only do you influence them, you impact their families and friends as well.
Learn how to reach Hispanic college students with your marketing campaign.
“Diversity is a strength, not a weakness.”
– ANTONIO GUTERRES
Advertise to multicultural college students effectively.
College campuses are becoming increasingly diverse. In fact, only 55% of current post-secondary school students are Caucasian. Targeting other college demographics is an important way to maximize the return on your campus marketing investment.
Learn how to advertise to multicultural college students effectively.
Advertise to African American college students.
African Americans are a historically underserved advertising market in the United States. Not only do many marketers not know how to effectively target this population segment, they also don’t understand the importance of doing so. The fact is that African American consumers spend proportionally more on both certain essentials and luxury items. In addition, their purchasing decisions strongly influence both minority and mainstream consumer culture.
Learn more about how and why to effectively advertise to African American college students.
Why advertise at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)?
HBCUs offer all students, regardless of race, an opportunity to develop their skills and talents. Though HBCUs make up only three percent of the country’s colleges and universities, they enroll 10% of all African American students and produce almost 20% of all African American graduates. Because HBCUs offer a significantly lower cost of attendance than comparable colleges, higher graduation rates, and impressive lifetime earnings advantages for graduates, HBCU students are likely to have more money to spend both during college and for the rest of their lives.
Advertise to low HHI college students.
The share of American adults who live in middle class households has steadily contracted in the past five decades, while the percentage of low income households continues to rise. Almost one-third of households in the U.S. now qualify as low income, and this trend shows no sign of stopping. Marketers who currently focus their advertising efforts on middle and upper class audiences would do well to consider reaching out to this growing sector of the population.
Learn more about how and why to advertise to low HHI college students.
Why advertise to STEM (and other major-specific) audiences?
Every year, hundreds of thousands of American college students graduate with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics) degree. These young adults are highly likely to find a job straight out of college, remain fully employed, and make significantly more money than their peers.
Learn more about why you should advertise to STEM audiences (and other major-specific audiences).
Why campus advertising?
Campus advertising is valuable to an incredible range of businesses for a few different reasons.
Campus advertising reaches college students at a pivotal point in their development as consumers.
As they transition from teenagers to twenty-somethings, college students take their first steps into true adulthood. They are responsible for meeting more of their own needs, and their consumer demands grow. They’re eating away from home, furnishing dorm rooms and apartments, taking responsibility for their own transportation, shopping for new wardrobes, and expanding their entertainment horizons. Many come from affluent homes and have plenty of disposable income.
Every year, millions of college students graduate and begin professional jobs, many earning more money than they ever have before. In fact, in recent years, the median earnings of young adults with a bachelor’s degree was $50,000 (64% higher than those of young adults with only a high school diploma).
The college years are prime time for businesses and brands to get in on the ground floor, create connections with this group of potential customers, present solutions to their challenges, and build brand trust and loyalty.
Discover the importance of customer lifetime value for college campus advertising.
College students have significant purchasing power.
Because students from more affluent backgrounds are significantly more likely to enroll in college, many college students can afford higher end housing, dining out, a variety of paid entertainment options, and other non-essential and luxury purchases. In fact, college students collectively have $593 billion available to spend.
In addition to paying for tuition, here’s how some of that spending breaks down:
- As a group, per year, college students spend $65 billion on food, $5.5 billion on alcohol, and $2.4 billion on entertainment.
- In the course of earning a 4-year degree, the average college student will spend almost $53,000 on personal expenses, $16,500 on rent, and $4,000 on eating out.
Learn more about why college students are an important target market.
Campus advertising offers unique marketing advantages.
Campus advertising campaigns allow you to target your marketing efforts geographically. College students are a captive audience, living, learning, working, eating, shopping and socializing within a limited area. Strategically placed ads concentrate your campaign on your intended viewers and generate repeat exposure.
The visual impact of traditional university advertising delivers excellent bang for your buck. After all, you can’t turn traditional campus advertising off, scroll past it, or fast forward through it. This explains why a large percentage of consumers notice static and mobile billboards, and many of them take related follow-up actions. Digital campus media also has an important role to play when it comes to reaching the incredibly connected members of Generation Z.
Regardless of time frame or budget, there’s a campus advertising option that fits your needs and will help you meet your goals.
Read “Five Reasons Why University Advertising Is Valuable.”
What tactics are available?
Campus advertising options truly run the gamut.
The visual impact of traditional campus media delivers excellent bang for your buck. From bike shelters to newspaper kiosks to bus wraps, offline campus ads have the power to gain outstanding exposure and impressions. As one of the first advertising touchpoints, physical media increases brand awareness and recognition.
Discover one of the most effective traditional campus media strategies today.
In addition, the vast majority of university attendees are deeply enmeshed in the digital landscape, making the online platforms a vital part of your marketing efforts. Digital ads can help you achieve a variety of business goals across the marketing funnel, ranging from brand awareness, to customer engagement, to launching new products and driving repeat sales.
How to advertise on campus most effectively, digital marketing or out-of-home advertising?
Billboard advertising must now function as a portal rather than a destination. Learn how and why.
Traditional Campus Media Tactics
- Out-of-home advertising (OOH)
- Digital out of home advertising (DOOH)
- Transit advertising
- Postering
- Newspaper ads
- Tabling events
Learn how programmatic DOOH is rewriting the campus marketing playbook.
Digital Campus Media Tactics
- Online advertising
- Mobile advertising
- Geotargeting
- Social media marketing
- Search advertising
- Display advertising
- Campus audio advertising
- Video advertising
Explore the social media habits of college students to maximize your campus advertising results.
New and trending platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitch and Discord are especially important ways to engage young adults.
Integrated Campus Ad Campaigns
By combining traditional and digital campus advertising tactics, you extend your reach while each part of your marketing campaign amplifies the efforts of the others.
Learn how to create an effective integrated campus campaign.
Learn the top three campus media strategies for advertising to university students.
“Advertising is totally unnecessary. Unless you hope to make money.”
– JEF I. RICHARDS
Who should advertise on campus?
Campus advertising is right for a wide variety of businesses, institutions, and organizations.
- Campus advertising serves higher education recruiters, especially internal college and university departments looking to raise awareness, enrollment, and participation of students in specific programs.
- Campus advertising serves student housing property managers looking to increase brand awareness, attract more qualified applicants, maintain market share, or optimize leasing occupancy.
- Campus advertising serves other industries that are looking to recruit the college demographic, from federal recruiters to private employers to charitable organizations in need of volunteers.
- Campus advertising serves companies that want to increase awareness, brand loyalty, and all forms of engagement among college students, including student housing companies, restaurants, bars, retail establishments, service providers, and much more.
How do I advertise on campus?
Our firm offers some additional benefits that make university advertising even easier and more effective for our clients. We own out-of-home advertising assets on campuses nationwide (including Puerto Rico). In addition, we offer creative digital media management and optimization services that amplify the results of traditional advertising campaigns. From geo-targeted mobile campaigns to search and display ads, we can follow the college demographic throughout their digital day, placing your ads on their screens and in their hands.
Leverage data to maximize university advertising results.
How much does it cost to advertise on campus?
Every situation is different, and the amount you’ll pay for a campus advertising campaign depends on several elements. These include your ultimate reach and frequency goals and the size of your budget. However, our experience has shown that there is a baseline level of funding necessary to run an effective college advertising effort.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
– WARREN BUFFETT
To run a productive campaign on a single campus, you will need to have a minimum of $5,000 available to spend. Whether your budget is large or small, working with an experienced campus advertising agency will help you make the most of your money.
Choose campus marketing specialists who will help you succeed.
College back-to-school advertising is important.
The back-to-school season is a prime advertising time for businesses targeting college students (and their parents). Whether young adults are preparing to head back to campus or step foot on campus for the first time, they’re a fertile advertising field.
From increased brand awareness and loyalty to driving traffic, engagement, and sales, there are a host of reasons to include college back-to-school advertising in your marketing mix. To maximize ROI, brand awareness, trust, and loyalty must be formed before back-to-school shopping begins.
Learn more about the benefits of college back-to-school advertising.
Cultivate a spring back-to-school marketing plan that truly blooms.
Where should I advertise?
There are a number of factors that make a specific campus a good place to advertise.
What’s right for one company may not be right for another. Organizations should consider a variety of things, including the size and location of the campus, the makeup and interests of the student population, and the advertising options available.
Explore the best colleges for advertising to students.
Often, for small businesses, proximity is key. If you are a small local business, looking to the largest campus in your market may be a great way to build brand awareness and bring in a new customer base. If you are a brand of national scale, the size of the school, notoriety, or market DMA may dictate where your college media buy should occur.
Excellent campuses for ad campaigns
- Rutgers University
- University of Southern California / UCLA
- Florida International University
- University of Central Florida
- University of Illinois Chicago
- Minnesota State University
- University of Houston
- Virginia Commonwealth University
Businesses looking to maximize their marketing success need to broaden their horizons. For many, this includes reaching out to students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
Successful campus advertising campaigns
Here at MSS Media, Inc., we’ve been providing education, government, real estate, and lifestyle clients with succinct, optimized, and successful marketing solutions for almost 20 years. We’ve served 1,000+ schools since 2003. When it comes to campus advertising, we know how to get you and your brand, product, or campaign in front of all the right people in all the right ways. From branding, to awareness, to driving your ideal audience to take the desired actions, we deliver meaningful and measurable results.
Our satisfied campus advertising campaign clients include Lyft, Spotify, Target, Amazon, Army National Guard, TIAA, Live Nation, FSU College of Business, USC Institute for Addiction Science, and many more.
Enlisting the help of a results-driven media and marketing agency that understands your unique needs, what motivates the college demographic, and how best to reach them is a sure-fire way to develop a winning campus advertising campaign. Take advantage of our expertise today!
“MSS Media has been a good way for us to get in-your-face exposure on campus. Their team is responsive and helpful.”
– CONNOR SMALL, YOUNG AMERICA REALTY