Types Of Advertising To Which College Students Pay Attention, July 2014 [CHART]

Much like the population-at-large, college students pay a considerable amount of attention to recommendations from friends and family. But beyond word-of-mouth, traditional media such as TV ads and posters and billboards also generate a significant amount of attention from college students, according to the latest annual “College Explorer” study from re:fuel. And while ads on social media sites draw the most attention of the various digital channels identified, banner ads are relatively ignored.

Roughly 8 in 10 respondents claimed to pay a lot (43%) or a little (38%) attention to recommendations from friends and family, with 77% paying some attention to TV ads (though significantly fewer claimed to pay “a lot”). College students also report being tuned into samples (72%), posters and billboards (68%), events (64%) and contests and promotions (also 64%). In fact, 42% reported having received product samples during the school year, with a majority 55% of those having gone on to purchase that brand. Similarly, almost half of the 36% who reported having attended an event on campus that was sponsored by a brand said they went on to make a purchase from the brand. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.