Environmental and Social Responsibility Influence College Market Spending; Alloy Responds with U Awards to Top Socially Responsible Brands, Named by College Students
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE via COLLEGIATE PRESSWIRE)--July 5, 2006--If any group can begin to chill the threat of global warming it may be the current crop of enrolled U.S. college students (ages 18-30), who are directing a portion of a record $182 Billion dollars in consumer spending power(1) toward brands they perceive to be socially responsible. Alloy Media + Marketing today released findings from its 5th annual College Explorer Study, conducted by Harris Interactive(R). The report demonstrates that many college students are not only avid volunteers and socially conscious, but that some put a high premium on products from companies that demonstrate a healthy respect for Mother Nature. Unique this year, the Alloy College Explorer asked students to identify the brands that they believe deserve special recognition; in honor of those brands and the students who chose them, Alloy will present the new "Alloy U Award" for socially responsible brands chosen by college students.
Cause Over Celeb: Green is the New Jack Black
Funny is good and big names still sell. However, students prefer an honest and effective social responsibility campaign to celebrity endorsements when it comes to spending their hard-earned money. In fact, when asked about factors that drive their purchase decisions, 33% prefer brands that give back to the community, are environmentally safe, or that are connected to a cause. Together these socially responsible characteristics surpassed paying more for a brand with a great image (16%) or preference for a brand used by celebrities (2%) by wide margins in their influence on discretionary spending. Substantially, one in four students (24%) has purchased a product this year specifically because it was socially conscious.
"We are seeing that today's young people expect corporations to be socially responsible and that students prefer to associate with brands that they perceive to be positive contributors to the community", said Samantha Skey, SVP, Strategic Marketing, Alloy Media + Marketing.
Do Good, Feel Good
The student focus on social responsibility fits other survey data that together paints a picture of a socially conscientious student community that cares about causes. Almost half (forty five percent) of students are active volunteers, often taking up a cause on their own but also getting involved through school or their fraternity or sorority. Asked about motivation, students who volunteer said they do so simply to help other people (55%) and to do their part as a community member (39%). Importantly, among those students who volunteer, forty nine percent said that it makes them feel good about themselves. The report shows that helping others and contributing to good causes were far more important to students than philanthropy to help them get a job or because it looks good on their resume (18%).
Alloy U Awards
The College Explorer Study asked students to name the brands they perceive to be most socially responsible. Among the top finishers were Ben & Jerry's, creator of the "Lick Global Warming" campaign, Yoplait which produces "Save Lids to Save Lives" in support of breast cancer, and Newman's Own, a company that donates all profits and royalties to charitable causes.
"In this year's study, we asked students to tell us the brands they most admire," said Skey. "We've fashioned their opinions into the Alloy U Awards, designed to recognize the companies that students perceive to be most socially responsible. We found that students were most likely to believe that companies who weave their social messaging into their brand DNA- from advertising to product packaging and events, are the most committed to their causes."
The 2006 Alloy U Award winners for "Top Socially Responsible Brands" as recognized by college students are:
1) BEN & JERRY'S
2) NEWMAN'S OWN
3) BURT'S BEES
4) YOPLAIT
5) AMERICAN APPAREL
6) STARBUCKS
7) SEVENTH GENERATION
8) NIKE
9) (tied) BODY SHOP
(tied) COCA-COLA
Walt Freese, Chief Euphoria Officer (aka C.E.O) responded, "Everyone at Ben & Jerry's is deeply honored to receive the Alloy U Award. For 28 years, we've held true to our beliefs that business can be a powerful force for change, if we only think differently. For us, that means attaching as much importance to healing the planet and promoting social and economic justice as we do to the more conventional measure of business success." Adding, "Alloy's Award means so much to us because it represents the thinking of the next generation - a generation that will shape the future of our planet and life on it. It gives us all hope that this generation will go on to make the planet and our society healthier, better, and more just and Ben & Jerry's wants to be right there with you, helping to make it happen!"
"We are thrilled to receive this tremendous recognition by today's college students, a group poised to affect change across the important environmental issues," commented Mike Indursky, Burt's Bees Chief Marketing Officer and Strategist "Burt's Bees has a long standing history of earth-friendly practices, so it's incredibly rewarding to know we are truly reaching people with our message and making a connection with this influential group."
"We're heartened to have received the Alloy U Award. I've always said that our work is not about who we are today but who we can become tomorrow", commented Jeffrey Hollender, President & Chief Inspired Protagonist, Seventh Generation. Adding, "Knowing that the next generation already understands the importance of our efforts to re-imagine that future fills me with great hope."
Holy Green Giant: Record Student Market for Size, Spend
Adding muscle to the weight students are throwing behind social responsibility is the fact that this year's college enrollment is the largest on record, overall spending has jumped by $8 billion and their discretionary spending power has grown 12% to $46 billion.
"The college student market is now well over 17 million strong(2), and continues to grow in size and importance for marketers as the considerable influence they've gained in the past few years as technology early adopters bleeds into other areas, like social responsibility" says Dana Markow, Vice-President, Youth and Education Research at Harris Interactive. "Watch for the "greening" of the college market and their $182 billion in aggregate spending power to have a big effect on brand positioning and campaigns in the coming year."
Methodology
This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Alloy Media + Marketing among 1,793 adults (college students (full-time, part-time, 4-yr., 2-yr., aged 18 to 30) within the United States between April 14 and May 2, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, region, school status (full-time, part-time, 4-yr., 2-yr.) were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. With a pure probability sample of 1,793 adults one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
About Alloy Media + Marketing
Alloy Media + Marketing is one of the country's largest providers of nontraditional targeted media and promotional marketing programs connecting with 85% of the millenial audience (ages 5 - 29) daily. With large-scale networks, unique and exclusive media and promotional partnerships, and offices located in major markets across the country, Alloy Media + Marketing services over 1500 companies including half of the Fortune 200. Alloy Media + Marketing ranks fifth on the Advertising Age list of Top 100 Marketing Services Agencies and ranks among the World's Top 25 Ad Organizations.
Through Alloy Media + Marketing, advertisers gain access to a group of "best of breed" services providing depth of expertise and breadth of programming across multiple key platforms. Alloy Marketing & Promotions (AMP), a division of Alloy Media + Marketing, PROMO Magazine's 2004 "Agency of the Year," provides lifestyle marketing, strategic thinking, program integration, and custom program development and execution. AMP is known for its executional strength, including --mobile and event marketing, consumer insights, interactive design and guerilla marketing. Alloy Media + Marketing's 360 Youth network, provides advertisers with reach to 65% of all young adults, through the largest youth-focused media network available. Assets include over 100,000 advertising panels in-school and on campus, Web sites receiving over 3 million unique visitors each month, print vehicles reaching 50 million young consumers annually, the largest college newspaper placement service, extensive custom and cooperative sampling programs and a proprietary, 24 million name database. With American Multicultural Marketing, another division of Alloy Media + Marketing, advertisers reach the influential and fast-growing Hispanic, African-American and Asian American markets, through an
array of targeted media choices that fit their specific marketing needs.
Alloy Media + Marketing is part of Alloy, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALOY). For further information regarding Alloy Media + Marketing, please visit our web site at www.alloymarketing.com.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is the 13th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides research-driven insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what could conceivably be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in France and through a global network of independent market research firms. The service bureau, HISB, provides its market research industry clients with mixed-mode data collection, panel development services as well as syndicated and tracking research consultation. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com. To become a member of the Harris Poll Online, visit www.harrispollonline.com.
*Additional research addressing Cause Marketing across the Teen, College, and Young Independent consumer markets will be available in August 2006 through an in-depth syndicated study being released by Alloy's AMP INSIGHTS and CONE COMMUNICATIONS.
(1)Calculation based on survey findings among 18-30 year old students projected to the universe of 12.9 million 18-30 year old college students as determined by the National Center for Education Statistics (2005)
(2)Digest of Education Statistics, 2005. National Center for Education Statistics.
