Harris Interactive’s August Trends & Tudes newsletter focuses on research on advertising to youth. Some tidbits of interest to those who advertise and market colleges and universities:
1. Only 4% of 13–18 year-olds “like/strongly like” it when marketers “ask for personal information like your name and email address.”
2. 66 percent of teens say they pay no attention to direct mail ads; 62% say they pay no attention to Internet ads; 74% pay no attention to email ads.
3. Only 7% say that direct mail ads influence them to buy products; 4% say that email ads do.
As far as I can tell, this study did not address advertising about colleges or universities and I believe that kids approach the decision of shopping for college differently than they do shopping for athletic gear or a new MP3 player. Still, the message is that it pays to pay attention.
Michael Stoner Co-Founder and Co-Owner Was I born a skeptic or did I become one as I watched the hypestorm gather during the dotcom years, recede, and congeal once more as we come to terms with our online, social, mobile world? Whatever. I'm not much interested in cutting edge but what actually works for real people in the real world. Does that make me a bad person?