NEWS & UPDATES

April 14, 2008 In By Advent

Experiential Marketing on College Campuses

In today′s world mak­ing a last­ing impres­sion doesn′t always have to be all about con­sumer based prod­ucts.  Many col­leges are turn­ing to  Expe­ri­en­tial Mar­ket­ing to help make a last­ing impres­sion on both cur­rent and prospec­tive students.

Recently Advent was asked to help Lip­scomb Uni­ver­sity cre­ate a branded space to help wrap stu­dents in “a Lip­scomb expe­ri­ence.”  There were a lot of dif­fer­ent direc­tions this space could have gone in, but Advent asked the uni­ver­sity to get some input from their stu­dents on what they felt was needed on cam­pus and this is what they came back with:

1. Healthy food choices
2. A place where both males and females were com­fort­able hang­ing out
3. A space that could be a mul­ti­pur­pose venue

Advent set out with those goals in mind and began to brain­storm about the space.  The space needed to be unique, and needed to some­thing that stu­dents didn′t have access to in their dorm rooms.  After­ing doing some ini­tal research one team mem­ber found that cereal “bars” were becom­ing pop­u­lar around col­lege cam­puses, and there wasn′t one in Nashville.  Then to add a twist, not only could Lip­scomb offer cereal but also candy top­pings and ice cream.  That would give the stu­dents the choice to be healthy, fun or both with their food.  Another team mem­ber found some really cool fur­ni­ture made out of recy­cled bicy­cle parts.  We also thought it would be cool to incor­po­rate 60″ plas­mas with Wiis for the stu­dents. While the col­lege stu­dents may have Wiis in their dorm rooms, they prob­a­bly didn′t have 60″ plas­mas tele­vi­sions. At that point we knew we were headed in the right direction. 

To make it a true Lip­scomb branded space we devel­oped the con­cept of a mural that showed “a Lip­scomb expe­ri­ence.”  Pho­tos used in the mural would show all types of stu­dent based activ­i­ties, from sport­ing events to mis­sion trips.  This was the Expe­ri­en­tial Mar­ket­ing piece that Lip­scomb was look­ing for.  It wrapped stu­dents and vis­i­tors in the Lip­scomb “brand.”  It showed what it was like to be a part of that university.  

After the grand open­ing Lip­scomb called Advent to tell us what a suc­cess the space had been for them.  Stu­dents love the food offer­ings, the enter­tain­ment, and just hang­ing out in there.  It has even become the last stop on prospec­tive stu­dent tours, but you don′t have to take my word for it.  Click here to get Lipscomb′s side of the story. 

Authored By Advent

Advent partners with organizations to help them visually express differentiation.