Access Advertising has kicked off the launch of online academic book retailer Sell Student Books.com, with a successful media campaign targeting the North-West student population.
Sell Student Books.com prides itself in being the first commercial website to give graduates and students the opportunity to buy to sell course books, saving themselves hundreds of pounds in the process.
Manchester-based creative agency Access beat off a number of other local and national agencies to win the coveted contract, and joins forces with media agency Mediacom North and pr specialists Bell Pottinger North in the task of launching the site initially to the media and local students, before rolling it out to the wider community.
Access was tasked with creating a strong and identifiable brand identity for Sell Student Books, to be used both on and offline. This logo and identity formed the basis of a well-targeted creative campaign, which had to convey the uniqueness of the service offering and capture the attention of such a niche target audience.
Access’ solution to the brief was to deliver a campaign which married conventional marketing methods with more unconventional ‘guerrilla’ tactics.
The campaign kicked off with a poster and leaflet campaign+ in seven universities, focusing on student unions and halls of residence, this was accompanied by pay per click and banner advertising and email marketing. The more unusual tactics came in the form of Bluetooth marketing, interactive screen saver media on 1300 computers at Liverpool University and a series of unique events including ‘Book Amnesties’ and ‘Books 4 Beer’, aptly named party nights asking students to swap an old course book for free entry and a free drink.
Mark Fraser, CEO of Sell Student Books.com comments on the launch: “I have worked closely with Access on this project for almost a year now and I am very proud of the work we’ve produced, its innovative and eye catching, and so far seems to be engaging our target market. Since we launched the campaign at the beginning of the January term, the site has seen visitor figures more than double, with a 100% increase in registrations and a 96% increase in sales.”
Sarah Parker, Creative Director at Access comments on the relationship: “It’s been refreshing to work with such a diverse team on this project. All the agencies worked together to create an integrated marketing solution to introduce the concept of Sell Student Books.com to a student audience. And by working together we have delivered a creative concept which is creating cut through, it’s driving people to the site and has produced an upturn in people using this service. I’m looking forward to working with Mark on the next phase of this project”
